Long ago, our fair cities of Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario(now Thunder Bay), had some very cool things to catch your attention, that have long been replaced by basically nothing....somewhat like our Memorial Avenue which was dotted on both sides by beautiful trees and a wonderful plaque "memorializing" our fallen soldiers from the first world war. Firstly the city got rid of all the trees along "Memorial" avenue to make way for BIG business and four laning, but sadly no one knows where the wonderful plaque is that used to be in a predominant spot on Memorial Ave.
Well, they got rid of our welcome signs too after our wonderful twin cities became one(for the betterment of our populace). Do you remember where they were and how they were upgraded through time?
The very first photo(b&w) shows the first arch on the boundary line between Fort William and Port Arthur, welcoming you to the latter. It was erected just south of the McIntyre river as you travel north just past the present day Silver City Theatre. The present day colour picture beside it shows pretty much the exact spot where it used to be.
The third picture(a very rare backside photo) shows the arch from the Port Arthur side, beckoning you to return to Port Arthur. In this photo you can see the bridge and the fairgrounds would be on the left side past the river.
The fourth(colour) photo shows where it was from the other side again and Silver City Theatre is on the left.
The fifth photo shows how it would have looked in colour(facing north).
The sixth one shows the widened arch(still blue) for the 4 laning of Memorial Ave. I guess Hydro power wasn't cheap anymore so the slogan became The Friendly City.
The seventh and eighth pictures show the repaint to orange. You can pretty much guess the era by the cars passing under it. In the eighth picture however they still hadn't cut all the Memorial Ave. trees down....but if you look up at the present day photo...Oh My...no trees....had to make room for BIG business at the cost of greenery. Our fair city is still doing that to this day.....progress is good but not at the cost of nature!
The second last photo is the Welcome to Fort William arch which was erected on the Fort William mission property on old highway 61 just east of the old Fort William ski club turn off.
The final photo which I just found is of the Memorial Avenue commemorative plaque which has totally disappeared into oblivion. Does anyone know where it is now?
Hope you enjoyed these and click on the pics to enlarge. Dave
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