I was doing some research on the Windsor archives, because of the upcoming field trip and book assignment. History is an important element in boarder cities.





Facts:

• archives contain over 7,500 photographs and 20,000 sets of architectural drawings, maps and plans.


• 1854 was the year Windsor was incorporated as a village.

I found some aerial photos of Windsor from 1931, that I found fascinating. The map makes me think about the different identities or phases the city has gone through from generation to generation.

Here is an article on the history of Windsor:

Prior to European exploration and settlement, the Windsor area was inhabited by the First Nations and Native American people. Windsor was first settled in 1749 as a French agricultural settlement, making it the oldest continually inhabited settlement in Canada west of Montreal. The area was first named Petite Côte (Little Coast), and later became known as La Côte de Misère (Poverty Coast) because of the sandy soils near LaSalle. Windsor's French heritage is reflected in many French street names, such as Ouellette, Pelissier, Francois, Pierre, Langlois, Marentette and Lauzon. There is a significant French speaking minority in Windsor and the surrounding areas. Many of them are in the Lakeshore, Tecumseh and LaSalle areas. The current street system of Windsor (grid with elongated blocks) may reflect the French method of agricultural land division where the farms were long and narrow, fronting along the river; it is also consistent with the British system for granting land concessions.

In 1794, after the American Revolution, the settlement of Sandwich was founded. It was later renamed to Windsor, after the town in Berkshire, England. The Sandwich neighbourhood on Windsor's west side is home to some of the oldest buildings in the city including Mackenzie Hall, originally built as the Essex County courthouse in 1855. Today, this building functions as a community centre. The oldest building in the city is the Duff-Baby House built in 1792. It is owned by Ontario Heritage Trust and houses government offices. The François Baby House was built in 1812 and houses Windsor's Community Museum, dedicated to local history.
The City of Windsor was the site of the Battle of Windsor during the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837, and was also a part of the Patriot War, later that year.
Windsor was established as a village in 1854 (the same year the village was connected to the rest of Canada, by the Grand Trunk Railway/Canadian National Railway), then a town in 1858, and ultimately gained city status in 1892.

A fire consumed much of Windsor's downtown core on October 12, 1871, destroying over 100 buildings.[1]
On October 25, 1960, a massive gas explosion destroyed the Metropolitan Stores building on Ouellette Avenue. Ten people were killed and at least one hundred injured.[2] The 45th anniversary of the event was commemorated by the Windsor Star on October 25, 2005 and later reenacted on History Television's Disasters of the Century.

What's in a name? The Windsor Star Centennial Edition in 1992 covered the city's past, its heyday as a railway centre, and its contributions to World War I and World War II. It also recalled the naming controversy in 1892, when the town of Windsor wanted to become a city. The most popular names listed in the naming controversy were "South Detroit", "The Ferry" (from the ferries that linked Windsor to Detroit), Richmond (the runner-up in popularity), and Windsor (which won out over the others). Windsor was chosen over the others because of its English name (to promote the heritage of many English settlers in the city), and so that it would be named after Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England. However, Richmond was a popular name used until the Second World War, mainly by the local Post Office.

Amalgamations Sandwich, Ford City and Walkerville were separate legal entities (towns) in their own right until roughly 1935. They are now historic neighbourhoods of Windsor. Ford City was officially incorporated as a village in 1912. It became a town in 1915, and became a city in 1929. It only lasted a few years, as it was amalgamated into Windsor in 1935, along with several other nearby villages. Walkerville was incorporated as a town in 1890, and was merged into Windsor with Sandwich and Ford City in 1935. Sandwich was established in 1817 as a town with no municipal status. It was incorporated as a town in 1858 (the same time as neighbouring Windsor was incorporated as a town). It lasted until 1935. The nearby village of Ojibway was incorporated as a town in 1913, and was annexed by the City of Windsor in 1966, at the same time as the town of Riverside. Riverside was incorporated in 1921, and was merged into Windsor in 1966.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor,_Ontario

Devon