Windsor, Essex, Ontario, Canada (Assumption) (Sandwich) (Walkerville)
Windsor

Windsor, Ont, incorporated as a city in 1892, population 210 891 (2011c), 216 473 (2006c). The City of Windsor is Canada's southernmost city and is located on the DETROIT RIVER in the extreme southwest corner of the province. Lying directly south of Detroit on the rich agricultural peninsula nestled between Lakes ERIE and ST CLAIR, Windsor is an international gateway through which millions of foreign visitors enter the country each year.

Windsor has grown from the coalescing of a chain of separate communities along the Detroit River and Lake St Clair and from spreading inland to the south, and today its Census Metropolitan Area includes the towns of Tecumseh, Essex and LAKESHORE; the village of St Clair Beach; and the townships of Sandwich West and South Maidstone, Rochester and Colchester North.

Settlement
The area was visited by Jesuit missionaries and French explorers in the 17th century, and permanent settlement followed Cadillac's founding of Detroit. The first land grants for settlement were made in 1749. French settlers were augmented by English-speaking LOYALISTS in the 1780s. By the 1820s the introduction of steamships on Lake Erie, the opening of the Erie Canal and WELLAND CANAL and regular stage service from the east stimulated frontier expansion westward. The ferry connection with Detroit led to the establishment of a small hamlet around the ferry dock. Known variously as the Ferry, Richmond and south Detroit, the community in 1836 agreed upon Windsor, with its Loyalist and British associations.

Development
With the arrival of the GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY in 1854 the village was incorporated; it reached town status 4 years later. Initially, there were barriers to international commerce and travel, eg, a difference of gauge between US and Canadian railways, but in the 1860s standardized gauges and the development of huge ferries capable of transporting entire trains allowed cargoes and passengers to pass directly across the river. By then Windsor had also become a service centre for the surrounding agricultural area. The railway network was completed in 1910 with the opening of a railway tunnel under the river.

Industrial activity began upriver in Walkerville, a company town (inc 1890) developed by Hiram WALKER around his distillery. In 1904 Ford Motor Co of Canada was established just east of Walker's distillery, creating the industry that would become the area's economic lifeline. Through the early 20th century, Ford, General Motors, Chrysler and a host of long-forgotten auto companies and parts plants helped make the area the "Auto Capital of the British Empire."

With hundreds of American firms taking advantage of favourable tariff policies, the area experienced unparalleled prosperity and optimism. The new auto age was capped by the opening of the Ambassador Bridge (1929) - the world's longest international suspension bridge - and the Detroit-Windsor Auto Tunnel (1930) - the only international vehicular tunnel in the world...

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Visit Windsor, Essex, Ontario, Canada (Assumption) (Sandwich) (Walkerville)
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.