Wallaceburg: A very long way from Toronto

[flar]

...about 4 hours to be precise.

For so much of Southern Ontario, especially anywhere near Toronto, recent years have been boomtimes. Not so for this town. Wallaceburg is located about midway between Chatham and Sarnia (if you don't know where those are you have to look it up!). While there is still a strong industrial presence in the town, it has lost over 3000 jobs in the past 15 years. Wallaceburg also happens to be my hometown.

These pictures were taken in April:

This is what surrounds Wallaceburg:

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

some nice looking buildings. great tour!

 

[Hydrogen]

Thanks.

Kinda sad looking, but with good bones hopefully to be revived one day.

One of the busier looking establishments was the Tim's. Some things never change.

 

[ShonTron]

I opened the thread listening to Gord Downie singing a cover of Gordon Lightfoot's Black Day in July. Fit the mood almost.

I've been to Chatham (a lovely town, but I hear it's being hit hard too) and Sarnia (not so lovely), but not Wallaceburg. Looks pretty depressed, much like Welland. Windsor is in the same boat, and International Metropolis sometimes makes Windsor look like it is slowly devolving like its larger cousin across the river.

 

[JasonParis]

Great tour!

Very poignant pic. I think it says it all...

 

[Observer Walt]

Thank you for the tour. Good pictures!

Southwestern Ontario is experiencing a very uneven economy. As already mentioned, Chatham, Windsor, and some other towns including Wallaceburg are stagnant or even declining. The common thread is that they had been pretty dependent on the auto industry. OTOH, London and Sarnia are doing well. Their local economies depend relatively little on this sector.

Flar, I'm guessing that a number of people in Wallaceburg who used to work locally are now commuting to Sarnia.

 

[yyzer]

Kind of sad, but nice tour, flar.....sometimes I think we live in a big bubble here in the GTA, totally outside of the other realities in Canada..

 

[flar]

Flar, I'm guessing that a number of people in Wallaceburg who used to work locally are now commuting to Sarnia.

Wallaceburg's situation is strange. The town had a very diverse industrial base and was a net importer of workers from the surrounding area. Some of those people have found work in Chatham or Sarnia, some have moved away, but many are on social assistance now.

Globalization is partly to blame for the plant closings, but the town really went downhill when the the county of Kent was amalgamated as the city of Chatham-Kent. There's no love lost between Chatham and Wallaceburg, and now everything is based in Chatham. It's not just industry that has declined, the entire town is neglected. There was even a booming tourist industry in Wallaceburg: the river basin used to be full of yachts all summer which supported the downtown businesses. Now there is no longer much in the way of tourist promotion, just as there is no longer a government body to attract and retain industry.

The biggest blow came around 2000 when the Glass Factory closed and was demolished. The Glass Factory's tower was the tallest building in the region and a big part of the town's identity (Wallaceburg was known as the Glasstown).

Here's an old picture of the Glass Factory, with the tower in the background:

Photo credit: Spencer Thorton, courtesy of the Wallaceburg & District Museum



There are still quite a few factories there, mostly in the tool and die industry, but also an iron foundary, sport equipment manufacturer (Hillerich & Bradsby), furnace manufacturer (Olsen) and others. The ones that have been lost included the really big auto parts plants, a glass factory, Waltec, which made bathroom fixtures among other things (you've probably stared at the word "Wallaceburg" for a minute or two before) and food processing (Nestle).

Another interesting thing happening right now: there was an indoor shopping mall in Wallaceburg anchored by Zellers and Sobeys. Zellers closed and the mall was practically empty so about 3/4 of it was torn down last year. Now Wal-Mart is being built in its place. That'll take a few people off social assistance, but probably kill the last of the independent retailers in town.

 

[ShonTron]

That glass plant looks almost like an exact duplicate of the still-active Consumers Glass plant in Brampton.

I figured that the Kent amalgamation didn't help things - really reduced Wallaceburg's role as a lower tier regional centre. Chatham's not doing that great, but it does have the built in advantages of being a middle-tier regional centre, next to the 401 and the seat of a majorly expanded government.

 

[jamesnumber2]

Looks like a good place to buy cheap real estate.

 

[flar]

I've seen the Glass Factory in Brampton, they are nearly identical.

Real estate is unbelievably cheap, I wish there was something for me to do back there, because I could probably afford my dream house.

You can buy a 3 bedroom house for under $40,000:
http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.a...RL=%3fAreaID%3d1482&Mode=0&PropertyID=5745307

 

[Long Island Mike]

Wallaceburg,Ontario

Flar: Good photo tour of your hometown of Wallaceburg,ONT! I looked up where it is-S of Sarnia and E of Lake St.Clair. I noticed a ferry marked up to Michigan nearby-my guess that is the closest border crossing other then Sarnia. WBG looks like it has solid housing stock and just a little rough around the edges-did it lose a large employer recently? Has free trade helped any? You mention that WBG and Chatham do not get along-What is Chatham like in comparison? That first picture of the RR track with girder and gate-what RR is that? Is that #2 picture WBGs Downtown? What is grown on the surrounding farms in the area? SW Ontario has much in common with SE Michigan I recall. LI MIKE

 

[flar]

I noticed a ferry marked up to Michigan nearby-my guess that is the closest border crossing other then Sarnia.

There are two ferries nearby, one from Walpole Island to Algonac, MI and another from Sombra, ON to Marine City, MI. We used to go "across the river" all the time as kids.

WBG looks like it has solid housing stock and just a little rough around the edges-did it lose a large employer recently? Has free trade helped any?

There was no single largest employer but several with 500-600 employees closed: St. Clair Tool & Die, Oxford Automotive, Libbey St.Clair Glass, North American Plastics, and Waltec. NAFTA hurt, some of the places moved to the US and Mexico.

You mention that WBG and Chatham do not get along-What is Chatham like in comparison?

They're much the same except Chatham is bigger. There's a rivalry but Chatham usually wins. It's kind of like Hamilton and Toronto. I have some pictures of Chatham that I'll post sometime, though my Chatham photos make it look a lot nicer than it is because I focused on the much nicer housing stock there. And since amalgamation, all the focus has been on Chatham and its downtown has actually improved.

That first picture of the RR track with girder and gate-what RR is that?

CSX. That gate guards a railroad swing bridge over the Sydenham River.

Is that #2 picture WBGs Downtown?

No, downtown is on the other side of the river. This area is known as The Southside. The Southside used to have town hall, post office and the first school, but everything moved to the north side of the river pre WWII. Not sure why. It's always been a rough neighbourhood. I lived there until I was about 10. The empty lot along the river was the site of a large hotel, the Wallaceburg Inn, which burned about 25 years ago and was demolished about 15 years ago.

What is grown on the surrounding farms in the area?

Everything, Kent and Essex counties have the best farmland in Canada and the climate is very mild. Cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, sugar beets, corn, soybeans, winter wheat and several fruit orchards.

SW Ontario has much in common with SE Michigan I recall.

This is true, Detroit's outer suburbs are only half hour away and Detroit media dominates the area. There are also cross border social ties. And interestingly, Wallaceburg's autoworkers are still part of the UAW. They refused to join the CAW. Residents of the Wallaceburg area share with Michiganders a love of hunting and fishing.