(Redirected from City of Windsor)
'Windsor' is the southernmost city in
Canada and lies at the western end of the heavily populated
Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Windsor is located directly south of
Detroit and is separated from that city by the
Detroit River. The city has views of the Detroit skyline.
Windsor-Detroit is the busiest commercial border crossing in North America, with the
Ambassador Bridge carrying 27 percent of the total trade between the U.S. and Canada.
[1] The region marks the only border crossing where entering the mainland
United States from Canada involves travelling north. The current mayor of Windsor is
Eddie Francis.
History
:''See also:
Neighbourhoods of Windsor, Ontario.''
Mackenzie Hall
Windsor was first settled in 1748 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 (which is pronounced by locals as Pee-ree), Langlois, Marentette and Lauzon. There is a significant French speaking minority in Windsor and the surrounding areas. Many of them are in the
Lakeshore area. The current street system of Windsor (grid with elongated blocks) reflects the French method of agricultural land division where the farms were long and narrow, fronting along the river.
Duff-Baby House
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 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 1798. 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.
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.
Ontario Superior Court of Justice at Windsor.
'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.
[2]
Economy
The Chrysler Assembly plant
Windsor competes with
Oshawa, Ontario for the title of automotive capital of Canada, with Windsor housing the
Chrysler Canadian headquarters, and Oshawa housing the
General Motors Canadian Headquarters. All welcome signs at entrances to the city read "Windsor: The Automotive Capital of Canada". Industries include the
Chrysler mini-van assembly plant, several
Ford Motor Company engine and casting plants, the
General Motors transmission plant and the
Hiram Walker Canadian Club plant, along with a number of smaller
tool and die and parts manufacturers that supply the larger plants. Windsor is also known as a global leader in the building of molds for the plastic injection.
Labour union membership is traditionally very high in Windsor, (currently around 25%); and both of the city's current federal
Members of Parliament are members of the
New Democratic Party. The
Canadian Auto Workers union has a strong and influential presence in the city. Windsor is also home to the Great Lakes Regional Office of the
International Joint Commission, which is housed in the
Bank of Commerce Building, a 15-storey tall bank tower owned by the
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
Demographics
A mural at McDougall Ave and Wyandotte St celebrates Windsor citizens of African heritage.
In the 2006 Canadian
census, the city had a population of 218,473 and its official metropolitan area (consisting of Windsor,
Tecumseh,
Amherstburg,
LaSalle and
Lakeshore) had a population of 323,342
[3]. In March 2007,
Statistics Canada released the latest census information and metropolitan Windsor's population had grown 7.3% since 2001
[4].
Windsor attracts many immigrants from around the world. It is the fourth most diverse city in Canada with over 20% of its residents classified as foreign-born.
According to the 2001 census, the Windsor metropolitan area had a population that was 49.3% male and 50.7% female. Children under five accounted for approximately 6.3% of the resident population of metro Windsor, compared to 5.8% in Ontario and 5.6% for Canada overall. Persons of retirement age (65 and over for males and female) accounted for 14.1% of the resident population in metro Windsor compared with 12.9% for Canada overall. The average age in metro Windsor is 36.0 years compared to 37.6 years for Canada. The population density of metro Windsor is 1728 people per square kilometre compared with an average of 12.6 for Ontario.
Government
Windsor is one of the few communities in Canada that has traditionally elected
New Democratic Party members to the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the
Canadian House of Commons. The city's history as an industrial centre has given the New Democrats (a party partially founded, governed and supported by
labour unions), a dedicated voting base. During federal and provincial elections where NDP members do poorly nationally, Windsorites have maintained the party's local representation in the respective legislatures. The
Liberal Party of Canada also has a strong electoral history in the city. Canada's twenty-first
Prime Minister Paul Martin was born in Windsor. His father
Paul Martin (Sr.), a federal
cabinet minister in several portfolios through the Liberal governments of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, was first elected to the House of Commons from a Windsor riding in the 1930s. Martin (Sr.) practised law in the city and the federal building on Ouellette Avenue is named after him.
Eugene Whelan was a Liberal cabinet minister and one-time Liberal party leadership candidate elected from Essex County in the 1980s. Other public monuments to Liberal Cabinet Ministers include a recent bust of
Herb Gray at the foot of Ouellette Avenue near Dieppe Park. Gray was a MP from 1962 through 2003, winning thirteen consecutive elections from the same riding which made him the longest serving MP in Canadian history.
[5].
Current representation
Windsor City Hall
Currently, Windsor's
Mayor is
Eddie Francis, a
Lebanese-Canadian. Windsor is governed under the
Council-Manager form of
local government, and includes the elected
City Council, and mayor, and an appointed Chief Administrative Officer. The city is divided into five
wards, with two councillors per ward. They are: Ward 1 (South Windsor), 2 (West Side), 3 (Downtown), 4 (East Windsor), and 5 (Far East Side). The mayor serves as the city's chief executive officer, as well as its ceremonial head. Day-to-day operations of the government are carried out by the Chief Administrative Officer.
At the
provincial and
federal levels, Windsor is divided into two ridings:
Windsor West and
Windsor—Tecumseh. The city is currently represented in the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario by two
Liberal members:
Member of Provincial Parliament Sandra Pupatello (Windsor West), and
Dwight Duncan (representing Windsor—Tecumseh).
Federally, Windsor West was a longtime Liberal stronghold under
Herb Gray, while
Windsor—Tecumseh has traditionally been a Liberal-
NDP swing riding. Both ridings are currently represented in the federal Parliament by NDP
Members of Parliament Brian Masse (Windsor West), and
Joe Comartin (Windsor—Tecumseh).
Climate
:''See also:
Weather Records in Windsor, Ontario.''
Windsor has a
humid continental climate (
Koppen climate classification ''Dfa'') with four distinct seasons. The yearly average temperature is 10°
C (50°F), the coldest month being January with an average high of -1°C (30°F) and the warmest being July with an average high of 29°C (84°F). The coldest temperature ever recorded in Windsor is -29°C (-20°F) and the warmest is 40°C (104°F).
Winters are fairly cold and wet with an average of 126 cm (48
inches) of snow. Located away from the lake effect snowbelts, Windsor receives less snow than most cities in the Great Lakes region
[4] though there are several major snowfall events each winter.
Snowstorm in December, Windsor
Summers are often hot and humid and thunderstorms are common. Windsor is Canada's leader in days with lightning, haze, humidity, and temperatures over 30°C (86°F). Overall, summers in Windsor are some of the warmest in Canada (there are some cities in British Columbia's Interior that have a higher average maximum July temperature, but have lower minimum temperatures). Windsor's annual precipitation is 825 mm (32 inches) and is relatively consistent throughout the year.
'Tornadoes'
The strongest and deadliest tornado to touch down in Windsor was an
F4 in 1946. Windsor was the only Canadian city to experience a tornado during the
Super Outbreak of 1974, an F3 which killed nine people at the Windsor Curling Club. Windsor was grazed in 1997 by the
Southeast Michigan Tornado Outbreak, with one tornado (an F1) forming east of the city causing some local street flooding. The waters of Lake Erie, The Detroit River, and Lake St. Clair act as a slight natural deterrent to tornadoes but also add humidity and instability to the warm summer air thus fuelling strong thunderstorms. Tornadoes have been recorded crossing the
Detroit River (in 1946 and in 1997), and
waterspouts are regularly seen over
Lake St. Clair and
Lake Erie in autumn.
Cityscape
Main articles: Parks in the city of Windsor, Ontario
Windsor's Department of Parks and Recreation
[ Parks and Facility Operations ] maintains 3,000
acres (12
km²) of green space, 180 parks, 40 miles (64 km) of trails, 22 miles (35 km) of sidewalk, 60 parking lots, vacant lands, natural areas and forest cover within the city of Windsor, as well as the bike trails, bike lanes, and bike-friendly streets. The largest park is Mic Mac Park, which can accommodate many different activities including baseball, soccer, biking, playground for children, and his home to two large water slides. Windsor has numerous bike trails that criss-cross the city, the largest being the Ganatchio Trail on Windsor's far east side. In recent years, city council has pushed for the addition of bicycle lanes on city streets to provide links throughout the existing trail network.
The Windsor trail network is linked to
LaSalle, Ontario's trail network ("LaSalle Trail") in the west end, and will eventually be linked up to the
Chrysler Canada Greenway (part of the
Trans Canada Trail), with a second branch to the trail via LaSalle within the next 10-15 years. As a direct result from the city's portion of casino revenues, an upgraded landscaped trail has been filled with various modern and post-modern
sculptures from artists in
Essex County. Families of elephants (see picture), penguins and horses, among other themes intersect the trail.
Upgrades
Art lines Windsor's river bike trail.
On
June 28,
2007, the ''
Windsor Star'' reported that
Windsor City Council has approved the reconstruction of an aging rail overpass that at the intersection of Wyandotte Street and Drouillard Road. A second rail overpass between Drouillard Road and
Walker Road will be removed a few months afterward. The overpass was built in the late 1930s and is nearing the end of its operational life. The rail bridge contains three tracks which are used by nearly a dozen
VIA Rail trains per day and by the occasional
Canadian National Railway train hauling goods to and from the
Hiram Walker and
Canadian Club distilleries. Traffic will be severely impacted as approximately 20,000 vehicles cross the intersection daily. Included in this project is a plan to repaint and upgrade the concrete
retaining walls along both streets on their downward approaches towards the rail overpass.
The Wyandotte Street overpass just west of Drouillard Road will be torn down and removed, allowing Wyandotte Street to meet
Walker Road at-grade instead of sloping upwards westbound to meet it from underneath. This rail overpass has been abandoned since 1988 and will be filled-in once its concrete retaining walls are removed.
On July 11, 2007 the ''Windsor Star'' reported that Walker Road would be closed for the long-anticipated grade-separation at Grand Marais Road near the Chrysler Minivan Assembly Plant. It will remain closed until November 2008 when Grand Marais Road will be re-opened as a cul-de-sac with no access to Walker Road.
Culture and tourism
Casino Windsor's hotel.
Casino Windsor's gaming floor.
Windsor tourist attractions include
Casino Windsor, a lively downtown, Little Italy, the Art Gallery of Windsor, the
Odette Sculpture Park,
Ojibway Park, and nearby
Point Pelee National Park. Windsor was a major entry point into Canada for refugees from slavery via the
Underground Railroad and a major source of liquor during American
Prohibition. The Capital Theatre in downtown Windsor had been a venue for feature films, plays and other attractions since 1929, until it declared bankruptcy on March 14, 2007.
Windsor's nickname is the "Rose City" or the "City of Roses" and the city is noted for its several large parks and gardens found on its waterfront. The Queen Elizabeth II Sunken Garden is located at Jackson Park in the central part of the city. A WWII era
Lancaster Bomber was displayed on a stand in the middle of Jackson Park for over four decades, but has since been removed for restoration. This park is now home to a mounted
Spitfire replica and a
Hurricane replica.
Of the parks along Windsor's waterfront, the largest is the five-kilometre (three mile) stretch overlooking the Detroit skyline. It stretches from the
Ambassador Bridge to the
Hiram Walker Distillery. The western portion of the park contains the
Odette Sculpture Park which features over 30 large-scale contemporary sculptures for public viewing, along with the Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The central portion contains Dieppe Gardens, Civic Terrace and Festival Plaza, and the eastern portion is home to the
Bert Weeks Memorial Gardens. Further east along the waterfront is
Coventry Gardens, across from Detroit's
Belle Isle. The focal point of this park is the
Charles Brooks Memorial Peace Fountain which actually floats in the Detroit River and has a coloured light display at night. The fountain is the largest of its kind in North America and symbolizes the peaceful relationship between Canada and the United States.
Art Gallery of Windsor overlooking riverfront rock gardens
Every summer Windsor co-hosts the two-week-long
Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival, which culminates in a gigantic fireworks display that celebrates
Canada Day and the American
Independence Day. The fireworks display is among the world's largest and is held on the final Wednesday in June on the Detroit River between the two downtowns. Each year, the event attracts over a million spectators to both sides of the riverfront.
Reputations for cars (see Chrysler HQs) and 'sin' come together in one picture.
Chrysler's Canada HQ in downtown Windsor, as seen from Dieppe Gardens along the riverfront.
Windsor has also been the place where many metro Detroiters find what is forbidden in the United States. With the minimum
legal drinking age at twenty-one in Michigan and nineteen in Ontario, a number of nineteen and twenty year-old Americans frequent Windsor's bars. The city also became a gaming attraction with
Casino Windsor's opening in 1994, five years before casinos opened in Detroit. In addition, one can purchase
Cuban cigars, less-costly prescription drugs, certain imported foods, and other items not available in the United States.
Often dubbed Sin City, Windsor is also known for its vast array of adult entertainment establishments. Some of the more popular "retreats" are Cheetah's, Jason's, Studio 4, Silvers, The Million Dollar Saloon, and for the women - Danny's.
Windsor is also home to many great restaurants. Windsor is known for its great pizza. Another local legend is the Chicken Delight served up at a local greasy spoon type sports pub named "The Penalty Box". A good, up-to-date guide, complete with menus, reviews, profiles and event listings, can be found at
WindsorEats.com.
A complete listing of local events and festivals can be found in
The Windsor & Essex County Events Directory.
Media
A-Channel studio on Ouellette Avenue.
Windsor Star offices on Ferry Street, in downtown.
Windsor is considered part of the Detroit television and radio market for purposes of territorial rights. Due to this fact, and its close proximity to
Toledo and
Cleveland, radio and television broadcasters in Windsor are accorded a special status by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, exempting them from many of the
Canadian content ("CanCon") requirements most broadcasters in Canada are required to follow. The CanCon requirements are sometimes blamed in part for the decline in popularity of Windsor radio station
CKLW, a 50,000 watt
AM radio station that in the late 1960s (prior to the advent of CanCon) had been the number one radio station not only in Detroit and Windsor, but also in Toledo and Cleveland.
Windsor is also exempt from
concentration of media ownership rules: all of its commercial broadcast outlets are owned by a single company,
CTVglobemedia, although
Blackburn Radio-owned
CKUE-FM has a
broadcast translator on 100.7 FM in Windsor, as well as an office located at Wyandotte St. E and Walker Rd. in Walkerville.
Radio
★ 540
AM -
CBEF,
La Première Chaîne
★ 580 AM -
CKWW,
oldies
★ 800 AM -
CKLW,
news/
talk
★ 1550 AM -
CBE,
CBC Radio One
★ 88.7
FM -
CIMX, ''89X''
modern rock
★ 89.9 FM -
CBE,
CBC Radio Two
★ 91.5 FM -
CJAM,
University of Windsor campus radio
★ 93.9 FM -
CIDR, The River 93.9''
adult contemporary
★ 100.7 FM -
CKUE, ''The Rock''
active rock (
rebroadcaster of a station from
Chatham-Kent)
★ 103.9 FM -
CJBC-2,
Espace Musique
See also .
Television
★ Channel 9 -
CBET,
CBC
★ Channel 22 -
CIII,
Global Television, from
Stevenson,
northeast of
Wheatley
★ Channel 32 -
CICO-32,
TVOntario
★ Channel 54 -
CBEFT,
SRC
★ Channel 60 -
CHWI,
A-Channel
See also stations in the Detroit, , and markets.
Curiously, Windsor doesn't receive a clear over-the-air signal from
CTV.
CKCO-TV's
Sarnia translator only puts a marginal signal into the city, but is available on cable.
Windsor and most of
Essex County, Ontario also receive
television stations from
Toledo, Ohio (
WTOL,
WTVG,
WNWO,
WGTE, and
WUPW), and the southern part of the county receives some of
Cleveland, Ohio's television stations (
WKYC-TV,
WEWS-TV,
WJW,
WOIO,
WQHS-TV and
WUAB). Only
WTOL,
WTVG, and
WNWO are carried on
cable services. There are times that
WILX-TV channel 10 from
Lansing, Michigan, can be seen, albeit weakly, in Windsor. The city also gets marginal signals from
CIII-TV,
CHCH-TV, and
CFMT-TV, all from
London.
Also see Detroit,
WDIV,
WXYZ,
WJBK
In September 2003, television production company Riggi Media International Inc., created the series ''Profiles of the Powerful'' on
TVCogeco, showcasing the leaders of the Windsor community through their acts of business, charitable works, and personal achievements. Running for three years, it was acclaimed by the viewership in Windsor and Essex County as chronicling the history of Windsor for years to come.
Print
Windsor and its surrounding area is served by the ''
Windsor Star'', a daily newspaper operated by
CanWest Global Communications.
On April 10, 2007 Rogers Communications bid $135 million to purchase Windsor, London, Wingham and Ottawa A-Channel television stations from CHUM.
Film
A number of scenes featuring '
Harrison Ford' in the 1990 film ''
Presumed Innocent'' were filmed in Windsor's '
Coventry Gardens'.
The house in the 1990 film ''
Presumed Innocent '' is located on Riverside Dr. just west of the Johnnie Walker Distillery in Windsor.
The scenes of the '
Renaissance Center' in ''
Regarding Henry'' (1991) were shot from Windsor, Ontario.
Windsor, Ontario is featured in the backdrop of
Tony Scott''s 1993 film ''
True Romance''. Windsor can clearly be seen in the background during the '
Christian Slater/
Dennis Hopper trailer scene along the ''
Detroit River''.
The 2000 film ''
Borderline Normal'', featuring
Robin Dunne,
Stephanie Zimbalist,
Corbin Bernsen and
Michael Ironside, is set in Windsor. Many exterior locations, such as Ouellette Avenue, Dieppe Park and the Ambassador Bridge were featured.
The 2002 film ''
Bowling for Columbine'' had several scenes including a snow scene filmed in Windsor, Ontario. Director Michael Moore returned to Windsor to film scenes for his 2007 film ''
Sicko''.
The 2007 film ''Baby Blues'' starring Jenny Levine, Sean O'Neil, Melanie Scrofano, and Michie Mee was shot throughout Windsor, Ontario. The film is scheduled for a Canadian theatrical release and will be in the 2007-2008 festival circuit.
Education
Dillon Hall, University of Windsor
Windsor is home to the
University of Windsor, which is Canada's southernmost university. It is a research oriented, comprehensive university. It has a student population of over 15,000 full-time and part-time undergraduate students and over 1000 graduate students. The university is just east of the
Ambassador Bridge, south of the Detroit River. Windsor is also home to
St. Clair College, a community college.
Windsor is home to two
International Baccalaureate recognized schools,
Assumption College School, a Catholic high school, and
Académie Ste. Cécile International School, a private school. Also, another school, namely Hon. Vincent Massey Secondary School, is renowned in Canada and North America for notable accomplishments in mathematics.
St. Clair College campus on Riverside Drive.
Residents attend schools in the
Greater Essex County District School Board, the
Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, Conseil scolaire de district des écoles catholiques du Sud-Ouest and Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest. Independent faith-based schools include
Maranatha Christian Academy (JK-12),
First Lutheran Christian Academy (preschool-8), and
Académie Ste. Cécile International School (JK-12, including
International Baccalaureate), and Windsor Adventist Elementary School.
Windsor Public Library offers education, entertainment and community history materials, programs and services. The main branch coordinates a
literacy program for adults needing functional literacy upgrading.
Infrastructure
Health systems
Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital.
There are two hospitals in Windsor, Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital and Windsor Regional Hospital. Hotel Dieu Grace is the result of an amalgamation of Grace Hospital and Hotel Dieu in 1994. The merger was a result of the
Government of Ontario’s province-wide policy to consolidate resources into
Local Health Integrated Networks, or LHINs, which aimed to eliminate duplicate services and allocate resources more efficiently and regionally. This policy resulted in the eventual closure of many community-based and historically important hospitals across the province. Accordingly, two of Windsor’s independent hospitals - Metropolitan General Hospital on Tecumseh Road and Windsor Western Hospital on Prince Road were joined to form Windsor Regional Hospital. The original hospital sites remain but are administratively centralized through the new collective structure.
Windsor hospitals have formal and informal agreements with Detroit area hospitals. For instance,
pediatric neurosurgery is no longer performed in Windsor; ''The Windsor Star'' reported in July 2007, Hotel Dieu Grace has formally instituted an agreement with Detroit’s Harper Hospital to provide this specialty and surgery for the dozen patients requiring care annually. Leamington District Memorial Hospital in
Leamington, Ontario serves much of
Essex County, Ontario and, along with the Windsor institutions, share resources with the
Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
Like many northern Ontario communities, Windsor and Essex County experience a shortage of medical doctors. Patients needing a family doctor often wait for years to get one, and thus often seek care through medical walk-in clinics. However, the Essex County Medical Society does lists family doctors accepting patients.
[6] In particular fields, the shortage is more pronounced and recruitment of physicians is a constant preoccupation of the administration, as evident by Leamington District Memorial Hospital’s
website.
Transportation
:''See also:
Roads in Windsor, Ontario, and
Bike trails in Windsor, Ontario.''
Windsor is the western terminus of both
Highway 401, Canada's busiest highway, and of
VIA Rail's
Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. The city is served by
Windsor Airport with regular, scheduled commuter air service by Air Canada Jazz and heavy
general aviation traffic. The
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is located roughly 20-30 minutes across the border in
Romulus, Michigan and is the airport of choice for many Windsor residents as it has regular flights to a larger variety of destinations than Windsor Airport[http://www.aircanada.ca air Canada. Windsor is also located on the
St. Lawrence Seaway, and is accessible to ocean-going vessels.
A VIA train in Windsor crossing Lauzon Road.
Local transportation is handled by
Transit Windsor, the city-owned
bus company, which shares its newly-constructed $8-million downtown depot with
Greyhound Lines. The new depot was opened in late June to correspond with the Summer 2007 Transit Schedule.
Main articles: E.C. Row Expressway
Windsor has completed a municipal highway, E.C. Row Expressway, running from east-west through the city. Consisting of 15.7 kilometres (10
mi) of highway and nine interchanges, the expressway is the fastest way for commuters to travel across the city. E.C. Row Expressway is actually in the Guinness Book of Records as the shortest freeway that took the longest time to build. It is only 16 km (11 miles) long but took more than 15 years to complete, hence the popular local saying "it's 16 kilometers long, took 16 years to build, and fell apart in 16 seconds". The expressway stretches from Windsor's far west end at
Ojibway Parkway east to Banwell Road on the city's border with Tecumseh.
As Windsor's development has sprawled out along the banks of the Detroit river and Lake St Clair, the city is wider than it is deep meaning that the majority of development stretches along the water instead of in-land. Due to this trend, there is a severe lack of east-west arteries compared to north-south arteries. Only
Riverside Drive (even though it is meant to be a scenic route rather than a commuter thoroughfare), Wyandotte Street,
Tecumseh Road and the E.C. Row Expressway serve the over 20 km from the west end of Windsor eastward. All of these roads are already over-burdened with east-west commuter traffic from the booming development in the city's eastern end and suburbs.
The construction of the E.C. Row Expressway split the city in half. There eight north-south thoroughfares (and expressway interchanges) of
Huron Church Road, Dominion Blvd., Dougall Avenue,
Howard Avenue,
Walker Road, Central Ave, Jefferson Blvd and Lauzon Parkway. Including three
bike trails that cross over and under E.C. Row Expressway, the total increases to 11 north-south arteries. The eight roadways are the only means of travelling from the south end of Windsor north. Traffic backups on some north-south roads at the E.C. Row Expressway are common.
Windsor's many rail crossings intersect with these north-south thoroughfares. The Province of Ontario is currently constructed a grade separation at Walker Road and the CP Rail line. Another grade separation is currently under review at Howard Avenue and the CP Rail line. In both cases, the road will travel under the rail lines and both will have below grade intersections with an east-west street. There also plans to widen Banwell Road south of Tecumseh Road to the rail line just south of Intersection Road.
The city is connected to
Essex and
Leamington via
Highway 3, and is well connected to the other municipalities and communities throughout Essex County via the
county road network. Nearly 17,000 vehicles travel on Highway 3 on a daily basis. It is the main route to work for many residents of Leamington, Kingsville and Essex.
Windsor is linked to the United States by the
Ambassador Bridge, the
Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, a
Canadian Pacific Railway tunnel, and the
Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry. The Ambassador Bridge is North America's #1 international border crossing in terms of goods volume: 27% of all trade between Canada and the United States crosses at the Ambassador Bridge.
Ambassador Bridge
Main articles: Ambassador Bridge
A current issue in Windsor is traffic around the Ambassador Bridge. The number of vehicles crossing the bridge has doubled in the past fifteen years (since 1990) and, since the
September 11, 2001 attacks, travelling through customs on the U.S. side takes much longer. The only way to access the bridge or tunnel is from three municipal roads:
Huron Church Road (bridge),
Wyandotte Street (bridge), and
Goyeau Street (tunnel). A large portion of the traffic is 18-wheeler trucks. There have been at times a wall of trucks up to eight kilometres (five miles) long on
Huron Church Road. This road cuts through the west end of the city and the trucks are the source of many complaints about noise, pollution and pedestrian hazards. While in a very good state of repair in most sections, it had the distinction of being number 17 on a list of Canada's worst roads, due to the sheer volume of truck traffic.
Windsor paid world famous traffic consultant
Sam Schwartz to produce a proposal for a solution to this traffic problem. The city councillors have overwhelmingly endorsed the proposal and it was presented to the federal government as the solution that the city officially approves. Unfortunately, not all of the surrounding residents support the plan the city paid for. The problem with the plan is that the proposed roadway would cut through protected green space such as Ojibway Park. The federal government wasn't expecting the city to be able to agree upon a proposal of any sort and are now pushing for short term, cheaper solutions.
On
November 14,
2005, the joint Canadian-American committee studying the options for expanding the border crossing announced that its preferred option was to directly extend
Highway 401 westward, using a new bridge or tunnel to cross the Detroit River and interchange with
Interstate 75 somewhere between the existing Ambassador Bridge span and
Wyandotte. The exact route of this new highway connection has not yet been determined.
[5]
A Michigan State Senator recently told the citizens of Windsor to get rid of the seventeen traffic lights from the 401 to the current bridge and allow Matty Maroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge, to twin his current span due to a cash-strapped Michigan state.
Though usually considered as part of its park system, Windsor also has a fairly extensive
bike trail network. Three trails in particular have been built and extended (
Riverfront Bike Trail,
Ganatchio Bike Trail, and
Little River Extension). These see a great deal of use by citizens in Windsor, and have become a blend of parkland and transportation, as people have begun to commute to work or across downtown on their bicycles.
Sister cities
Windsor has several
sister cities in the world - dates are in parentheses:
★
Lublin,
Poland
★
Saint-Étienne,
France (1963)
★
Fujisawa,
Japan (1987)
★
Coventry,
England (1963)
★
Mannheim, Germany
★
Las Vueltas,
El Salvador
★
Changchun,
China
★
Gunsan,
South Korea
★
Saltillo,
Mexico
★
Ohrid,
Republic of Macedonia
★
Udine,
Italy
★
Granby,
Quebec,
Canada
Windsor also has a very close relationship with fellow
Motor City:
★
Detroit,
Michigan
Sports teams
Windsor Arena "The Old Barn" ''Listed as a Famous Canadian Arena in a Virtual Museum of Canada exhibit''
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Hockey/English/Arenas/windsor.html
Windsor's sports fans tend to support the
major professional sports league teams in nearby
Detroit, but the city itself is home to the following youth, minor league, post-secondary and professional teams:
★ ''
Windsor Spitfires'' (
Ontario Hockey League Major Junior "A")
★ ''
Windsor St. Clair Saints'' (
Major League Hockey Senior "AAA")
★ ''
Windsor AKO Fratmen'' (
Ontario Lacrosse Association Junior "B")
★ ''
Windsor AKO Fratmen'' (
Canadian Junior Football League)
★ ''
Windsor Border Stars'' (
Canadian Soccer League)
★ ''
Windsor Mariners'' (
Ontario Australian Football League)
★ ''
Windsor Lancers'' (
Canadian Interuniversity Sport)
★ ''
St. Clair Saints'' (
Canadian Colleges Athletic Association)
★ ''
Windsor Rogues Rugby''
[6]''(
Ontario Rugby Union (ORU))
★ ''
Windsor FC Nationals'' (
Ontario Youth Soccer League)(
Western Ontario Youth Soccer League)
★ ''
Windsor Fight Team'' (
Mixed Martial Arts)
In addition to these teams, Windsor has been lobbying for a
Canadian Football League franchise. This franchise (if awarded) would play its regular-season home games in Windsor and possibly their playoff games in
Pontiac, a suburb of
Detroit. Current CFL commissioner
Tom Wright met with Windsor
mayor Eddie Francis about possible expansion to Windsor during the run-up to
Super Bowl XL, in which Windsor played a major role although the game itself was held in Detroit. Shortly thereafter, media in the ''
Windsor Star'' and other local news sources criticized this as an unrealistic pipe dream.
Former teams
★ ''
Detroit Cougars'' (
National Hockey League) entire 1926-27 season
★ ''
Windsor Bulldogs'' (
OHA Senior A Hockey League) 1953-1964, won 1963
Allan Cup)
★ ''
Windsor Royals/Bulldogs'' (
Western Ontario Hockey League) now known as
Tecumseh Chiefs
★ ''
Windsor Bulldogs'' (
Canadian Professional Hockey League) 1920s and 1930s
★ ''
Windsor Hornets'' (Canadian Professional Hockey League) 1920s
★ ''
Windsor Gotfredsons'' (
International Hockey League) 1940s
★ ''
Windsor Spitfires'' (International Hockey League) 1940s
★ ''
Windsor Warlocks'' (
Major Series Lacrosse) 2004
★ ''
Windsor Clippers'' (
OLA Senior B Lacrosse League) 1960s
★ ''
Windsor Warlocks'' (
OLA Junior A Lacrosse League) 1970s
Famous people
''Also refer to ''
Business
★
Thomas LaSorda,
CEO of
Chrysler Group
★
Hiram Walker
★
J. Paul Reddam, Academic, businessman, racehorse owner
Sports
★
Aaron Ward,
National Hockey League (NHL) player
★
Oshiomogho Atogwe,
National Football League (NFL) player W.F Herman Green Griffins
★
Reno Bertoia, MLB baseball player
★
Hank Biasatti,
Major League Baseball (MLB) player,
National Basketball Association basketball player
★
Bob Boughner, former NHL hockey player, now head coach and part-owner of
Ontario Hockey League's Windsor Spitfires
★
Robbie McCall, baseball player
★
Sean Burke, NHL hockey player
★
Stubby Clapp, former MLB baseball player
★
Sharon Creelman, field hockey player
★
Scott D'Amore,
TNA Wrestling personality and agent
★
Ken Daneyko, former NHL hockey player
★
Andy Delmore, NHL hockey player
★
Tie Domi, former NHL hockey player
★
John Ferguson Sr, former NHL player and executive.
★
Dan Jancevski, NHL hockey player
★
Ed Jovanovski, NHL hockey player
★
Andy Kopcok, professional paintball player
★
Killer Kowalski, professional wrestler and trainer
★
Tim Kerr, former NHL hockey player
★
Nathan Leno, Professional softball player/Manager -HPAC#2 & Feelgood's
★
Steve Moore, former NHL hockey player
★
Bob Probert, former NHL hockey player
★
Brett Romberg, NFL football player
★
Joel Quenneville, NHL hockey coach and former player
★
Larry Shreve,
National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) professional wrestler known as
Abdullah the Butcher
★
Joe Siddall, former MLB baseball player
★
Jimmy Skinner, 1917-2007 former NHL hockey coach and executive
★
John Tucker, former NHL hockey player
★
Kyle Wellwood, NHL hockey player
★
Ron Wilson, NHL hockey coach
★
Petey Williams TNA Wrestling superstar
★
Gavin Stevenson former MILL now
National Lacrosse League player
Art and entertainment
Capitol Theatre
Windsor Public Library
Windsor's Riverfront walk is lined with sculpture.
★
Garth Hudson, organist and keyboardist for Canadian rock n roll group The Band.
★
James Bondy, entertainer, star of the children's show ''
Ribert and Robert's Wonderworld''
★
Jeff Burrows, drummer of
The Tea Party
★
Stuart Chatwood, bass player of
The Tea Party/composer
★
Ashley Coulter, Canadian Idol 2006 Finalist
★
Susan Cygan, actress, born in Michigan, grew up in Windsor, worked with
Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, now resident in
London
★
Colm Feore, actor
★
Marty Gervais, poet and publisher
★
Gino Gesuale, restaurateur/designer/artist with business partner Jay Souilliere, created 13below, thebeanscaffe, Sam's Pizzeria and NOI Restaurant
★
Sage, musical genius
★
Barbara Gowdy, novelist
★
Richie Hawtin,
techno musician
★
Jeff Martin, former guitarist and lead vocalist of
The Tea Party
★
Jim Mroczkowski, artist/educator
★
Terry Pickford, award-winning Hollywood producer/editor
★
Oliver Platt, television and film actor
★
Jody Raffoul, singer
★
Jack Scott,
rockabilly singer
★
Alec Somerville artist
★
Jay Souilliere, restaurateur/designer with business partner Gino Gesuale, created 13below, thebeanscaffe, Sam's Pizzeria and NOI Restaurant
★
Alexander 'Skip' Spence, composer, multi-instrumentalist, member of
Jefferson Airplane,
Moby Grape
★
Tamia, R&B singer
★
Shania Twain, singer
★
Chris G. Vaillancourt, poet, artist
★
Christian Vincent, actor, dancer, choreographer
Politics
★
Ernie Eves, former
Premier of Ontario
★
Herb Gray, former
Liberal Member of Parliament and former
Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
★
Paul Martin,
Liberal former
Prime Minister of Canada
★
Paul Martin, Sr., longtime federal
cabinet minister and father of the former PM
★
John Swainson,
Governor of Michigan 1961-1963
Sciences
★
David H. Hubel, research scientist and
Nobel Prize winner.
★
Mike Lazaridis, research scientist and CEO of
Research in Motion
See also
★
Casino Windsor (Caesars Windsor)
★
Detroit, Michigan
★
Metro Detroit
★
Windsor-Detroit
★
Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival
★
Windsor - Tecumseh, Ontario Tornado of 1946
★
Super Outbreak#Windsor, Ontario
★
Southeast Michigan Tornado Outbreak
References
1. Ambassador Bridge Crossing Summary (May 11, 2005). ''U.S. Department of Transportation''. Retrieved on May 2, 2007.
2. History of Essex County
3. City of Windsor. ''Demographics''. Available online at: http://www.citywindsor.ca/000503.asp
4. ''National Post''. "2001 census analysis: Highlights" Available online at: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=3ee543f5-8c6b-4de0-acea-b4fe7305a42f
5. Parliament of Canada (website) “History of Federal Ridings since 1867”. (Accessed 17 July 2007).
6. Essex County Medical Society (website). "Doctor's Taking Patients". (Accessed 16 July 2007).
External links
★
City of Windsor - Official site
★
CBC Windsor
★
Windsor Connected - City Guide and Business Directory
★
Cycle Windsor (Also has free online Map of bike network, in PDF format
★
Windsor BUMP: Bike User Master Plan
★
Trans-Canada Trail
★
Community Portal
★
Capitol Theatre
★
upfront magazine
★
Arts Council - Windsor & Region
★
Huron Church Road at WorstRoads.ca
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