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More Wallaceburg decay

flar said:
^^no doubt, some people in Wallaceburg actually think getting a Walmart is a good thing. So much for the couple of independent retailers left there.
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Hello,

I happened to be trolling the internet and happen to come accross your little place on the net. I was born and raised in Wallaceburg, got married in Wallaceburg. Than moved away from Wallaceburg, I moved away May/04 however we still call it home. I know live in Kingston, and we go down to Wallaceburg a couple times a year. My parents still live in Wallaceburg and probably will till they die.

I will update a few things about Wallaceburg!

The Shell Refinery which was rumored of coming to the area, backed away probably due mainly to the strong Canadian dollar

I will post more tommorow,
 
Part II

- Flar, did an exceptional job picturing the decay of a town that 10 years ago was full of life. I got married in wallaceburg in 1996, and purchased our 1st house in wallaceburg in 1997 moving from London back to Wallaceburg.
Our house was 25 years old 1 story 1000 sq feet nice size lot, we paid $ 78,000 including all appliances. At that time if you went to the store at 11pm you could see lots off traffic, shift changes at the factories kept the streets busy for a small town.
In 1999 we decided to upgrade our house we sold our little house for $ 85,000 and purchased a 2000 sq foot 1 story house for $121,000. Well over the next 5 years the town started spinning in a downwirl spinn. Wallaceburg is or was an automobile spinn off facilty, making springs, moulds, amoung many other parts for the auto manufacturers. As the free trade began to develop and the asian and mexican markets began to florish, little by little was taken away from small towns.
By now it was 2004, we had a little girl and the town was getting more and more depressed. Many of the people I went to school with disappeared to other parts of Canada. Atleast anyone who was educated or had a trade. My wife had an opportunity at the time to take a new job in Kingston, so we took a leap of faith and sold our home for the same price we purchased it for, even know we put well over $ 20,000 in improvements and blood sweet and tears. But it sold fast which is all we wanted since some properties where on the market for a year or longer.
Since we left the town began to spin further down, the only department store in the town Zellers closed the doors. Leaving people with a 30 or 40 minute commute to buy a new toaster.

To update Flar's posting

Job losses:

Name, Employees (1990), Current Status

Waltec, 652, all three plants closed
Eaton Yale, 603, became Oxford Automotive and then closed
North American Plastics, 515, closed
Libbey St. Clair Glass, 427, closed
Benn Iron Foundary, 419, still operating as WABCO
St. Clair Tool & Die, 400, two factories closed, but HQ still in Wallaceburg
Accurcast, 323, closed
Nestle Foods, 234, closed
H.E. Vannatter Tool & Die, 135, open
Solus Tool & Die, 130, open i think
Hillerich & Bradsby, 100, still operating
Venture Industries, 100, closed
Aar-Kel Moulds, 73, closing
Five Star Tool & Die, 52, open
Mylar 2 Moulds, 52, Under Receiver ship
Active Burgess, 50, Closed

Flar, What is your date of birth maybe I know you?

Now the town has basically bottomed out. Walmart did come into town and did give people employment, the town is turning into a retirement town. It has potential and alot of beautiful spots that are not depicted on Flars photos. There are lots of water ways that travell through the town of wallaceburg, that flow into st.clair river and into 2 great lakes. You are basically 10 minutes to michigan, 30 minutes to new baltimore michigan some of the best shopping. 1 hour 15 minutes to Windor Ont, 1 hour 30 minutes to London On, 40 Minutes to Sarnia, 30 Minutes to Chatham. You can buy a really nice house for $ 100,000 which would cost $500,000 in Toronto.
Property taxes are lower about $ 1200 for a $ 100,000 home. For $ 300,00o you can buy a beatiful place on the water.

http://www.riversite.com/Pages/Water Property/St. Clair Parkway.htm

Screw the muskokas how about a beatiful island property basically a 3 hour drive from Toronto.

http://www.riversite.com/Pages/Water Property/Fawn Island.htm

THis is what you get for $ 100, Grand In Wallaceburg!

http://www.riversite.com/Pages/Residential/100,000 to 140,000.htm
 
An update to the plant closings

H&B closed last week they were finally reduced to having all there hockey sticks made over seas including the ones they made custom for Players.
 
David C. said:
H&B closed last week they were finally reduced to having all there hockey sticks made over seas including the ones they made custom for Players.
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Wow I did not hear that yet, my cousin works there, her husband use to work at burgess.

I was watching property values in Wallaceburg increase ovr the last year with speculation of the new plant in Lambton. What a shame its just another kick in the pants.

The thing I miss most of Wallaceburg is the people, I can walk in most places and know somebody. Its not like that in a city, your just another face in the crowd. Everyone in wallaceburg knows everyone, even the crazy guy with the long hair that flares his arm every 10 minutes or so. Robin from Community living, everyone knows him. But in the city its not the case, So David C., take it this way the worse is done for Wallaceburg. I wish you and your family the best!
 
Thanks for the updates dfvader and David C. I still have family in Wallaceburg, so I hear a bit but I was surprised that H&B was closing.

btw, I graduated from WDSS in 1993.
 
flar said:
Thanks for the updates dfvader and David C. I still have family in Wallaceburg, so I hear a bit but I was surprised that H&B was closing.
Click to expand...

Actually talked to my mother last night she said that H& B was unde rbank protection right now looking for a buyer which basically means they will be closed within the next 6 months.


flar said:
btw, I graduated from WDSS in 1993.
Click to expand...

I graduated from WDSS in 1991, so I guess you would have been class mates with scott baker and smeltzer (till he killed himself) cant think of anyone else at this time
 
Yeah I just spoke with the driver that does pickups from there for Canadian tire she said the same thing they have a staff of about 20-25 people left. Some Management have left already.
 
I'm pretty sure a lot of these small Ontario towns will again flourish & prosper as aging baby boomers move out of the larger cities for a calmer environment. Having said that, if the towns just give up while they're going through this transition, then why would anybody want to move there. There's a great story on Annapolis, Nova Scotia in Saturday's National Post which talks about the citizen's taking control and not relying on government to take care of the place. Some of these down & out small towns just need a big dose of civic pride.
 
Wallaceburg suffers from one of the problems that Hamilton has: generations of factory workers and their children can be less than entrepeneurial. I'm not taking a dig at the working class, it's just that for many years people with little education went out looking for work and found it. There are a lot of people who are willing to work but are waiting for something to happen rather than trying to make something happen. But there is often nothing they can do and when nothing comes along and standards of living fall, it turns into apathy. Social problems mount, and it becomes worse for the next generation--the vicious circle.
 
Interesting pictures, I lived in Wallaceburg for 20 years, before I moved out here to Alberta. My girlfriend and I are now looking at moving back to Ontario to the GTA area. Surprisingly enough when I took my girlfriend to Wallaceburg this year for the first time during WAMBO. She actually liked the town quite a bit, not as a place to live though. It does have alot of potential, but with the economy getting worse and worse its getting harder and harder for Wallaceburg to come back to life.
 
Wallaceburg took one area and greatly improved it. Took a old bowling ally and made it better. Photo Below

http://www.elriccontractors.com/3dpic.png

There has been a great amount of improvements over the last 5 years which should be addressed, Wallaceburg will be fine. It will never be the same, but it is changing from an industrial town to commute town and a retirement town.

Motoxer said it pretty well with his girlfriends point of view! if you where to visit Wallaceburg, you would think it was a really nice little town, its got a nice little shopping area, nice water ways. However city people would go stir crazy in a little town, due to the lack of activities. No movie theater, no real bar atleast not that you would actual go in, no sweaty yoga or trendy little internet cafe.

Reminds me of a story - There is a pool hall, that me and my brother inlaw went in a few years ago at xmas time to shoot some pool. In the back there was 4 old guys playing poker and another guy in the front counter which had a pirated Satillite TV, playing porno. Now lets not forget the TV faces out to the pool players. Than there was US, we laughed so hard! Only in Wallaceburg can you go play pool with illigal Porno on the TV set illigal poker game in the back on a sunday afternoon around 3 pm.
 
I have a general photo tour of Wallaceburg on here too: http://urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=5548

Wallaceburg's downtown is only a shadow of the shopping area it was. As late as the mid 1990s Wallaceburg was a major tourist destination for boaters. Every weekend the river would be filled with yachts. The downtown department store closed along with most of the specialty shops. When I was a kid you could buy almost anything you wanted downtown.

I disagree that the bowling alley was an improvement, it went from a classic 1960's bowling alley with vintage Brunswick equipment to a generic stucco Dollarama. Now there are no more bowling alleys left in Wallaceburg, the other one having closed about 20 years ago.

Also, probably the nicest old commercial building in Wallaceburg was recently demolished. It used to have O'Flynn and Burgess Grocery and Zavitz Hardware, both places I went to as a kid. The building had a molded tin facade and the intricate ceilings and woodwork inside were first rate.
00090.jpg



Actually the Southside wasn't too bad when I was growing up, I lived on King St across from DA Gordon school. There was only one empty building back then, the Wallaceburg Inn. It was a large building that had a severe fire around 1980. It sat abandoned for years after and was finally demolished. In addition to O'Flynn and Burgess and Zavitz, there was a laundromat, the Courier Press offices, a seafood restaurant, Lauzon's Meats, the Boardwalk Cafe, the Kent Tavern, a Volkswagon dealership, the Glassworkers Union club among other businesses. There have been many buildings demolished on the Southside over the years.
 
Interesting Comments Flar, not sure if I agree with them 100%. What I find interesting is your outtake on Wallaceburg. Living in Wallaceburg as a child and leaving before your an adult can sometimes leave different emotions.

Let me try a fun activity. Out of the little you have mentioned and the type of pictures you took I bet I can profile you. For example I bet you played in a rock band in Highschool and was probably the lead singer.
 
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