I recently came across an article in the Maclean’s magazine by Jason McBride called “The Rust-Belt Revival”. This article was about the revitalization of Ford City, a neighbourhood in Ontario that was the home to workers of the Drouillard and Riverside Ford Motor Company plants. This community was once home to churches, schools and many homes and high-end estates. But by the mid-1950’s, Ford relocated to Oakville, Ontario. This relocation left Ford City (physical location about 5 minutes east of Walkerville, Ont) a place of vacancies and crime.
In the article, McBride writes about taking a bike trip to Ford City and having dinner at a local taco restaurant and that “it was hopping…”, and that in subsequent visits other new businesses took root, such as cafes, a bike shop and a custom furniture business. McBride refers to Ford City and the entire Windsor area as the “Rust-Belt”. (Ford City was amalgamated into Windsor in the late 1920’s). McBride is genuinely delighted with the area’s “gentle gentrification…taking hold”.
From what I have read, the creation of Ford City as a company town, moving to add some art with building murals in the 90’s on a vacated urban landscape to its current re-definition as a vibrant incubator for entrepreneurs as part of Windsor’s Rust-Belt is an exciting transformation that is worth a visit.