West Front was not one of the early suburbs in the former Cornwall Township that became a Cornwall neighbourhood on January 1, 1957 when the City annexed much of the Township. Rather, it was an area along both sides of Provincial Hwy 2 (Second Street West) starting immediately west of Smithville and the former New York Central Railway/Roosevelt Bridge. West Front overlapped several Riverdale suburbs. The name West Front no longer appears on Cornwall maps.
In the area near the former New York Central Railway Bridge, prior to the St. Lawrence Seaway, ice would stack high due to the shoving of ice floes caused by the Long Sault Rapids. Residents of Cornwall Island would stake out an ice road across the river to West Front each January; it was common for them to deliver loads of hay across the ice bridge to West Front farmers.
At the eastern end of the former West Front was West Front Public School (S.S No. 2) at 902 Second Street West. The 1923 building received an addition after tenders were called for in 1947. By 1978 the building became offices for the Public School Board and later yet, was sold to private interests. The structure still stands today (2019), although the original brick has been cladded over.
However, the original two-room dull-gray S.S. No. 2 was located across from what is now Riverdale Terrace on a site on which now stands an apartment building. The school boundary extended from Robertson’s Creek to Cumberland Street and from the river to Tinkess’ Crossing.
This was Maple Crest Dairy in 1947, located at 909 Second Street West and operated by Roy C. Hartle on property that was once part of the Hartle farm. Pictured are Donald Legue, Fred Meyer, Riel Cardinal, Bud Hart, Pat McCann, Leo Cardinal, Lucienne St. AMour, Jack Kyle, Clifford Shaver. Standing on the truck back are Clarence Moke, Dick Bowman and Paul Bowman.
In 1950 they were selling off the wood from one of their barns.
Maple Crest was one of the dairies purchased by Camerons in 1968. Please follow this LINK to read about it.
These 1970 advertisements have Mary (nee Blake, originally from Kitchener & husband Rene) Cuerrier operating their moving and storage business from the former dairy building. The Cuerriers lived on the opposite side of the street at 1426 in one of the St. Lawrence Seaway rental houses, which backed onto the remains of the old Cornwall Canal. The house was located immediately west of what is now the St. Charles Place apartments.
In 1973 the building functioned as a Frito Lay warehouse. And in 1975 it was home to Avery Commercial Signs.
When Atkinson’s 22 First Street East property was taken over in 1975 to make way for the Cornwall Square parking garage, the old Maple Crest Dairy became the new home of Atkinson’s bulk feed until October of 1987.
The neighbourhood birds knew that it was a feed store; in this September 1987 Standard-Freeholder photo, customer Jim Shea threw them a handful of seed.
And in 2002 it was listed as Andre’s Bulk & Pet Food.
It is the site of a hair salon today (2020). To view our feature article on Maple Crest Dairy, please follow this LINK.
A house still stands to the west of 909 at 911. In March of 1971, children playing with matches were blamed for a fire that consumed a storage barn on that property, which was used by M. Cuerrier Moving and Storage Company Ltd. Business owner Rene Cuerrier said that, due to the age of the building, insurance wouldn’t cover the cost of loss to packing crates and tissue wrap estimated to be worth $5,000 The building was owned by Jules Trudel.
In the 1970s, 915 was home to Desjardin’s Grocery, operated by Roland Desjardins.
Located at 917 Second Street west, the Paragon Motel would become the Seaway Motor Inn and finally Murphy’s Inn. An indoor pool was was officially opened on August 22, 1960. Desjardin’s store once operated in the south part of the property.
Paragon ads from different eras – before and after the pool installation.
Stephen Cameron shared this photo taken in front of the Paragon.
The heated indoor pool was a big deal – Christmas 1960 advertisement.
This December 1960 article mentions the Cornwall Aqua Ducks using the facility.
And in 1964, the Navy Vets advertised that they were accepting bookings for a hall that they were operating at the Paragon.
In 1973, 917 experienced a name change to the Seaway Motor Inn & Restaurant.
And in 1986 it was re-branded as Murphy’s Inn and later Murphy’s Pub & Grill. In 1975 Robert Murphy graduated from Paul Smith College with a degree in hotel management. Later he owned the Glengarrian Pub and Restaurant. Murphy died in 2020 at the age of 75.
Now the property is home to a laser tag facility.
On July 18, 1957, Dick Atchison’s Texaco Service Station opened at 921 Second Street West.
In this 1961 Standard-Freeholder aerial photo, we see the dairy, the Paragon Hotel and the Texaco station.
In 1964, Joncas Motors ran a Chrysler dealership here.
In 1970 it was operating as Wm Burrow’s BP garage. From 1971 until 1982 the property sat idle.
In 1982 Dan Lalonde relocated his Cornwall Automotive Repair from 127 Augustus Street to 921 Second Street West. Lalonde closed his business in 2018. The property was listed as being for sale and in 2022 no new occupant had yet moved in.
The April 2, 1955 edition of the Standard-Freeholder newspaper announced the imminent start of constructions of three apartment buildings, arranged in a u-shape, comprising 42 units at a cost of $250,000. Occupancy of the modern 28 two-bedroom and 14 one-bedroom apartments was estimated to be available by the end of May or by June 15th at the latest. The West Front site was selected because it was out of the congested downtown area, yet just a five-minute bus ride away and would be served by a new school soon to open in the neighbourhood.
This was a November, 1955 street view of those apartment buildings at 1113-1115-1117 Second Street West, once known as the Riverview Apartments; today they are among DevCore’s massive inventory.
This 1961 Marcel Quenneville aerial is cropped to reveal the neighbourhood with the apartment buildings (view from behind) at its center. Other notable landmarks include the former Roosevelt Bridge, Howard Smith Paper Mill, the fertilizer plant on the canal bank as well as a section of Dover Heights in the foreground.
This house at 1125 Second Street West was on the Register of Cultural Heritage Properties of value or interest in the City of Cornwall. This property was part of the Robertson farm, with Gordon Robertson living there until about 1978.
In July of 1982 it was being restored in Victorian style for use as P.C. Bergeron House Community Resource Centre. The low-risk youth offender facility could house up to 15 male youths and did so through the remainder of the 1980s and into the 1990s. Later the building operated as an educational and toy retailer, Girouette before resuming use as a single family residence. In September 2019 it was in the process of being stripped for demolition. In the spring of 2021 this house and the former motel property next door were slated to be replaced by a new apartment building.
In January of 2021, the foundation was being laid for the future Sunset Court adult-lifestyle apartments.
Great progress had been made by July of that same year.
And by August the exterior appeared to be nearing completion.
1127 Second Street West was home to the Sunset Motel. Built by Zenard Brunet in 1952 at a cost of about $50,000, apparently it boasted being the only motel on (Old) Highway #2 between Brockville and Montreal. Like many other motels from the 1950s and 1960s, it featured a U-shaped design with a neon sign that was difficult to miss. After the Seaway boom, the re-location of #2 HIghway and the opening of Highway 401, the motel had to rely on transient workers and locals for its survival. In 1965 we see Wm Lee operating the motel, followed by the Pagets.
When this photo was taken in 1994, the property was already showing signs of decline. In June of 2014, new owner J.C. Godard, a nephew of Brunet, told the Standard-Freeholder that demolition of the structure was imminent and that it no longer fit the neighbourhood, including Godard’s upscale Riverdale Terrace retirement home across the street.
Plans for the site’s redevelopment were to be announced in the autumn of 2014; Cornwall Newswatch captured this demolition scene. All that remains today [2019] is the sign; the property seems to be used as a car park. By October of 2019, the sign was gone; it’s unclear whether or not it has found a new home in Kingston.
The more recent strip mall has witnessed many tenants come and go over the years. 1195 was home to the Jewellery House by 1978, followed by the China Inn by 1982
By 2001 Augustino’s Ristorante replaced the China Inn (Standard-Freeholder photos).
And by 2007 it was operating as Katerina’s.
Lighthouse Christian Bookstore started out at 1197, relocating to 1199 in the early 1990s to allow for an expansion of the China Inn next door. This Lighthouse ad is from January of 1997.
1199 had been home to Carnival Delicatessen, Kirby Capitol Cornwall, Personal Touch Physiotherapy, and later the re-located Lighthouse Christian Bookstore.
Anderson Motors was located at 1200 Second Street West from at least 1955 until at least 1959.
In 1957 the business was awarded a $179,000 financial settlement for a garage, other buildings and acreage expropriated for the Seaway. Several property owners along Second Street between the former international bridge and Nine Mile Road (Power Dam Drive), as well as on Walter Street and King Street received smaller settlements.
In 1962 Wilmor Motors Ltd occupied that site.
Healy Motors replaced Wilmor.
This 1991 ad contains photos of most of the staff who then worked for Lyndon and Trenholm Healy.
An upscale seniors’ residence, Riverdale Terrace, more recently built on the former car dealership site and in 2019 broke ground for an expansion. During the Seaway days, part of the property was land-filled with debris from Cornwall’s neo-Gothic post office which was demolished to make way for the current Seaway headquarters. Some of those post office stones were unearthed during the construction of the current seniors’ residence; in 2013 a decision was made to encase in plastic some of those stones at the foot of Pitt Street in Lamoureux Park.
West of what is now Riverdale Terrace once stood a series of low farm buildings owned by Dexter Robertson.
This October 1959 ad has a White Rose service Station operated by Simon Marleau at 1201 Second Street West. By 1965 that White Rose was operated by Maurice White. Today 1201 is one of the units in the strip mall. 1201’s tenants have included Noga Naph Fabrics, Beau Geste Pools Ltd, West End Pizzeria and now The Trophy Shop.
A Handy Andy store once occupied 1300 Second Street West; a popular convenience has that address now.
1309 Second Street West was home to Smith’s Transport Ltd from at least 1954 until at least 1965.
Tropical Treat eatery was at 1400 Second Street West in 1957 (as depicted – clipped from a larger contractor ad); their Gala Opening took place on August 10, with open hours from 10 a.m. until midnight daily. We also see them in the 1965 Directory.
The Mighty Midget Drive-in Restaurant had replaced the Tropical Treat. A 1960 incorporation notice for Mighty Midget Limited named the shareholders as Nash John Kalil, Alexander Edward Kalil and Nabeeha Dolly Kalil. There were 33,000 preferred shares with a par value of $1 each and 5,000 common shares without par value.
The Riverdale Handy confectionery Store, later the Riverdale Produce Market was just west of it at 1400-A in 1965 and took over the address during the early 1970s.
Later, Dixie Lee Fried Chicken took up operation at 1400 as evidenced by this December 1965 newspaper advertisement.
In October of 1967, the house at 1401 was used by the Fire Department as a test of foam extinguisher.
Cornwall Motor Motel and Restaurant operated at 1424 Second Street West.
This 1954 ad boasts that the motel (sometimes advertised as a hotel) offered “Cornwall’s most modern year-round accommodation.” The property included 220 feet of street frontage.
In 1957, $145,000 was awarded to T. Wise, owner of the Cornwall Motor Hotel, as compensation for partial expropriation for use by the Seaway.
Pictured above is a winter streetscape showing the Cornwall Motor Motel and the Riverdale Motel ca. 1965.
The Riverdale Motel, originally operated by the Lawns, was located at 1504 Second Street West. The building was built in the Bauhaus/Art Deco style, which was rare for this area. It was demolished long ago.
It had also been known as the Riverdale Lodge.
In 1957, the business received a $125,000 settlement for property expropriated for the Seaway.
In 1957, Medric Dapo of Mother’s Lunch and Cabins was awarded $43,000 for a two-storey building, four cabins and a restaurant as part of a Seaway expropriation settlement. In 1959 Mother’s Lunch was still operating at 1514 Second Street West. During the 1960s, it was Lavigne’s Variety store and in the early 1970s we see Seguin Variety store at that location operated by Lavigne’s sister and brother-n-law. Up until this point, each of the successive owners were related to one another. For many years, Lavignes operated a boarding house on Brookdale Avenue, which now has a different name.
From the mid-1970s until about 1990, The Store operated by the Tait family occupied the premises.
In this 1992 newspaper article, we see Percy and Bonnie Smith operating the non-alcoholic beverage Canadianna Club in that building. The building has since been demolished.
Across the street at what is now St. Mathew’s Lutheran Church at 1509 Second Street West was the large brick Parisien home and the Riverdale market Gardens, which sold fruit and vegetables. Originally the farm and gardens were owned by the Osbornes.
Another of the many Seaway era tourist accommodations was the Cosey Corner Cabins at 1613 Second Street West.
From a postcard. The Leroux family took over the business by 1973.
In 1990 Malyon Excavation had put a proposal before the Planning Advisory and Hearing Committee seeking approval of the Riverview Terrace residential Subdivision on the former Cosey Corner Motel cabins site, situated on on Lot 18 on Second Street West between Riverdale Avenue and Blackadder Creek (formerly known as William’s Creek).
The plan called for eleven (11) single family lots, all but two fronting on a cul-de-sac roadway (Jenna Crescent) and for the restoration of Blackadder Creek (filled-in in late 1989) to its previously undisturbed state with the immediate area to be considered park land. That was in compliance with a request by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Raisin Region Conservation Authority and a 1989 Waterfront Committee report which indicated that the creek should be preserved, and that any filling of the creek should be prevented.
Around 1981, water quality samples taken from the creek outlet revealed the presence of fecal coliform, determined to be coming from nine dwellings on Queen Street which had their sanitary sewer laterals connected to the rear yard storm sewer which discharges to the creek. By the end of 1983 the illegal sewer lateral connections had been corrected.
Today a Sewage Pumping Station is located at the back end of the property south of the intersection of Queen and James.
A small stand of trees conceals the nearby sewage well.
The autumn colours are spectacular as seen in this 2019 photo.
In 1965, 1734 was Herbert Blackadder’s Over-Nite Trailer Court; a trailer court still operates there.
In this photo from the Filion family collection we see Mac’s Snack Bar in the bottom right corner, operated by John and Hazel Dent. The street numbering once ended at 1734 (site of today’s trailer court, east of the soccer field.) This business was further west and without a street number ca. 1959. Lock 19 is directly behind.
This Fina station was located near the hydro dam, west of Mac’s Snack Bar. It’s difficult to say with 100%’ certainty, but the lettering on the building appears to read: “Meals” and “Spaghetti House”. This photo was taken during the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway and is also from the Filion family collection.
In 1959 the Sky-way Restaurant with its curb-side service was a spaghetti house and it was located on the land which is now (2015) the parking lot for the soccer field, west of Haulage Road at about 1900 Second Street West. Historic Lock is south of the property. This photo was provided by Lisa Leger.
1951 advertisement for Sky-way Restaurant in old West Front, the extreme edge of Maple Grove. The eatery is also listed in the 1959 City Directory.
This 1961 Standard-Freeholder aerial photo shows the area which is now the soccer fields; in the middle of the image is what appears to be the former eateries and service station in that area. The road in the foreground is Haulage Road and the view is to the west.
The road that we know as Power Dam Drive was renamed during the Seaway and Power Project days. Originally known as one of three roads named Nine Mile Road, it extended nine miles north from the canal, even beyond the northern terminus of the current Power Dam Drive. In West Front, the Nine Mile Road divided the Youngs farm on the east from the Blackadder farm on the west. Continuing west were the Burns, Robert Shearer and Charles Robertson farms.
Today 1915 Second Street West is home to Axalta Coating Systems, but the building dates back to the Seaway Construction era. Iroquois Industrial Chemicals Ltd was incorporated on May 15th of 1959 and operated in this facility. On October 25th of 1963 the company name changed to Iroquois Chemicals Limited.
In January of 1964 the warehouse and drum cleaning building was levelled by a fire of unknown origin. Production resumed the next morning on a 24-hour basis until the stock was built up. They used part of the recently-completed addition, a huge trailer in the yard and part of an old cotton mill plant for storage until the warehouse was replaced. The company was dissolved on December 20 of 1978 when two divisions were merged as Iroquois Chemicals & Resin Ltd. In 1989 it was operating as Guardsman products Ltd and by 1996 it was Lilly Industries.
In 1964-65, 2107 housed Seven-Up Cornwall in some former temporary Hydro buildings. In this Standard-Freeholder photo, barrels are visible at the Iroquois Chemicals plant next door.
Some will recall that facility being home to the Camco Food Group by 1970, which was taken over by TRS Food Service Limited in December of 1986; the company’s original 1951 name was Tony’s Refreshment Service. It was later by operated by Highland Vending & Coffee Service.
Today 2107 Second Street West houses Paul Davis and Freedom 55 Financial.
This 1961 Standard-Freeholder aerial shows the buildings at 2107 Seond Street West (bottom left) as well as those on Saunders Drive near Second Street. On the top left is the entrance to the Power Project (OPG).
Since West Front was the “motel area” prior to the Seaway era diversion of Highway #2 from Second Street West to the new Vincent Massey Drive, motel operators used large signs to entice travelers to spend at night at their lodging. The above photo shows a sign that stood near the intersection of Second Street West and Brookdale Avenue.
This series of photos shows the signage along Vincent Massey Drive.
Our thanks to the Standard-Freeholder for the use of these November, 1957 images.
To return to our main post on Historic Cornwall neighbourhoods, please follow this LINK.
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