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Rose City Roots · Landmarks

Landmarks

STANDING AND LOST

A guide to buildings and places already told on Rose City Roots, split between what still stands and what is gone. The essays and photographs stay on those chapters. This tab is the index, so a picture already published elsewhere is not repeated here.

Still standing

  • Duff-Baby House, Sandwich. Built in 1798 and owned by the Ontario Heritage Trust. The address listing is noted carefully on Neighbourhoods. The house story is on Sandwich and the New Border.
  • François Baby House, now part of Museum Windsor. A 2005 photograph and a then-and-now are already on Neighbourhoods and Then and now.
  • Willistead Manor, Walkerville, built for Edward Chandler Walker. Pictures and the family account are on Border Cities and Neighbourhoods.
  • Hiram Walker Commemorative Statue, Hiram Walker Parkette, Walkerville, at the northeast corner of Devonshire Road and Riverside Drive East. The statue was unveiled in 2022. The photograph and the short account are just below.
  • Capitol Theatre, still standing downtown. Its survival, against lost houses such as the Palace and the Vanity, is told on Booms and Busts.
  • Assumption Church and the French shore around it. The church is pictured on The French Shore.
  • Jackson Park, including the gardens, gates, monuments and the Lancaster. The park has its own chapter, Jackson Park. The Boer War Memorial also appears on Then and now.
  • Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. Dedication and opening dates, builders, and photographs are on Rails, Ferries and Crossings.
  • Streetcar 351, restored downtown, is noted on that same Crossings chapter, with the last day of streetcar service, 7 May 1939.
  • Mackenzie Hall, built as the Essex County Courthouse. It is named among Sandwich landmarks in city walking-tour material. Photographs and the plaque text are just below.
  • The Sandwich Windmill in Mill Street Park. The photograph is just below.

Lost

  • Prince Edward Hotel, Norton Palmer Hotel, the 1956 City Hall, the Palace Theatre and the Vanity Theatre are already written, with pictures, on Booms and Busts. What replaced the 1956 City Hall is on that chapter as well, and on City Hall and Then and now.
  • Bob-Lo Island amusement buildings and Kenilworth Park are treated on Booms and Busts, which notes where those stories have already been told.
  • Ford City Town Hall, once at Riverside Drive and Drouillard Road, is described in the City's Ford City Walking Tour as gone and replaced by a parking lot, next to Our Lady of the Rosary. We do not yet have a cleared photograph of the hall itself.
  • Other lost places continue to be added to Booms and Busts as sources and rights allow, rather than copied onto a second page.

Hiram Walker Commemorative Statue

Bronze statue of Hiram Walker in a bowler hat, rolled plans in his right hand, standing on whisky barrels on a granite plinth, in Hiram Walker Parkette, Walkerville.
Hiram Walker Commemorative Statue, Hiram Walker Parkette, at Devonshire Road and Riverside Drive East, Walkerville, 11 November 2026. Photo by Kyle Stewart, Windsor News.

The statue stands in Hiram Walker Parkette, on the northeast corner of Devonshire Road at Riverside Drive East. The City lists the address as 300 Devonshire Road. It is bronze and 11 feet tall. The City dates the sculpture itself to 2021. It was unveiled on 2 July 2022.

Sculptor Mark Williams created the figure of Hiram Walker. Sculptor Laura Williams created the whisky barrels. The work was cast in bronze by John Vickers at Hopper Foundry. Mayor Drew Dilkens spearheaded the project. The City's parkette page quotes him saying the statue was commissioned on the 200th anniversary of Hiram Walker's birth. CBC reported that Dilkens announced a plan to commission it in 2016, the year of that 200th birthday, and that an unveiling planned for 2020 was postponed because of the pandemic.

The City describes a larger-than-life statue of the young Mr. Walker, plans in hand, ready to build his community. windsorite.ca, reporting on the day of the unveiling, said it depicts Walker walking from the distillery to the town of Walkerville with plans under his arms.

Sources: City of Windsor, Hiram Walker Parkette · CBC News, 1 July 2022, Windsor to unveil Hiram Walker statue as part of birthday celebrations · windsorite.ca, 2 July 2022, Hiram Walker Statue Unveiled And 206th Birthday Celebration

Mackenzie Hall

The front of Mackenzie Hall, a limestone building with a pediment and three entrance stairs, in Sandwich, 12 November 2026.
Mackenzie Hall, 3277 Sandwich Street, 12 November 2026. Photo by Kyle L. Stewart, Windsor News

Mackenzie Hall stands at 3277 Sandwich Street. The Ontario Heritage Foundation plaque in front of the building says the British transferred the courts of the Western District to Sandwich (Windsor) in 1796, and that the present building, built by stonemason Alexander Mackenzie, housed the Essex County courts until 1963 and opened as Mackenzie Hall, a community and arts centre, in 1985. The Historic Sandwich Town arch plaque, headed 3277 Sandwich Street, says the present limestone building was constructed by Alexander Mackenzie, opened as a county courthouse, and was later named Mackenzie Hall after him. The arch plaque also says the earlier court building remained in service until 1856, when the present limestone building, constructed by Alexander Mackenzie (cornerstone laid in 1855), opened. The City of Windsor history page and Canada's Historic Places give the same span: built in 1855-1856, with the cornerstone laid on 24 May 1855 and the building completed and opened in 1856.

The side of Mackenzie Hall in Sandwich, 12 November 2026.
Mackenzie Hall, side view, 12 November 2026. Photo by Kyle L. Stewart, Windsor News
The lower stone wing and brick block behind Mackenzie Hall, 12 November 2026.
The buildings behind Mackenzie Hall, 12 November 2026. The Ontario Heritage Foundation plaque in front of the hall is titled District Court House and Gaol. Photo by Kyle L. Stewart, Windsor News
A wider view of the front of Mackenzie Hall, from across Sandwich Street, 12 November 2026.
Mackenzie Hall, from across Sandwich Street, 12 November 2026. Photo by Kyle L. Stewart, Windsor News
The Ontario Heritage Foundation plaque titled District Court House and Gaol, in front of Mackenzie Hall, 12 November 2026.
District Court House and Gaol plaque, in front of Mackenzie Hall, 12 November 2026. The plaque was erected by the Ontario Heritage Foundation, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation. A tighter photograph of this plaque is already on Street names. Photo by Kyle L. Stewart, Windsor News

Sources: the Ontario Heritage Foundation plaque titled District Court House and Gaol, photographed 12 November 2026, already on Street names · the Mackenzie Hall plaque on the Historic Sandwich Town arch, already on that page · City of Windsor, Mackenzie Hall history · Canada's Historic Places, Mackenzie Hall (Former Essex County Court House)

The Sandwich Windmill

The Sandwich Windmill, a commemorative replica erected in 1992, in Mill Street Park at Mill Street and Russell Street, 12 November 2026.
The Sandwich Windmill, in Mill Street Park at Mill Street and Russell Street, 12 November 2026. This commemorative replica was erected in 1992. Photo by Kyle L. Stewart, Windsor News

The Sandwich Windmill stands in Mill Street Park, at Mill Street and Russell Street. It is a commemorative replica, erected in 1992. The City of Windsor says that in the 18th century, wind-powered gristmills stood along the Detroit River between Sandwich and Tecumseh, and that Jacques Baby's mill was near this site. The plaque on the structure, and the City monument page, say the replica was erected in 1992 by the Windsor Department of Parks and Recreation with the Sandwich Business Association and provincial and federal job-creation programs.

Sources: City of Windsor, The Sandwich Windmill · City of Windsor, Mill Street Park

A map of memorials and heritage places is on Memorials and heritage places. Heritage conservation districts, including Prado Place and Sandwich, are explained on Neighbourhoods.

Sources: the Rose City Roots chapters linked above · City of Windsor, History of Windsor · City of Windsor, Ford City Walking Tour

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