I Spy Gananoque, where is this seen?

A favourite format for posts, “I Spy Gananoque, where is this seen?” got turned around on me by the universe recently. An email, which asked for help identifying some 1987 vacation photos, sent me searching for answers instead of asking questions. At first I wasn’t given the photos, just some info about them, which included:

“A narrow, curved, laneway between two of the buildings passes beneath an enclosed wooden "bridge" connecting them and bearing the sign "Slow – Sound horn." Does this ring any bells with you? I'd love to know what it is, or was. Of course, there's always the possibility that it isn't in or particularly near Gananoque.”

My first guess was wrong. The location was not the obvious and now vanished second floor walkway at Parmenter and Bulloch. My next guess was the covered rear exit from the Bell Tower Apartments at 9 King St E. I took a delightful walk with my camera and canine assistant down the hill to survey the current state of the old industrial area behind the Bell Tower. I sent off a photo of the covered exit. The result – I was still wrong but I got a few more clues from photos that Hilderic Browne then sent me.

Anyone who knows Gananoque would likely identify the correct location as the alley between two of the buildings at Stone Mills (21, 23, 25 Mill St). On the second floor of the 2025 picture of Stone Mills, you might be able to see the 4th window from the left has new stonework under it, where the door for the covered walkway was replaced. Across from it on the right hand building there is still a door.

There are still clear signs of the open walkway starting on the sided extension on the left hand building. The open walkway ran all the way along the back of the building before turning and running down the next part of the building towards the river and another second floor door. In the top left of the current day photo of the back of the Stone Mills, you can see the window and stonework under it that replaced the door for the open walkway. Also visible on the far right of the building is the door for the covered walkway.

Stone Mills was the original site of Joel Stone’s mills with a sawmill upstream, a flour mill downstream, and Joel’s yellow house probably furthest upstream. An 1858 map shows the two mills with a factory in the middle. By 1927, St Lawrence Steel and Wire Works, aka ‘the corset factory,’ was on the site. These days, the building houses health care offices and the walls of the entrance area have black and white photos of the factory.

More Unknowns

The original question answered, it was time to move on to more unknown locations from the 1987 vacation photos.

The easiest photo to identify was of the opposite shore of the Gananoque River from Stone’s Mills, the backside of 5 King St E. It is interesting to see the brick tower that is no longer there. This was the location of the 3rd mill, built by John Johnson in the early years of the settlement of Gananoque. It was also used by the McDonald brothers as a flour mill. Eventually, the raceway under it that provided water power to run the mill was repurposed to generate electricity.

The diverted water of the Gananoque River still exits the building where the lawn meets the river. A functional generator is probably still in place although not in use. The building is currently owned by Fortis. The front commercial space is currently vacant. The back is used minimally by Fortis for equipment used for maintaining the raceway and dam.

That left three photos whose location was still to be determined.

I called on another photographer friend of mine who knows Gan’s hidden corners well and we went searching. One of the photos turned out to be in the old industrial area behind 9 King St E. The building hasn’t changed much since Hilderic took his photo, with just a little more greenery around it. There have been too many varied buildings and usages in this area behind 5 & 9 King St E to list. Every time I tackle a research project like this one I get a better sense of the area’s past, but it is still as the French say "clair comme de la boue" (clear as mud).

Other Questions, Too

I had still been unable to identify a photo of boat houses and another photo of an abandoned building with an interesting abandoned metal items collection in front. It was time to reach out to those who lived in Gan in 1987 and before. Thanks for the help everyone, we think we have identified the locations!

The boat houses are long gone. When I asked around, other photos of them were dug out and shared with me. One was taken from the same spot at the marina with much less zoom, allowing me to identify the location quite accurately from the Pirate Bill Johnston plaque showing in that photo. This picture shows the corner of the walkway near the Pirate Bill plaque. The marina has expanded and put slips where the boat houses were. Hidden in the trees in the upper right corner of Hideric’s photo is the hint of some red brick which is likely the house at 60 Church St.

Icehouse to Riverport Marina Office

Finally, someone whose knowledge I trust identified this photo as the abandoned icehouse of Jack Truesdell. Not long after, I had a conversation with some neighbours who remembered that Jack would cut ice in the winter and sell it in the summer. Their info confirmed a vague memory of mine that this ruin was tucked into the hill between Main St and the Riverport Boat Dockage around 2014. It seemed photo worthy but I didn’t like or keep any of the ones I took, something I now regret. There is no exterior resemblance of the old icehouse in the renovated exterior of the Riverport office. What do you think?

This has been the kind of research project I really enjoy tackling. Learning more about Gananoque’s past with others who also are curious about the past and accepting that as much as we think we know, we often have to rethink.

By Sherry Johnson with photographs by Hilderic Browne

Sherry Johnson lives in Gananoque and is a writer and researcher for GanWalking, which is focused on heritage storytelling, research and building a strong accessible research, and genealogy community. Sherry has provided over half-dozen articles for TI Life. Each one provides a window of research on this small and proud Ontario town. In this article she looks for clues for finding old buildings. See all of Sherry's articles here.