Windsor Then: a pictorial essay of Windsor Ontario's glorious past

This fascinating 100-year photographic collection of Windsor, Ontario from 1860 to 1960, with images culled from the archives of Walkerville Publishing Inc., chronicles the evolution of a sleepy village at the western edge of the British Empire, as it becomes a Canadian industry giant. Though christened Windsor because of its “back-home” familiarity, Canada’s southernmost city was in large part shaped by its close proximity to Detroit, Michigan. The more than 130 photos in “Windsor Then” include images that emerge like a nearly forgotten dream: stubby ferry steamers puffing across the Detroit River, graceful ships cruising up and down the Great Lakes, charming horse-drawn carriages and trolleys giving way to the steel and smoke horse-less variety, rowdy rum runners making their fortunes during the wild days of Prohibition, the harsh reality of the Great Depression sandwiched between two “great” wars, and the rise of the well-to-do and comfortable middle class as Windsor’s auto and tool and die industry matures. Ultimately, what this book reveals is a portrait of a community’s boundless optimism, its innovators as well as simple, hard-working business folk, during an era of remarkable achievement, vigour and great expectations, when anything was possible. And indeed, isn’t Windsor’s story really the story of Canada?