Lost Windsor

Crescent Lanes - 871 Ottawa

September 15, 2024
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary Park, in the building just west of Master Cleaners, in a 12 lane bowling alley. That building in 1957, was the first bowling alley in Canada to have automatic pin setters. In 1965, the alley relocated to the building shown above to a larger 24 lane facility. The bowling alley was operated by…
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Lost Windsor

White's Restaurant & The Elbow Room - 33 Pitt Street East

July 7, 2024
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on Pitt Street East housing White’s Cafe. In 1924 they built a 3 story building with a bowling alley, that became known as The Windsor Recreation Building. White’s was located on the…
Buildings of WindsorNotable Windsorites

4219 Wyandotte Street East

June 2, 2024
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week about this house at 4219 Wyandotte Street East, on the south side of Wyandotte, just east of Rossini Boulevard. The house was built around 1877 by early settler Stanislas Janisse. His house was originally located closer to the river on his farm. The land for the farm was sold off around 1916, and the house was…
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Demolitiongoing, going, gone...Lost Windsor

841 Ouellette - Final Days

May 5, 2024
An unremarkable end to a part of Windsor’s history. The large vacant house at 841 Ouellette that was recently painted in a rainbow pattern of colours, burned down the other night in a spectacular fire. Built in 1890 for J.D. Arthur Deziel, the home served as a beauty…
DemolitionLost WindsorOld Photographs

Joseph L. Reaume House - 1924

April 21, 2024
One for the lost Windsor files, is this house that once belonged to Joseph Reaume of Ford City. Reaume was a builder and was was also the assessor of the town of Ford City. The house was built to resemble houses that Reaume saw during his winters away in California. The…
going, going, gone...Old Newspaper StoriesOld Photographs

New Simpson-Sears Store - 1970

April 7, 2024
With the news of the impending demolition of the Sears Store at Devonshire Mall, here’s a look back at when the store was new and getting ready to open as a brand new Simpsons-Sears. Simpson-Sears was a joint venture between the two companies, in 1984 the company officially became just Sears, while stand alone Simpsons stores eventually became The Bay, and Simpsons name vanished from the…
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