CHATHAM, Ontario

[flar]

Chatham is the administrative centre of Chatham-Kent, formerly Kent County. Perhaps you have passed it on the 401 and wondered what was there.

When I posted these photos on another site, I was accused of making Chatham look better than it is. This is because I focused on downtown Chatham and a neighbourhood of stately Victorian-era homes just west of there rather than my usual warts-and-all approach. That said, all these photos are actually from Chatham, whose downtown has improved quite a bit in the last ten years or so. The rest of Chatham looks at lot like Wallaceburg, and I'm sure you've all seen a bunch of 1.5 storey vinyl sided houses before, so use your imagination.

These photos were taken at the beginning of March.

Thames River

Rowhouses are fairly rare in this part of Ontario

Plenty of beautiful old homes

Ursuline College, aka "The Pines", a Catholic high school.

 

[Hipster Duck]

Wow, other than Stratford, Chatham looks like it's the Victorian highlight of SW Ontario. The city looks like it was very well-off in the 1890s.

"The Band" hail from Chatham, right? Do they have a plaque, or something?

 

[flar]

See I made it look too good Cities like Woodstock or Brantford blow Chatham away architecturally.

I don't think The Band is from Chatham. Trying to think of famous people from Chatham, I could only come up with Fergie Jenkins, baseball Hall of Famer and Cy Young winner in 1971.

 

[simply Dan]

Wow... very nice pics! Darkstar and I have a friend who works for Corrections Canada in Chatham and we were thinking of going out for a visit at some point this summer. Southwestern Ontario has so many wonderful small towns that look like they are frozen in time... holding on to their quaint Victorian past.

 

[ShonTron]

Woodstock has the best downtown in Southwestern Ontario, with Stratford a very close second. Chatham isn't bad (I notice you left out the downtown mall!), St. Thomas is interesting as well.

Brantford has some interesting architecture, but the last few times I was there, downtown still looked like it was hit by a neutron bomb.

Kingston has the best of Eastern Ontario, though Brockville and Belleville aren't bad, and I hear Perth is handsome. Cornwall's downtown should be an embarrassment to that city.

 

[simply Dan]

You forgot to mention Guelph... very handsome downtown.

 

[ShonTron]

I don't quite consider Guelph to be in Western Ontario, more a part of the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Otherwise, I would include Peterborough, Cobourg and Port Hope (all with nice downtowns) in Eastern Ontario. Kitchener/Waterloo is the boundary in my mind.

So Guelph was no oversight - I think it has a great downtown.

 

[simply Dan]

Gotcha.

 

[Skeezix]

Kingston has the best of Eastern Ontario, though Brockville and Belleville aren't bad, and I hear Perth is handsome. Cornwall's downtown should be an embarrassment to that city.

In Eastern Ontario, Merrickville is really nice.

 

[Observer Walt]

Kingston has got to be the best city in Ontario for "heritage" properties. It's one of the oldest cities of any size, if not the oldest, in the province. Woodstock is very nice as well.

Brantford has a few nice-looking old buildings, including an impressive old armoury anchoring one end of the downtown district, but the main downtown shopping street is marred by many derelict buildings. They have an "Eaton Centre" which sucked the life out of the business district, as in some other Ontario cities. They also had the unusual situation of an absentee owner who bought up a number of downtown retail properties and then just let them deteoriorate. There has been a bit of improvement in recent years, especially with Wilfrid Laurier University establishing a satellite campus in downtown Brantford, but they still have a ways to go.

 

[flar]

Yeah, Brantford is pretty rough looking, but it has a great diversity of buildings. I've always been impressed with Woodstock, especially for its size. Many of the towns in "central" southern Ontario have impressive architecture, especially along the Grand River and its tributaries. Extreme southwestern Ontario is generally pretty plain though, Chatham being the exception.

I have photos of Woodstock, Brantford and many other cities in Ontario that I'll post in the coming weeks. Nothing from eastern Ontario though, I hardly ever go east of Toronto unless it's all the way to Ottawa or Montreal.

 

[nicetommy]

Great Pics! I grew up in Chatham... seeing all your pictures brought back lots of memories of home

 

[Long Island Mike]

Chatham,Ontario

Flar: Good tour nontheless of Chatham! You mentioned Ferguson Jenkins-who pitched mainly in the 70s for the Chicago Cubs-he was the first person from Chatham that I thought of. How large is the black population in cities in SW Ontario? The reason I ask is that SW Ontario was one of the "destinations" of the "Underground Railroad" for freedom access back in the 1860s-1870s from Southern USA slave states. Those rowhouse shots are neat-how old do you think they are? One thing that I have noticed about many older Ontario older downtowns is alot of brick and stone construction-those older buildings clearly were made to last! LI MIKE

 

[EnviroTO]

I took VIA from Chatham to Toronto recently and VIA (which is the only regular user of the line between Chatham and Windsor now as CN takes the south route through Essex) has really let the rail line deteriorate inside the city limits. I should have taken a picture of the tracks flexing severely as the train pulled into the station due to rotting wood ties. The train runs very slowly within the city so the risk is minimal I guess, once out of the city it speeds up quite a bit. If they let it deteriorate too much though I worry it will be about an inefficient as the line running London - K/W - Toronto.

 

[flar]

How large is the black population in cities in SW Ontario? The reason I ask is that SW Ontario was one of the "destinations" of the "Underground Railroad" for freedom access back in the 1860s-1870s from Southern USA slave states.

Uncle Tom's Cabin is located in Dresden, which is about 10 min east of Wallaceburg and 20 minutes north of Chatham. This was the home of Josiah Henson, who escaped slavery and provided refuge for others on the underground railway. It's a museum now. There are quite a few black families in Dresden and Chatham that can trace their roots back to the underground railway. Dresden is over 10% black, Chatham less than 3% and Wallaceburg 1% (Historically Wallaceburg was unwelcoming to blacks). Other than that, SW Ontario is almost entirely white. There are very few recent immigrants of any colour outside London and Windsor.