Go grab yourself a ‘Cup of Joe’ and pull up a chair and let’s chat. I want to take a trip with you down my West End memory lane.
On Tuesday, February 23, I joined my colleagues from Biz X magazine in assisting “Our West End,” a grassroots neighbourhood organization with their first-ever BIZ West Networking Night, an event modeled after our very own successful Biz Mixer.
Our West End is committed to making West Windsor a better place to live, work and play. Their philosophy is one of community engagement and empowerment. They believe real change comes from the bottom-up and can only be lasting when the community works together towards a common purpose.
For more details about the actual event that night, check out our Biz X story on our website.
When I was invited to attend I was thrilled because the first six years of my life were lived in the very heart of Old Sandwich Towne, a part of the City of Windsor that I hold close and dear to my heart. Living there in the early to mid-1950s was a magical time for me, as I suppose it is for all persons reflecting upon their early years of life. But Sandwich was indeed very special.
I was born in 1952 and my parents had just moved to 411 Mill Street, the historic Alan Manor, previously named the Mason-Girardot Home. This stately Victorian Italianate style house was built about 1879 with striking design features including a detailed façade and ornate wooden porches and bracketed eaves. It’s history is described by the City of Windsor in the Sandwich Walking Tour:
“George W. Mason was a prominent merchant in Sandwich in the late 1800’s, having immigrated from Indiana in the 1860’s. He and his sons all held the post of Mayor of Sandwich, George in 1892, son Willis in 1888-89, and son Clarence from 1903 to 1906. Francis Girardot, son of Theodule, bought the Mason house in 1895. Francis was the owner of a tobacco store on Ouellette Avenue. The Victorian Italianate house has characteristics of the Second Empire design. Mason-Girardot is distinguished by its detailed facade. The carved entryway is supported by square, decorated columns. The keystone motif above the frame of the windows is repeated on the hooded window on the third floor. The cornice is boxed with frieze and brackets and the roof, recently restored, is metal.”
Cecile Girardot owned the house in the 1950s when my family lived there. She was the daughter of Francis Girardot who had passed on a number of years before. Cecile was not a blood relative of mine, but because of the close friendship she enjoyed with my parents, I knew her only as ‘Aunt’ Cecile. She lived on the Peter Street side of the home, while the McParland family lived at 411 Mill Street, the east side of the house.
As a three year-old, I recall my Aunt Cecile’s mother living with her. ‘Granny’ Girardot was an elderly and infirmed woman who was cared for by my Aunt Cecile, and her housekeeper, Mrs. Hayes, who lived just a few houses away down on Peter Street. It was shortly before my sixth birthday that Granny Girardot passed away. Her body was waked in the front parlor of their family home.
Aunt Cecile and her mother were like one big family with ours. There were no doors that separated our living quarters from theirs, only floor-length velvet curtains. I would frequently wander into my Aunt Cecile’s residence to visit with her and Granny. I will never forget sneaking into the front parlor the night Granny was waked. All the visitors had left for the evening after the viewing and Aunt Cecile had retired to bed. I sneaked from my bedroom down to their front parlor to spend some final moments alone with my beloved Granny, moments forever cherished and never forgotten.
My father was a bus driver for the SW & A. For 30 years he drove the Crosstown bus which he would pick up each day by walking out the front door of our Mill Street house and proceeding 30 steps or so down the sidewalk to the bus depot. He would pass by our house seven times a day and I would often hop on his bus and travel the route with him down Wyandotte Street to Drouillard Rd. where the bus would turn around and reverse its course to its final destination called the ‘Sandwich Loop’ on Sandwich Street. This was next door to the Lido Tavern, originally known as the Chappell House (during the rum running years), and lastly known as President’s Choice Club.
When I would ride the bus with my father, I would sit immediately behind his driver’s seat and be the unofficial fare box flusher of the bus fares and tickets deposited by riders. I felt like a real ‘big shot’ because I had such an important job to perform. And my dad was the bus driver!
These are just a few of the early memories I have of my time in Olde Sandwich Towne. In future blogs I will discuss many other memories that I have of this historic and enchanted community. I will also share my thoughts and views on the years of neglect it has suffered and discuss the amazing potential it has to rediscover the grandeur of its earlier days.
There is no doubt in my mind that Sandwich, in spite of its aging and transitory population, is still one of the great treasures of the City of Windsor. So any chance I get to revisit my childhood roots and help promote this community, I will.
I’ve always said, and will continue to say, that Windsor’s West End is the best end!
