This was the John Deere Factory in Welland, Ontario. The factory opened in 1911 after taking over The Dain Manufacturing Company, a producer of farming equipment. The company moved their headquarters to Welland in 1915 and in 1918 changed their name to John Deere Manufacturing Company. Workers were unionized in 1989. In the year 2000, two 14 year-old students attending the traditional Take Our Kids To Work Day, were killed when the Gator they were riding in crashed into a transport. In 2008 the company announced that they’d be closing the plant next year, putting 800 people out of work….
St. Luke’s Catholic School (Markham)
St. Luke’s Catholic School in the City of Markham served grades 9 through 12. The school also offered ESL (English as a Second Language) classes for the community. The school was located at 160 Dudley Avenue. The school was built in 1955. Due to aging infrastructure as well as asbestos, the school was abandoned around 2012. The city purchased the property in February of 2013 for $5.355 million. In May of 2016, the city entered into a 10 year lease with Cyrus Cultural Society. Today the property is used for private education as the “I Am Smart…
Beautiful Country Living House
This house was built by a family who moved to the area shortly after the American Revolution (they were United empire loyalists from New York State). The back part where the kitchen is was the first part built and the front Georgian style section a couple decades later. The land was taken from a small Native tribe who were forced into labour by the original home builders, as there was a brick factory behind the house (the house was made entirely out of bricks built on the property and we used to find arrowheads all over the back yard. The…
House of Forgotten Photographs
When the occupants of this house left, they left behind many memories in the form of photo albums.There is no further information on the family.
Blue Bonnets Raceway (Quebec)
The Blue Bonnets Raceway opened on June 4th, 1907 in the city of Montreal. It had originally been located on the Jos. Decary farm, but in 1886 the Ontario and Quebec Railway laid down tracks effectively splitting the raceway in half. In 1858, Jean-Louis Levesque added a mult-million dollar clubhouse on the grounds. The racetrack rivaled many Ontario race tracks at the time. From 1961 to 1975 the Blue Bonnets Raceway was the official home to the Quebec Derby. Ownership of the track was passed onto the municipal government in the early 1990s which rebranded the racetrack as The Hippodrome….
Staircase Waste
This property was first settled in 1862 by Scottish farmer James McCallum in Huron County. The Scottish were experts in stone masonry as seen by the construction of the exterior of the house. The best feature of course was the winding staircase. It began to break away from the wall after many years of elements entering from a gap in the roof. The upstairs ceiling has now fallen down and covers the top of the staircase.
Herald’s Hideaway Time Capsule
This large property is hidden away behind the tree line of the road it’s situated on. It has two large barns, , three workshops, two greenhouses, a boat, and an old Volkswagen. Jonas Ulpmann was born in Estonia, Europe on May 21, 1906. Jonas never married or had children, but he did have 9 siblings. One of those siblings is Magnus Ulpmann, his younger brother and the owner of this house. Magnus, also known as “Max”, was born on December 13, 1914. Magnus married Elfriede Laende at the age of 28. 5 years later they had a son, Vello, followed…
Talisman Ski Resort in Collingwood
The Talisman Ski Resort was built back in the 1960s. It closed in 2011 due to bankruptcy. After it closed, it became an area popular with hikers and dog walkers. An auction was held for sale of the 200 acrs property located at 150 Talisman Mountain Drive. The minimum bid was $2.39 million. Secondary properties were auctioned off but the municipality didn’t receive any bids on the resort itself. Arson on the same day as auction Grey County OPP received a call for mischief to the property at 9:20 p.m. on Monday, August 12 after five males were observed entering…
Splendida Dimora Mansion
At the time of my visit to this beautiful mansion in the Caledon area, this house was vacant. The start of my journey took a downward spiral as I slipped and fell in the muddy puddle at the start of the driveway. After wiping off my lens, I made my way to this house. It did not disappoint. There’s a three car garage, guest house and the main house which appears to have had extensions built onto it. The interior had three fire places and a winding staircase. Last I heard, the house was being lived in again. These photos…
Everything Under Wraps Mansion
This location was a bit of a mystery. Inside, the furnishings had been wrapped up with tarps as if painting were taking place. The front entrance showed signs of water damage. This location has more of a lived-in feeling than of being abandoned. None the less, it was a fascinating property to urban explore. Video
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