Detroit Police Country Club – Wheatley – 1926

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• Awesome i have always wondered about the life of that building. The design and structure of that building being a balloon type structure is gorgeous. i wished there were more pictures on it i have never seen new ones. Thank you i have known that building since i was a kid. I had to laugh from the shorter trip the Wheatley FD would have i would have to agree.

• At the turn of the century my grandfather, Milton Crewe purchased the 23 acre property on lot 198 with intentions of setting up his commercial fishery there. He also purchased lot 199 which is next to the lakeside Village trailer park. He sold the lot 198 to the Detroit police Country Club after that.

  When the stocks crashed in 1929 construction immediately stopped. They walked away from it all leaving concrete to solidify in the mixers . My grandfather held the mortgage to the place so he got it back at that time. My aunt got a group together and organized dances at the place for a short time.

  Milton died in 1937 and my grandmother Rose Crewe, sold the property shortly before my parents were married in the 1940s. It was purchased and operated by a local chapter of the Penticostal Church and as far as I know it was still theirs when it burned in 1960. I have old 35mm movies of the fire. As a keepsake, I still have the keys to the front doors.

• This place was just west of the Craig Hurst orchard. Mr. crewe did you know Mr. T Craig or his partners in his apple orchard?

• Yes I know Tom and Shelly quite well. They recently moved this summer.

• The orchard they had was run in partnership with Tyherst orchards in Leamington. They removed the apple trees there about 10 years ago.

• Aaron was not quite right with his map, but George Crewe's information is correct. The property is just east of Robinson
  Motorcycle on the lake shore. I have aerial pictures from my Mom and Dad, of the building with large event tents set up in the yard. It is quite interesting looking at the old cars in the yard as well. Mom told me stories of the beautiful building, the marble dance floor, the huge fireplace. They used to hold pageants on the stage in the large auditorium.
  As a result of some construction work being done on the second floor making bedrooms, there was an electrical fire. The night that it caught fire, my Mom thought it was the "moon" over the lake, but it was actually the fire. The building was destroyed. Some time later, my parents bought the property and its still in the family today.

• George Crewe's information is not accurate. I have seen the architect's plans for this facility. A central feature is a curving road down to the beech. Given the straight 75 foot cliff ridge along this extended shorefront this is a unique and identifiable marker. West, there came to be such a cut down at Coatsworth Dock and east at Port Crewe.

  Look at a current aerial photograph. The only site that fills the bill is where the RV park is. To either side it is plain there has not been a cut down. If you zoom out you can easily see the layout of the lots. Count from Campbell Rd east. Note the drain a bit further along east. Using the 1880 atlas the site is Lot 188.

  Keep in mind there was something of a community hereabouts. Post office, church, school, township hall a bit east. Renwick just up the sideroad later a rail siding.

  The larger Crewe et al family bought and sold in this region big time. The only probably certifiable authority lies in the municipal archives at the McGregor facility in Chatham but you will get nothing but obstruction from that lot. Alternatively a forensic read of the old newspapers. TOdette library in Tilbury for the Wheatley Journal.

• The Crewe family transplanted in stages from business in Gosfield. Port Crewe as it was dated from 1909. The site in question was favoured because the ridge wall at the lakeside had collapsed to a convenient degree. Coatsworth dock thrived by being a large business. At Port Crewe later there was a sort of light rail system installed to better haul goods up the incline.

  There is evidence that fronting the road on the south, the stubland, there were houses and a side street on the 199/198 terrain. Also, from a separate source, that the Police association only leased the south end of the stub. The projected golf course was to be on land to the west.

  The key word here is "leased". To just buy the land outright was easily within the reach of the Police Association. But it would be consistent with the conveyancing practices of the times to arrange a lease.

  The Crewe family was not a bank. They had not the security to risk a morgage. My family, the Ainsley's of Comber did own a private bank. The financing of this building would have come out of the US and been routed through a local bank in Leamington or Chatham. There would have been contractors. Locals would get hired on.

  The Wall Street crash did not influence the continuation or termination of this project. There was enough money and favour for a retreat. It was rather the immanance of the repeal of prohibition.

  The Police Association likely just abandoned the works and the lease. They walked away. Cut their losses. Which all would have defaulted to the Crewe's as the property owner.

• At such a late point in the construction it is long past the time when pouring concrete is needed. The demonstrated appearance of the building testifies to that. And at that time there was no on site delivery service for concrete. You had to mix it up where you were.

  How was it that drinking water was provided? Where would it come from? There was no electical power unless they had a generator. Wood had run out so they had to on run coal. How'd it get there? Who cooked the food and laundry? Romney didn't have a single police constable. There were only 200 OPP at the time all focused on booze smuggling. If the Detroit cops loaded onto boats and headed to Romney they wouldn't be facing any customs interfearance. Come and go as they please.