the pictures, because some of us obviously are not old enough to remember many of them, but to touch on some of our city's fascinating history.
Progress is mostly a good thing, but much of our history goes by the wayside and trying to remember what once was is important, so that we may pass the information on to our children and grandchildren to help them remember their past.
Here at The Hotrods and Jalopies Generation we try to do just that.
I've recently received more never seen before jalopy racing photos from the CLE track which will be posted soon.
This very first one I don't have a "Now" picture of, but if you study it you will be able to see exactly how downtown Fort William looked in 1892, 126 years ago.....yes our little town did progress quite a bit since then. Many of us have seen this photo before, but not of this quality.
Now we jump ahead to the Brill Trolley Bus era, lightly colored to the original Fort William beige and orange configuration. The Port Arthur ones were beige and maroon, during that time frame. I would place the "then" photo in the early 1950's. The nice rainbow sun spot in the "now" photo is courtesy of google maps. ...and as always, click once or twice on all the photos for enlargements.
Almost every year each of our twin cities would have a very elaborate winter carnival many of which I remember very well. Here we have some great old automobiles in front of Bryan's Department store in the "Victoria Block", and it's all decked out as a trading post of the Voyageur era. The photo is from the early 1950's. The "Now" photo shows the old building's wear and tear with little or no upkeep through the years....These are the type of photos I dislike the most as urban renewal basically killed this area of Fort William's downtown, not to mention the building of the Victoriaville Mall, which blocked off Fort William's main artery.
Here is another beautiful postcard promoting our bustling city's main street of Victoria Ave. This postcard is another much clearer copy, and with a more modern editing system I can make them look a little crisper. The beautiful Commerce Bank building is on the left. A sign saying "Sweet Caporal Cigarettes" is on a cigarette shop (This spot a few years later became The Royal Theatre). The St. Louis Hotel is next, as well as a few buildings on the right that still exist today however not in the greatest of condition. A little further down on the right would be the Avenue Hotel, later to burn down and later again to house the Odeon Theatre. The large prominent building at the most eastern end of Victoria Ave is the Canadian Pacific Elevator "B"....long since gone and before my time.
The White Lunch was an important hang out for school kids and teens from the 1930's to the 1950's. It was pretty much on par with the Lorna Doone which was on Victoria Ave. You could purchase a hamburger nip and a coke for .35 cents after school or after ice skating or roller skating at the Fort William Gardens in the '50's. The photo with the young ladies is a facebook find thanks to Barbara Yurkoski. The advertisement on top was found in my mother's Fort William Collegiate yearbook, and the one on the lower left is from a 1950's newspaper. As it says on the top ad..."Three doors North of Chapples". It would have been placed in the old parking lot on Syndicate Ave as shown in the "Now" photo......however the "Now" photo should actually show the brand new courthouse, which completely engulfs this portion of Syndicate Ave. The YMCA building and the Twin City Gas (Kings Stereo) building are also long gone to urban renewal and the courthouse.
Another better quality "Then" photo of the Passenger Steam Engine at the CNR Station on Vicker's Street...showing the station and the Fort William Gardens behind. The "Now" photo shows a very wide Vicker's Street which once was the home of the station and all the tracks you see here.....for those who haven't seen this photo before, the train would next head south towards Arthur Street, and begin a long turn west behind the Bell Canada and City Telephone buildings, head down the north side of Arthur Street and reconnect with the mainline behind the Kingsway Motel. If you tell a youngster this story they think you're nuts. LOL
Speaking of the Kingsway Motel, here is a picture of the Blue Swan Inn which was also along Kingsway street. It is long gone now and replaced with the Apartment building in the "Now" photo. Kingsway Street was the route you would take if you were heading south on highway 61 and crossing the Swing Bridge to the USA, hence there were a number of motels, some of which are still there along Kingsway St.
The History of May and Southern...
Jumping to the north/west corner of May Street and Southern Avenue we have the Royal Fort Tourist Camp. My friend Ron Limbrick lived there with his mother and father (Alderman Hubert Limbrick). Being close to the fairgrounds many of the circus folk would stay there and Ron remembered as a kid watching gymnasts practicing in their front yard. The property would later be sold to Mike Petlow who owned the Columbia Grill. Mike would build one of the very first art deco drive-in restaurants in Fort William called the Millionaire Drive-In. Like the A&W, they had car hops, hamburger and hot dog eating competitions, danceathons and live bands playing on weekends....but also great food. The property would later revert to the Dairy Queen with new buildings as we see in the last photo.
One final Then and Now in this post is the McKenzie Bridge. Friends and Family had camps along Lake Superior and we would actually ride out bikes out here to their camp for Easter break or during the summer months. In those days our parents surely trusted us or maybe weren't worried as much as parents are today.
The original span bridge across the McKenzie River gorge was quite long on which we traveled to frequent the McKenzie Hotel and Restaurant you see in the background of both photos.
In the most recent photo, they realized that a bridge was actually unnecessary. A huge culvert was installed instead and then the gorge was filled in with rock and dirt. It sure looked simpler and cleaner.
Hope you enjoyed this post and as mentioned before....new never seen before racing photos are coming. Thanks for checking us out. Dave
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