{GHQ} Sittin' by the Dock of the Bay Traditional Cache

 

The Geocaching History Quest is a series of caches that are at or near important historical sites that can include the places, people, or events that are part of local, regional, national, or international history.  These caches should be a good lesson of the rich history and better understanding for anyone that visits the area that the caches bring you to.  This history surrounds us almost everywhere we go and hopefully will not be forgotten through our stories and caches that are part of each and every one of us.

 

As always, with ANY geocache hunt, PERSONAL SAFETY is of the utmost
importance and BE AWARE of your surroundings at all times.

Over the years, The Leamington Dock has been a favorite place to visit for spectacular views, great fishing, and of course, it's original purpose as a place of commerce and shipping.

The dock that is here now is only the latest one to be built and has had an interesting history in the years that it has been part of the Leamington waterfront. The current Leamington Dock was completed in 1933 as an ongoing project to improve the export capability of the local businesses that had been unable to properly export their goods from the area to all corners of the earth.

In 1858, the population of Leamington was around 75, and growing. In 1860, regular stagecoach communication was established between Leamington and Windsor. Growth in the lumbering business brought improvements to the transportation system and saw the establishment of Scott’s Dock in 1869.

A second dock was built later and became known as Wigle’s Dock. The Pigeon Bay Dock Company constructed another wharf later. These three docks handled much of the shipments of tobacco, lumber and farm produce.

Leamington’s development was so impressive that Essex County Council passed a by-law in 1874, elevating the status of the hamlet to an incorporated village. Draining, ditching and road building were making the countryside habitable and farms more productive. In these early days, the section around Blytheswood was called Elm Swamp. There was not a single ditch to drain it.

The Leamington dock, 1948

The largest single drainage scheme was undertaken in 1895 when 5,000 acres of marshland on the eastern side of Point Pelee was converted into rich farmland.

In 1883, disaster struck…a fire broke out on May 14 and left most of the village’s business section a charred ruin. Only Wigle’s store and the Deming Hotel were spared. The town was soon restored and progress continued.

The railway arrived in 1887 and an electric light plant was established in 1888. The waterworks began operating in 1891 and natural gas and oil were discovered in the area.

Leamington became an incorporated town in 1890 and The business section grew and housing was prospering. In 1899, Leamington’s council was actively seeking new industry. It passed a by-law providing special inducements to manufacturers. The community offered free water, free gas, exemption from taxation, fire protection, and in some cases a free building site. Their enterprising thinking was rewarded in 1908 when the H.J. Heinz Company decided to locate in Leamington.

By 1927, when Leamington’s H. J. Heinz entered the export business, there were no facilities to accommodate the freight and the wharf itself was inadequate for ships docking here.

Even in Scott’s time the water depth was shallow and quite often smaller tug boats took fuel or freight out to where the larger vessels were anchored in Pigeon Bay.

In 1932 the federal government injected funds to improve Leamington’s harbor and dock and work on the dock and a warehouse began in January 1933.

"New Government Dock" 1930's

Much dredging and dock work was needed and MP Eccles J. Gott pursuaded the federal government to help create the new dock because of a greatly increased amount of shipping Leamington had shown from 1928 to 1932.

Among the main companies using the dock were the H. J. Heinz Company plus area tobacco, timber and coal companies . It was during an audit of the harbour master’s income that federal government officials realized Leamington’s importance as a port.

While many others had suffered serious declines during the Depression, Leamington’s wharf master had a dramatic increase going up from $780 in 1927 to nearly $3,500 in 1932 – a commission salary reflecting the increased traffic.

Heinz, along with area farmers, exported goods and produce to all corners of the earth.

Lake freighters plied the waters of Pigeon Bay frequently and for nearly 30 years it was common to see two vessels to four moored at the dock while others waited out further in the bay.

The extensive work on the new dock in 1933 included new pilings, a solid wooden surface, concrete footings, and a wider entranceway and an extension which included a warehouse.

Two companies did the necessary work – Wm. Birmingham and Son of Kingsville was the general contractor while Sterling Contractors of East Windsor was the sub-contractor for the cement.

When it was opened in September 1933, over 3,000 attended the ceremonies. The dock ran straight for 950 feet then went another 250 feet at an angle. Its original warehouse was supervised by district engineer F. Y. Harcourt and sat on concrete 100 feet wide. The price tag for the 1932 work ran $160,000.

After only five years, the warehouse proved inadequate and an extension was added in 1939. That extension was done simultaneously as many wire cribs containing stone were added to the dock’s southern portion as a protective measure. The cribs extended the dock by another 703 feet.

Sterling Contractors built the 80 foot warehouse addition and a smaller shed. Cost of the 1939 work was $155,000. Canada Steamship Lines and the Pelee Island ferries were the main users until the early 1960s.

But CSL decided to pull out around 1962. Yet that move was delayed when a new agreement was reached and CSL ships continued to use dock until about 1970. By that time maritime shipment of goods and products was much slower than transportation by trucks or planes.

Folks who would visit the waterfront would many times take a stroll on the dock for some, or even its entire length, just for the fun and relaxation of it.

As far as the warehouse went, after nearly a decade of use as a Heinz warehouse, businessman Lee Sunshine presented an idea to acquire the fixture and transform it into a restaurant.

View from west side of the Dock, August 1999

After nearly two years of struggles, Sunshine’s dream was accomplished. However Sunshine did not stay in business long. Soon the Vourakes family purchased it and turned it into the “Dock Restaurant”.

The restaurant had it's grand opening in 1980 and became a popular and very familiar eatery in Leamington.

The restaurant included a freshwater aquarium that included many species of marine life that could be found in Lake Erie, all in one place.

In later years, the restaurant offered dinner theatre and became part of the beautification and development of the town’s waterfront.

Pelee Islander at the Dock, 2004 (view from Marina)

Views from its inside were like postcards and in the early 1990s, the 1939 addition was renovated into a reception room for banquets. The bar, restaurant and banquet hall facilities provided a combined total seating capacity of 500 — which is quite large for a facility such as this one was.

July 2001 night view cruisin' the dock

The ferry from Leamington to Pelee Island and Sandusky, Ohio would continue to use the dock as a landing spot through all the changes that were occuring on the dock itself.

Aerial View - 2000's

The dock would also be a "cruising spot" for many of the local residents and visitors to "show off" their shiny rides by "cruising the dock" all the way around the warehouse/restaurant and back to the mainland.

The ferry service itself would get a new vessel, the M.V. Jiimaan, in 1992 and it would require some additional changes to accomodate the larger ship.

Those changes would include a new Immigration Office and landing for the larger ship. This was installed on the Eastern side of the dock, essentially making the dock much wider on that side than it had been. Other changes nearby included a new municipal marina as part of waterfront improvements.

Sunset over Belle's Point from the Dock, just south of the Warehouse. 1999

Business at the restaurant was good for awhile, but eventually declined and the dock restaurant would eventually close in October 2007 and in April 2008, the entire contents of Leamington’s landmark Dock Restaurant would be auctioned off.

This included all items, contents, fixtures, and it's signature 20-foot-long aquarium.

With many dock improvements needing to be made and some folks seeing the aging warehouse as an eyesore, in 2009 the federal government made the decision to demolish the now-empty warehouse/restaurant on the dock, but it was not quite immediate.

In December of 2011, the wrecking-ball came to the decades-old 18,000-square-foot warehouse on the dock and the space would be cleared and fenced-off to the public.

The "Empty space" that once was where the Warehouse Stood for many, many years.

Since then, many residents and visitors have noticed "something strange" about the waterfront area and also noting that another historic landmark is now gone.

The warehouse was an important part of Leamington's Shoreline landscape that the disappearance of the warehouse has left many folks lamenting for times-gone-by and feeling sad for the loss of another Leamington Landmark.

The dock has gone through many evolutionary changes over the years and has been cherished by many who have visited or lived in the area.

Sunset over Belle's Point to the west from the beach west of the Dock

In 2018, after a two-year working agreement with the Canadian Government, the town of Leamington was able to build a new "urban park area" on the former Warehouse space that had been fenced-off for almost 9 years.  This includes picnic tables, park benches, and places to just enjoy the view and fresh air of the lakefront area.

New "visiting area" for the Dock completed in 2018

It's nice to see the area be able to be used once again for visitors and guests to enjoy the scenery once more.