There are places all around our fair city, that bear the names of people who were once well known prominent citizens.
As the years pass, and memories fade, those names start to lose meaning, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who walks past a building or school and wonders who the building was named after.
Located on the corner of Wyandotte and Crawford, is one such building.
The Oliver M. Perry Substation. I’ve long wondered, exactly who was Oliver Perry?
Unfortunately my photos above are a several years old, the overgrown bushes, as seen in the Google Streetview image have long since been removed. The building was designed by Windsor architect David J. Cameron in 1938, and it is the older brother of the Seminole Hydro Substation, built in 1941 (which is basically half of the Perry Substation) also by Cameron.
So a trip to the library led me to the October 25, 1941 issue of the Windsor Daily Star:
DEATH COMES SUDDENLY TO O.M. PERRY OF HYDRO
MANAGER OF HYDRO DIVISION OF THE WINDSOR UTILITIES MOURNED
The day Oliver Perry died, he did so, shortly after arriving at home from a district meeting of the Ontario Municipal Electric Association in St. Thomas. He had been at the meeting with J. Clark Keith, General Manager of Windsor Utilities, and Garnet A. Edwards, the Commissioner. According to the article they left St. Thomas in the late afternoon, stopping for dinner in Chatham, arriving back in Windsor at 8:15.
Perry drove everyone home, and he also dropped off an airman they had picked up who was hitchhiking at the Tunnel. The Airman was on leave and trying to Get home to Chicago. St. Thomas was an air training base for the British Commonwealth Air Training Program, during WWII. So this group of Hydro executives gave the pilot a lift to the border.
After dropping everyone off, Perry returned home to 1321 Victoria Avenue, (which is directly across the street from architect J.C. Pennington) parked his car in the garage. He went inside his house, took off his coat and shoes, put on some slippers, and claimed “he was slightly tired”. He laid down, and died of a massive heart attack.
Perry was born in Meyers Cave, Ontario in 1895. He went to school in Perth, and after his graduation spent a few years as a teacher. He then went to Queen’s University and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. He went to work in Montreal for Canadian Pacific Railway before moving on to Toronto taking a job with the Electric Light Company.
In 1913, at age 28 he was sent to Windsor to help set up the local hydro company. He married Bessie Shepherd, the daughter of J.H. Shepherd, who was the hydro commissioner (and likely something to do with the naming of Shepherd Street in Windsor as well) in 1916.
He was a member of the YMCA, and an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. He was also past president of the Rotary Club and a former member of the board of management of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. He was also a member of Rose Lodge, A.F. & A.M. (I have no idea what those last few are…) and a member of Essex Golf & Country Club. He was part of a regular foursome that was made up of Rev. H.M. Paulin (of St. Andrew’s), Magistrate William A. Smith and architect David Cameron. In 1927, he scored a Hole in One at Essex.
Burial took place at Windsor Grove. Oliver Perry was 58 at the time of his passing. He left his widow and two daughters Shirley and Virginia.
Judging by his obituary, he was a well respected, community minded man. Today, his memory only remains visible on the flaking limestone facade of a west-side hydro substation.
I wonder if the family is still around the Windsor area?
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there's a hydro station @ gorge ave and ontario doesany one know the nameof that one? also the one at chtham and jenette
Oliver Mowat Perry was my grandfather. He died before I was born, so I never met the man. My Grandmother Bessie passed away in the 1980s. Both of Oliver's daughters, Virgina and Shirley, my mother and aunt respectively, have passed away as well. Shirley had no children of her own. Her adopted children live in Kitchener and Calgary. I grew up in Windsor, but now live in Saskatoon. My sister lives in Stratford, and my brother still lives in the Windsor area. That's it for Oliver's descendants. By all accounts he was a very good man. He did suffer from diabetes which at that time was not well understood or treated. This likely was a contributing factor to his heart attack. There used to be a large portrait of Oliver hanging in the Windsor Utilities Commission downtown, but it was discarded and rescued by my adopted cousin and now hangs in his home in Calgary. Oliver and Bessie were involved with designing the fixtures for Windsor's first street lights. Not sure if any of those old fixtures survive to this day or not.
I just had this pointed out to me - yes I am indeed the sister who now lives in Stratford. Grandpa Perry's heart attack was a family story - unfortunately, my mother, who was 12 at the time, was the one who discovered that he had died.
I believe J.H. Shepherd, our great grandfather, was also a city alderman I can confirm that Shepherd Ave. was named after him.
thank you Nancy & James for telling us more on the sad story of your grampa. I have come back to this page many times and find the story so sad, your grampa died before his time really!
Im the person with the portrait of our Grandfather. Its was only by a fluke that I obtained it from storage of the now privatized utility. The assistance they offered me far exceded what they needed to do. We are all grateful it didnt go to the trash bin like my aunt Virginia was told it had.
James or Nancy,
Do you know the origins of Oliver's middle name? It is the same as my last name.