BOOK OF NOSTALGIA
Authors explore city’s past
A new book takes readers on a tour of Windsor’s heritage buildings, including those that withstood time, and the unsettling number that didn’t.
In their eighth book, Windsor: Before & After, Chris Edwards and Elaine Weeks of Walkerville Publishing show how all that has changed over time. A 500-photo collection reveals many landmark buildings destroyed since 1950.
“I really felt a little shell-shocked when I was working on this book,” said Weeks. “It really makes you feel sad because you can’t believe how much is gone now.”
Hundreds of buildings no longer exist in downtown Windsor alone, said Weeks.
“They’re either turned into a parking lot or they’re just sitting there with cracked pavement and grass growing in the cracks,” said Weeks. “Abandoned, looking like a missing tooth.”
The book is a testament to buildings lost, including the Prince Edward Hotel, the Norton Palmer Hotel, and old department stores such as Smith’s and Bartlet’s.
Although the book documents a startling loss of historical buildings in Windsor, Edwards said it’s not all “sad and gloomy.”
Reading the book provides a fun opportunity for readers to “rediscover
the past,” he said.
Edwards points to examples of restoration like the Windsor Armouries, taken over by the University of Windsor’s School of Creative Arts.
In September, the 98-year-old firehall and former horse stable in Sandwich Town was unveiled as the Windsor Public Library — John Muir Branch.
The Old Fish Market is now Quicken Loans and the Walker Power Building is nearly complete.
Edwards hopes the book will encourage residents to help protect Windsor’s remaining heritage structures.
“You think about all the people who inhabited the buildings, worked there, shopped there,” said Weeks. “It’s not just the building. It’s also the experiences that were lived and felt in those buildings over the years.”
A public signing and sale of Windsor: Before & After will be held every day through Friday from 1-6 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Artspeak Gallery, 1942 Wyandotte E.
The official book launch is set for Thursday at 7 p.m.