Now....This one may be difficult. These pictures show the corner of Syndicate and Victoria Ave in Fort William(now Thunder Bay) Ontario. This is considered the southern entrance of Victoriaville...remember?...where our fair city blocked off a major street intersection to build an unpopular shopping mall!!! The top two photos show the older Chapples Department Store building(once called the Grain Exchange building), and the Chapples home store which was built much later after the older building. This was the major corner of commerce in downtown Fort William.
The bottom left photo is taken from almost the same place as the postcard top left photo, and if you look closely at the top left of the new photo the only thing you can see in it that is familiar is the very top of the Chapples Department Store building.....most of the buildings are actually inside Victoriaville.
If you were the mayor back then would you have wasted tax payers dollars on this conglomeration....oh yes, there wasn't enough parking, so they built a multi level parkade mostly in the middle of the street too. The last photo on the bottom right shows the parkade from a further distance away. This mess also shrouds the beautiful federal government building on the right of the last photo at 130 S. Syndicate Ave. At least the feds didn't ruin the facade of their building. Sadly enough, Victoriaville could have been a wonderful place with quaint shops and boutiques, but it has become only a skeleton of its formal self with poor planning....so....if its not working, tear it down and avoid the high maintenance costs.
Victoriaville....ah yes...I could say more....so much more!....but I will end with that!....sorry to ramble on!
In closing and on the lighter side...don't you love all the old shoe-box Fords in the top left postcard photo and one more b&w shot of our wonderful electric powered Brill buses? Oh....for the old days.
Click pics to enlarge.
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