The station above was on Devonshire Road in Walkerville. The station was designed by Detroit Architects Mason & Rice, in 1890. The station was demolished in 1957.
Here’s the site of the station today.
Today Via services are run out of the new Walkerville station, with talk of replacing this station with a new one.
The CN station was located on the waterfront at the foot of Goyeau in Windsor. It was built in 1884 and closed in 1961. It was demolished shortly after.
The photo above and below appeared in the Michael Gladstone White book “A Moment in time”, however as usual there is no credit given for the source of the images. The one below however ran in the Windsor Star December 30, 1952.
The Star at the time was calling for the end of this station, and the story alongside the photos read as follows:
The traveler who comes by train has already passed through London, and he undoubtedly remembers the station he saw there. The stations he sees reflect the life – or lack of it – of the communities he passes. This picture shows the Windsor waiting room. It has wooden floors, its door frames are old and scarred. In another day the glow from the old coal stove may have been a delight to the traveler, but in these times it looks incongruous. The same arrival may make the mistake of walking up the plank stair, and into one of Windsor’s toughest sections. If he finds his way to Ouellette, he finds no expansive view of the river, but in its place a barricade of old buildings. Windsor needs badly a new C.N.R. station, but it needs just a much a program to rejuvenate this vital area.
This station was located along the riverfront, built into the embankment for the bridge on Riverside Drive that crosses the rail cut.
The station was built in 1890 and designed by Edward Colonna, who was for a while the architect for the Canadian Pacific railroad, designing stations from coast to coast.
The station was located at the green arrow. Traces of the station can still be seen in the embankment, an old door and window, are visible in the brick wall.
This photo above is the first one I’ve ever seen of the original Michigan Central Station. This photo also appeared in the Michael Gladstone White book “A Moment in time”, without a source. He claimed in the book it was taken in 1907. He notes this station was located on the riverfront between Elm and Cameron. It must have been replaced shortly after as the new station opened in 1911.
The 1911 station has been covered here recently in full detail. It was torched by an arsonist in 1996.
More info on this station can be found on this post.
Please add what you know below…
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Built in 1929, the house at 2177 Victoria Avenue was originally numbered 1545 Victoria, pre…
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary…
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at…
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week…
An unremarkable end to a part of Windsor's history. The large vacant house at 841…
View Comments
Andrew, very interesting photos I love them...I noticed something in the very top picture....that fountain in the middle of the picture....was that saved...and now sitting in Willistead Park? It looks very simliar to the one in Willistead?
Such a shame....were is the history in windsor....?
They are always tearing down, and destroying our past!!
Does anyone remeber the boarding house for the railroad that was located behind the Ivy Rose motel. It was at the end of the road & would have been built on the property where the overpass runs now. It serviced the people who worked at the Roundhouse & the men who needed a room to sleep during a lay - over from a long haul. It was a huge old brick place with about 4 floors of small sleeping rooms with a big restaurant on the ground floor. It had a very long breakfast bar & stools. My parents used to take us there & I do remember they had great breakfasts. My uncle worked for CN for many years until he retired which is most likely why we went there.
Ross - It is the same fountain. It was moved to Willistead after the station was demolished.
You say the remnants of the CPR station can be seen in the embankment? Where abouts, I've NEVER noticed. Maybe I've always been able to see it without really seeing it? I gotta go down there and look again.
Im not sure but i thought the station on Devonshire was anandoned & burned to the ground
sometime in the mid eighty's.
Chris what burned down on Devonshire was the baggage handling building.
Keith the remains are visible in the west wall of the embankment that holds up the bridge on Riverside Drive.
To Keith Wilson. If you look at the Riverside Dr bridge to the left you can see in the brick work a window and door. I believe the space behind it is still vacant with no infill.
chris I have heard that it was in the late 1970s but that it was the baggage/storage area.
Isn't it nice to see in the photo of the vacant property in Walkerville that Windsor hasn't changed much? It still takes decades to do anything with vacant land. If anything will be done at all! I guess in another 30 years we will still have seas of parking downtown as well.
Congrats Windsor in the ability to not change in such changing times...it has served us all so well.
Excellent post!! It appears that the Windsor Star of the time didn't much like the CN station's condition or location. Also, it did not like the 'barricade of old buildings' along the river front and called for a rejuvenation of the area... watch out what you wish for!
Andrew, perhaps some day you can feature some of the county rail stations such as CASO in Amherstburg, Essex, Comber and Leamington which still stand. As well, the Walker's station in Kingsville and the preserved CN station (Tecumseh) now in Heritage Village could be featured.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa has an excellent photo gallery and features several Windsor images. http://www.imagescn.technomuses.ca/index1.html
Thankyou for another excellent post, from the words of a Joni Mitchell song
"don't it always seem to go, That you don't know what you’ve got, ‘Til it's gone"