P7255

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Details

ID Number

P7255

Item Name

Image

Title

Canadian Steel Corporation Main Drain Construction / La construction de la canalisation principale de la société canadienne d'acier Canadian Steel

Title (Fre)

La construction de la canalisation principale de la société canadienne d'acier Canadian Steel

Date

1918/08/09

Description

Black and white photograph of the construction of the main drain for the Canadian Steel Corporation's proposed town of Ojibway; a partially excavated trench runs vertically through the centre of the photograph; a small hut stands in the foreground on the left with its door wide open; a pipe runs from the hut, across the trench and into the right bank; atop the right bank is a set of railroad tracks, on which a crane stands stationary in the background; trees and building materials are visible in the background on both sides of the trench; hand printed in the bottom left corner is: "Canadian Steel Corporation Limited. Townsite Construction Main Drain looking south east from 5th St. Excavating open portion of drain. #89 8-9-18".

History

The Canadian Steel Corporation, a subsidiary of the United States Steel Company, purchased an 1800 acre site around 1917 and an elaborate town was planned to house workers at the plant. Roads were built and fire hydrants installed before the town itself was started and a four-lane divided highway separated the plant site from the town and connected it to Windsor, four kilometres away. The recession of the 1920s led the company to reassess the Canadian plant. Some mills were erected but the residential areas were never started. The depression of the 1930s finally killed the project, although the buildings which had been erected were used for war work in the 1940s. The town, which had been incorporated in 1913, remained a municipality although its population never exceded 100. It was annexed by Windsor in 1966, by which time natural regeneration had created a forest on the town site. Part of the site is now Windsor's nature park and the land planned for the Carnegie steel plant was developed for industry and is now known as the Morton Industrial Park. The residential area is now used by a harness racing complex, a new subdivision and the nature park.

Place made

Canada - Ontario - Ojibway

Collection Name

Museum Windsor

Subjects

5th St. / Rue 5e

Building materials / Matériaux de construction

Canadian Steel Corporation Ltd. / Société canadienne de l'acier Canadian Steel ltd.

City planning / Planification urbaine

Excavation

Hoisting machinery / Grues

Huts / Baraques

Land / Terre

Ojibway (Ont.)

Progress photographs / Photographies Progress

Railroad tracks / Voie ferrée

Sewerage / Réseau d'égouts

Trees / Arbres