Then's, Now's and More History from our Home Towns of Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario....

It's always interesting to go back into ones history and consider what our government officials whether it be locally, provincially or federally thought about our future, and what would become of these two small towns of Port Arthur and Fort William where we live.
I came across the following article and photo in my collection of vintage newspapers...this one from 1957, many of which were my own and many of which were donated by various sources throughout the years that I have been writing this blog.
My unanswered question to this is "What Happened Since 1957", and "Where are the Half a Million People?"  

Click twice on this photo for an enlarged and easier to read copy...as well as all the other's in these posts.

Where are all the people they predicted would be here by 1977?

The Outlaw Bridge was very well known in the Pigeon River area in the 1920's.  Our Lakehead Cities desperately needed a link to some larger populated areas, and Winnipeg and even Sault Ste. Marie were too far away for family vehicular travel......Duluth, Minnesota and Minneapolis were the closest link to civilization.  The 1920's edited photo is from an old brochure I've had for years.

This next one is actually a Then and Then photo.  These two photos were both taken in the 1950's, but the bottom photo of the Royal Yacht Britannia (Queen Elizabeth's Ship) in the harbour was taken from the original CPR station's tower shown in the first photo.  The Queen visited here in 1959 to much pomp and circumstance.

This next then and now always leaves some heads scratching.  Triangle Service Station, later to be named Ed's Triangle Service was located on a triangulated piece of land where Memorial Ave. and Fort William Road would meet at John St......We also called that corner the 5-way lights.  5-way because Algoma met Memorial Ave. north and south, and John Street was split by Memorial east and west and the 5th light was from Fort William Road.  The confusion at this intersection was cleared up many years after the top photo was taken.  The bottom photo shows the approximated location of Triangle Service.

Jumping over to Fort William on the then extremely busy May and Victoria Ave. intersection we have a very unobtrusive corner these days as shown in the right photo, compared to what things looked like in the 1950's and 1960's.  White's Drug Store was on the north/east corner (in what was called the Cooper Block) with many interesting small and large businesses as you move east towards Simpson St., including a few banks, the Royal Theatre, and also a few hotels....but today there is little traffic, shoppers or people barely interested in being there.
We all know that one of the main reasons for this departure of business and people was due to the building of the unpopular Victoriaville Mall........there's no use talking about it anymore as we all know that hopefully in the next few years it will be gone, and maybe we can try to re-invent Victoria Ave.  Some are desperately trying already.

The picture below was of course the same corner as mentioned above.  White's Rexall Drugs changed hands many times, and was called "Lords" Pharmacy when the terrible fire ravaged that corner in 1971...things were starting to change for worse, and as a car guy in the 1960's, our cruising strip was gone forever.

Now heading back to Port Arthur and the Red and Cream coloured Port Arthur Transit buses.  I have seen this photo many times and tried to make sense of the exact location.  The location is on Front Street on the Port Arthur side of town which is one block east of Cumberland Street near the recycle depot.  The two homes behind the buses are still there, but not exactly as they looked in the 1950's.  The Port Arthur buses were a burgundy colour with cream and the Fort William ones were a similar two tone in orange and cream.

Smith's Tire and Battery Service was located very close to where Tim Horton's is today on Memorial Ave. and the entrance to Shoppers Drug Mart on John and Memorial Ave.

W. F. Bolduc Tire Company was located on Park Street where the North parking lot of the Casino is today. 

One more Fort William one for this post....I believe this has been done before but it is a favourite one of mine.  Directly across from Fort William's original city hall was "City Hall Garage"...a very nice looking service building which also sold and serviced "Durant" automobiles.  The newer building on the same property below both at the North/West corner of Donald and May St. was the original "Hydro" building's offices at one time.

Just one more note to thank everyone for supporting my Hotrods and Jalopies blog here on the Internet and also on my Facebook page.  It is getting difficult to be original anymore as there are so many history sites on the Lakehead on Facebook now.  This blog is the original local history site which has been running now for nine years.  Always keep a lookout for new original vintage photos either historic or vintage racing in your albums and if you so desire, get in touch with me and loan them to scan for more great stories this year and for as long as I'm able.  Thank You, Dave Cano