Buildings of WindsorLost WindsorNotable Windsorites

1156 Ouellette - Oswald Janisse House

August 11, 2024
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at what would be 1156 Ouellette Ave today. The photo above dates to 1924. The house was built around 1921 by Oswald Janisse. Oswald, along with his brother Eugene, ran the Janisse Brothers Realty company which was established in 1913. They quickly realized that waterfront property was a desirable asset and cornered the…
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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…
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…
Buildings of WindsorDemolitionOld Photographs

Dieppe Park Demolitions - 1954

April 4, 2024
Before the waterfront park system was in place, there were once buildings on the north side of Riverside Dr. Back in the early 1950s work was set in motion to clear the north side of Riverside Drive and establish a civic centre and park. Across the river in Detroit, the same thing happened with the creation of Hart Plaza, and on our side we got Dieppe Park. From May, 1954, here’s a look…
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Buildings of WindsorOld Photographs

Park Building - July 2002

December 17, 2023
Going though some old photos from 2002, I came across this shot of the Park Building at the south west corner of Park & Ouellette. This photo is pre-stuccoing when the 1925 still displayed its architecture. This one was designed by Windsor architects Nichols, Sheppard…
DemolitionLost WindsorOld PhotographsWindsor

Tunnel Bar-B-Q 2015

November 19, 2023
I recently came across this photo that I took in April, 2015 in a folder of older pictures. 2015 doesn’t feel like that long ago, but it was nearly eight years ago already. The long lost Tunnel Bar-B-Q was a local institution for generations, dating back to the the…
Old PhotographsWindsor

Dieppe Park - c 1958

October 22, 2023
A view of the recently constructed Dieppe Park and civic auditorium site cleared for construction of the future Cleary Auditorium. The Cleary Guest House built in 1957 is visible at the east end of the park near the parking lot at the foot of Ouellette, while the rest of the park site is barren and grassy. The Cleary Auditorium site has been cleared and visible in the background is the Baby…
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Old Newspaper StoriesWindsor

Sign Cleaning - 1923

July 16, 2023
The photo above appeared in the Border Cities Star a century ago, appearing in the the July 17, 1923 edition on page 3. How would you like this job? There is no need telling where the two brush wielders are working, for the Prince Edward’s big electric sign is…