The Chick Hatchery, Wilson Motors, Kam Motors Depot and the Yardsticks!!

I wish it was this easy in the 1950's to hatch a few chicks to cruise Victoria Ave with back then....but unfortunately that's not the chicks that are talked about here!

Yes, this is the Fort William Hatchery on the corner of May and Finlayson Sts. Across Finlayson was the well known May Auto Parts, and kitty corner was the original Dominion Motors(Pontiac Buick dealership). All the black and white clippings in this post was taken from "The Panorama of Progress" insert that was in the Times Journal, Fort William's newspaper on July 17, 1952.....how much do you remember? Thanks to modern science, Google Earth and the person who made the "comment" below, the colour photo has been changed to reflect the correct angle of the black and white one. Both these photos now face Finlayson St. Thanks again for the correction!

Wilson Motors notably was on the corner of May and Donald St. The current photo shows the exact spot where it was. The Police Station which is now the Thunder Bay museum is to the right and the famous Royal Edward Hotel was off to the left.

This clipping shows the Kam Motors Limited depot, as it was in 1952 on the corner of Syndicate and Donald St. It says in the clip "next to the Post Office"(the Income Tax office to the left of the depot was once the Fort William Post Office). This was also a Texaco gas station for awhile. It was quite a unique and beautiful building not many of which we see today.

My greatest memory of this building was of course the fact that my father was the Body Shop manager for Kam for many years and as a kid and a gear head even then, I was lucky enough to be exposed to the annual September new car showings all over the city. My friend Dwight McIntosh and I were brought down to the Depot here early on a late September Saturday morning in 1954. My dad had a surprise that I never forgot all my life. In the back were the new and never yet unveiled 1955 Chevrolets. When the cover was taken off, I couldn't believe the beautiful sight that I had encountered. At 11 years old, Dwight and I were the first kids in Fort William to view a 1955 Chevy 2-door hardtop...Gypsy Red and Shoreline Beige.....just like this one......
I was in awe of this beautiful sight and even when I discovered girls.....it was still an incredible sight!

Here is the full page ad commemorating Kam Motors 20th anniversary in 1952, and finally from my collection are a number of Fort William and Port Arthur yardsticks which advertise a number of businesses at the Lakehead...how many do you remember!!

Click on photos to enlarge!