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December 2009
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Downtown Windsor – 1959


Image from the collection of Scott Hughes

Regular reader Scott Hughes, sent along a great old postcard to share with readers. The card was issued in 1959 by The Greater Windsor Industrial Commission. Above is a crop of the card showing the north side of Wyandotte St. between Ouellette and Goyeau. The building on the corner under construction, is today’s TD Bank, and the only building still standing.


Image from the collection of Scott Hughes

Here is a view of the whole card, a nice view of the central portion of Downtown Windsor. There have been so many changes to Windsor’s skyline in the last 50 years…


Image from the collection of Scott Hughes, red splotches by me 🙂

I thought I would take a stab at pointing them out. Everything in red is something that has been demolished since the photo was taken. I’m also willing to bet that I missed some, especially on the west side of the card.
Wow.

[EDIT] – Scott looked over my red splotches, and found a few I missed! So here’s the most up to date version.

Thanks again to Scott for sending it in!

_________________________________________________________

Andrew

View Comments

  • that's.....disgusting. wow is right!

    what's sad is what took all that space? casino...alright, but what about the rest of it?! that's insane. not one great or even decent replacement jumps into mind..sad, sad, sad.
    is that the odd fellows building you posted about a long time back, next to the TD? that's a great looking building.

    that's a great postcard for sure, thanks Scott!!

  • Detroit is lookin pretty good over there too... looking at old photos.. i much preferred the Detroit skyline without the Renaissance Center.. its more balanced.

  • Andrew - i was going to say that you blocked out something still there, but looking at "bing" maps with the areial.....at St. Alphonses church i think it's the rectory that has me confused.
    i was there for a funeral not long ago (beautiful inside btw), but i had came out that door on goyeau at the rectory after lunch and i noticed a cornerstone with 1909 or something old like that. and the brick seemed pretty old. did they knock it down and only re-use the cornerstone and maybe re-use the brick for the enterance?
    funny how there's still....somehow.....houses, nice houses on that part of goyeau.

  • Aaron, They did knock down and rebuilt the hall, maybe in the early 1990's? The rectory was also demoed during the last big tunnel plaza expansion.

  • No wonder there is no vision or cohesion downtown. With so much missing and so much mish-mash of ugly replacements is it really any wonder why the downtown continues to look pathetic?

    I do like the new lights on the waterfront for Christmas. Now hopefully they stretch it further along the drive.

  • Also note the block-long parking lot on Ouellette along the Tunnel property. It wasn't demolished but it also is gone. Colour it pink?

  • wow i was not even looking at the detroit skyline, it does look balanced without the rencen. I have never seen a photo of detroit without it.

  • Wow. Thats about all I have to say after seeing that. Looking at Goyeau specifically, pretty much every building has been demolished.

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