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Windsor (Ontario) - geography.

Publié le 26/05/2013

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Windsor (Ontario) - geography. I INTRODUCTION Foggy Skyline Rising up out of the fog, the skyline of downtown Windsor, Ontario, looms over two fishermen. Located on the Detroit River, Windsor is an important manufacturing center. Andrew Cutraro/AP/Wide World Photos Windsor (Ontario), city, seat of Essex County, in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Windsor is located on the Detroit River. A port of entry on the United States-Canadian border, the city is connected to Detroit, Michigan, by bridge and tunnel. Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and serves as a gateway to the United States and as a center of the automobile industry. II DESCRIPTION Windsor, Ontario The city of Windsor, Ontario, is located on the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan. The city is a major center of the automobile industry. Shown here is the Peace Fountain at Coventry Gardens in Windsor. Wolfgang Kaehler The city of Windsor is laid out along the banks of the Detroit River. Unlike many cities, Windsor did not grow from a central downtown core but was instead the product of the amalgamation in 1935 of the four distinct communities of Windsor, Sandwich, Walkerville, and Ford City (later East Windsor). Additional territory was annexed in 1966. The current city of Windsor covers a land area of 120.3 sq km (46.4 sq mi). The Windsor census metropolitan area (CMA), which consists of the city of Windsor and ten other municipalities, covers a land area of 861.7 sq km (332.7 sq mi). Most of Windsor's retail shopping areas are centered outside of the city's downtown area, primarily at Devonshire Mall in the west central suburbs. Windsor's downtown area

« IV ECONOMY Casino WindsorCasino Windsor, in Windsor, Ontario, opened in 1998.

The hotel and casino provide an important boost to the economy of the city bycreating many new jobs and by attracting tourist traffic to the region.Richard Sheinwald/AP/Wide World Photos Windsor has been a base of American automobile companies from the beginning of the 20th century and it remains a major center of auto industry employment andmanufacturing.

The Ford Motor Company built an auto manufacturing plant in Windsor in 1904.

Ford was followed by Chrysler (now part of DaimlerChrysler AG) and GeneralMotors Corporation, which built plants in the 1920s, and by several smaller companies such as Studebaker and Packard.

DaimlerChrysler is now the city’s biggest employer,with over 8,000 employees.

Other major employers in the city include the H.

J.

Heinz Company, which processes farm products from the agriculturally rich land outside ofthe city, and Hiram Walker and Sons Limited, makers of Canadian Club whisky.

Additional manufactures in the city include salt, metal products, plastics, high-techequipment, machinery, and pharmaceuticals.

The most significant new stimulant to the local economy is Casino Windsor, which opened in 1994 and moved to its permanenthome in 1998.

The operators of the casino claim that they provide 15,000 direct and indirect jobs to the city.

The casino has also increased tourist traffic to Windsor. Windsor has many transportation links.

It is one of the busiest ports of entry into Canada and is connected to the city of Detroit, Michigan, by the Ambassador Bridge and bythe Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

Windsor is located at the end of the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, which connects the city with Toronto, Ontario, and Montréal, Québec.

The cityis also served by several rail lines and provincial highways, as well as Windsor Airport. V GOVERNMENT Windsor is governed by a mayor and a ten-member city council, all of whom serve three-year terms.

The mayor is elected on a citywide basis.

Council members are electedby district, with two councillors elected from each of the city’s five electoral wards. VI HISTORY The French, led by Antoine de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, established a fort at Detroit in 1701.

After the American Revolution (1775-1783) the British built their first town,Sandwich, across the river from Detroit.

To the east of Sandwich, a hamlet evolved at the dock of the ferry to Detroit.

Known first as The Ferry and subsequently asRichmond, the town was renamed in 1836 after Windsor, England.

Further east, Walkerville was laid out in the 1850s by Detroit grocer Hiram Walker as the site of adistillery.

A fourth component of the growing urban complex was Ford City, which sprang up around the auto assembly plant of Henry Ford after the turn of the century. The auto industry provided the main impetus for growth in this fragmented community in the 20th century.

By 1928 the combined population had risen to 105,000.

Theauto industry’s relatively high wages set the standard for other sectors of the economy.

The importance of the automobile was symbolized by the construction of theAmbassador Bridge across the Detroit River in 1929 and the opening of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel the following year.

During the economic depression of the 1930s,however, unemployment reached as high as 30 percent of the workforce.

The four communities amalgamated in 1935, over the vigorous objections of Walkerville.

In 1966Windsor expanded again, annexing several nearby communities including Ojibway, Riverside, Sandwich West, and parts of Sandwich East. In the second half of the 20th century, Windsor experienced periods of boom and bust.

After Ford closed its main assembly plant in the city in 1954, the city sunk intoeconomic depression.

This period ended with the Canada-United States Automotive Products Agreement (Autopact) of 1965, which removed Canadian import tariffs onautomotive products as long as automakers produced as many cars in Canada as they sold in Canada.

This agreement led to new industrial investment in the Windsor area.A sharp decline in the early 1990s was reversed by the expansion of the auto industry and by the construction of Casino Windsor.

In fact, Windsor was the only Canadiancity where family incomes rose substantially between 1990 and 1995. Contributed By:Gilbert A.

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