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February 2012
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Devonshire Road – c. 1912

Again from the Library of Congress/Detroit Publishing Co. collection, today is a view of Devonshire Road looking north from about 1912. The Bank of Commerce on the left hand side was designed by Albert Kahn, and built in 1906.

As always it’s the details. A nice view of the Walkerville street light, and two gentlemen on the front steps of the bank.

A partial view of the front of the old train station. The Walker Power Building to the rear was built in 1911, and designed by Stahl, Kinsey, and Chapman. Note the “cars stop here” sign at the junction. Maybe Bernie can explain the use of the sign?

Lastly a view of the Crown Inn building and the home today of Talooa Cafe, occupied then by The Dominion Bank.

Andrew

View Comments

  • Just a guess, but since there's a switch there the "Cars stop here" sign probably tells the streetcars to stop to make sure the switch is aligned properly. Streetcars aren't easy to reverse so you had to get it right.

  • i don't see the sign your referring to great photos especially the old pere marquette station it looks so barren in that part of the city now it's hard to see but they had sections of rail in the parking area i'm guessing after the one section of the train station was taken that say C&O employees i'll try and photograph them the next time i'm in that area

  • From "http://spacingtoronto.ca/2011/07/01/a-history-of-torontos-transit-stops/"
    "The first streetcar stops were marked, usually at street corners, between 1891 and 1921. These were the early days of the electric Toronto Railway Company, the principal transit company (three other companies operated streetcars on the fringes of Toronto's city limits until the creation of the public TTC in 1921) .

    Previously, horse-powered cars could be boarded anywhere, so stop signs were not required, but faster electric vehicles necessitated defined stops. In Toronto, the first car stops were long bands of white paint on adjacent metal or wooden poles with the text "CARS STOP HERE""

    I somehow find it comforting that someone has written a history of transit stops.

  • oh! there it is! thanks Freeman i better get new glasses i was looking for something closer to the ground i lived in Toronto 5 years ago what used to facinate me was the way the street car drivers switched tracks they inserted a metal rod with a hook on the end of it into a hole beside the track right where the switch was located it must have been a grand time to live in windsor back then with all the fine things the city had back then buildings, trolley's,etc

  • As always what a great photo! Love the detail that today's photos seem to lack. Also, it is comforting that some of the buildings still exist today.

  • Fantastic photo Andrew! I have this one as well, but not able to get such a detailed zoom.

    Gary, as far as the TTC streetcars switching with poles. Those are only used on little used switches, otherwise the driver has buttons on the floor which he pushes with his foot and that switches the track.

  • thats interesting to know Aaron like i said i saw the driver get off a couple times and use the metal road i mentioned i'm curious about something is there any photo i know it would have been a little early for aerial photos it would be interesting to see the route the streetcar tracks took i wonder if the track just before the train station that goes to the left looped say down assumption to maybe Lincoln road then went up over the peabody bridge another thing that amazes me is how clean the street looks

  • Aaron in the third photo if you look at the hedge on the bottom left of the photo that steel railing near the hedge still exists to this day in the area where the front of the station is in the photo after this part of the station was taken down the railroad used that part of the property was used for employee parking the signs still exist if you look real hard it says C&O employees on the railing

  • Aaron, a minor correction about activating switches from inside the streetcar. It is a button on the dash.
    Wonder where that northward track was going after that turnout switch? It has got to be just a tail track (short stretch of track for a car to stop and park) as surely they wouldn't tackle crossing (called a "diamond") the PM (C&O) and Great Western (CN) tracks -- but if they did, maybe it connected with the (streetcar or Hiram Walker rail spur?) track on Sandwich St. East (Riverside Dr.).
    That shot of what is now Talooa's cafe is where I worked (1951) as a (very) young telegraph operator; it was the Walkerville branch of Canadian National Telegraph Co. The main office was at 364 Ouellette Ave. which served the rest of Windsor.
    Amazing that property is still in use. It was very old when I worked there!

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