Jackson Park – 1953

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• There was no road through he park, no overpass. The traffic would be on Howard or Dougall.

• I worked with a fellow who was a Morse telegraph operator (at CN Telegraphs at 364 Ouellette Ave.), and he was assigned to the ball park grandstand in 1953 to transmit (with a little portable telegraph key and sounder) via a land line provided by Bell Telephone Company of Canada (as it was known then). He worked alongside a reporter for Canadian Press news agency who gave him play-by-play of the game which was received in Toronto for distribution to newspapers and radio stations across Canada (depending on the interest of that particular league at that time).
  Sadly, he was an alcoholic and although bald, did not wear head protection, and was exposed to the typical Windsor heat and humidity, and suffered a stroke. He was totally disabled and unable to return to work.

• very nice!

  some smaller things i notice are that there are at least two residences further down ouellette behind Mario's. there's an awful lot of boxcars on the ETR line in the back ground, and tecumseh is a boulavard. am i wrong, or did Windsor st. extend up to the end of the track feild make a left and connect to McDougal? then maybe was blocked when ouellette was expanded and reverted into a parking lot/service drive. and at the corner of dufferin and tecumseh.....is that a stable???
  need that time machine!

  WANNICK - yes, at the corner of ouellette and tecumseh is marine city apartments..15 stories is think. then at duffin and tecumseh another apartment...maybe 7 or 8 stories.

  Andrew or John - i know they were long gone by then, but where did the Ouellette streetcar have it's loop at this end? i lost my streetcar map and now i can't remember. i have an old picture that shows a tear drop shaped "loop" surrounded by poles, in the spot where the gated entrance is. or did it hang a left and that's why tecumseh is a boulavard?

• Aaron, Tecumseh was a Boulevard until the late 50's I believe, when traffic congestion caused their removal. If you look in certain places, you can still see the outline of the islands in the cracks in the concrete, especially around Kildare...

  Also the map I have, shows the streetcar making a slight turn west (so it would have hung a right in this picture) along Tecumseh. I'm sure Bernie or John can add more insight. Don't forget before 1930 Jackson park, wasn't a park, it was a horse racing track...

• Great photos, although they show only that half of the park east of the Ouellette driveway. I recall the park extending west as far as Dougall, at its south end. Much later, the cenotaph which had been at the corner of Ouellette and Goyeau (?) was moved to just in front of the gates.

• Speaking of Tecumseh Road around Kildare, when will the city ever get around to making the road in that area halfway decent for driving?

  Andrew - I've seen the cracks and elevations in the pavement, and yes, you can see where the boulevard island once was...50 years later.

• Well Joe, let me see, it's 1954, no thru road, no overpass, well no kidding. In 1954 development on Howard and Dougall south of the CPR tracks was minor. Tecumseh Road was the southernmost east-west thoroughfare in the city (good heavens...no E.C. Rowe!!). Just a little bit east (out of the photo) was a busy Chrysler truck plant. It seems just a bit odd that there are no people walking the sidewalks, or in the park or at the carnaval, that I can see.

• Jackson Park looked better in the 50's than it does today. Eddie Francis and the morons down at City Hall pretty much ruined the park when they took down the Lancaster and plowed over the rose garden around it.

• last time I checked Ouellette and Goyeau are parrell streets, maybe you mean Goyeau and Giles?

• thanks Andrew. i think on the back of "reflections of windsor" there is a picture of a traffic jam just east of hall with the scottish club on the left. cars are all on top of the muddy boulevard. what did they do...just pave over the curbs?? lol. i have an old shot where kennedy had just been finished and you can see the ghost of the track. didn't seem like it had enough room without cutting into tecumseh AND mcdougal. hope you don't mind...i'll send you the pic i was talking about earlier and maybe you can tell if it's a streetcar loop i'm seeing.
  George - i wouldn't put blame on the city for the lanc. taking down the Lancaster was the best thing that ever happened to that plane. only another couple years and it would have been unsafe to keep up anyhow and more then likely scrapped. the wingspars (two beams running parallel holding up the wings) were sliced into and then welded into the bracing of the pedestal when it was raised. Over the years the wings gradually started to sag.one time we found 200lbs of bird crap in an engines oil pan, which isn't good for aircraft aluminium. also when it was sandblasted in preparation for a new paint job, we found like 8 - 10 different layers of laytex outdoor house paint on it!!!!! (source: used to do restoration work on it) i could go on and on about why it's a good thing it's down. Don't get me wrong, i loved having it up there but i feel the spitfire and hurricane are more suited for the park. the spitfire is even painted in Windsor squadron colours and has the markings of a real pilot. here's a little blurb about him:

  This Spitfire is a replica painted to match WW2, double ace pilot
  Bert Houles Spitfire: AN-A JG184 (cdn 4817).

  GROUP CAPTAIN ALBERT ULRICH "BERT" HOULE, D.F.C. and Bar, C.D., of Massey, Ontario, flew with Nos. 213, 145 and 417 Squadrons. His score of enemy aircraft was 11 destroyed, 1 probable and 7 others damaged.
  He commanded the crack City of Windsor Squadron which fought in Malta, the Middle East, Britain. He was best known for getting two Germans in 15 seconds. He "squirted" at one, went underneath it, saw another,"squirted" him too. He wore the D.F.C.

  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

  jeeeez Aaron......sorry everyone. off topic story but i thought it would be nice since maybe everyone doesn't know that those arn't just generic WW2 paint jobs up there. I'm not sure if the hurricane is painted for a local boy but it is painted for a real person: F/O Nisbitt.

  alright...i'm done.