Our Lady of the Rosary The first Roman Catholic parish established at the site was the Our Lady of the Lake Church, named in reference to nearby
Lake St. Clair as well as
Mary, mother of Jesus. Plans were announced in 1881, aiming to provide the predominantly
French settlers of Sandwich East with a closer house of worship than the previously used St. Alphonsus Church. The first church was built in 1884; designed by Claude Reaume, J.S. Viger, and William Waldman, the building was constructed by the contractors Francois Xavier Drouillard and Adolphe Labadie. In 1907, the Our Lady of the Lake church building was destroyed in a fire caused by a spark from a passing train. With a new church required, the parish contracted the William Brothers architectural firm. The resulting building was made larger than the previous church to better serve the growing membership of the parish. The area had recently been converted by the
Ford Motor Company of Canada into
Ford City, a
company town, and the population was growing. The parish was later renamed, becoming Our Lady of the Rosary. The building cost CA$45,000 to complete. Our Lady of the Rosary initially prioritized French-speaking congregants, in part to counteract ongoing efforts in the education system to promote the use of English. Such language politics resulted in tension within the congregation after the appointment of Father F. X. Laurendeau to the pastorship, as it was feared that he would be unsympathetic to the needs of the French-speaking community; he had previously established an English-language parish, and was appointed by an English-speaking bishop. Some parishioners sought other congregations. Others, meanwhile, chose to block the pastor's entrance to the church. On 8 September 1917 the Ford City Riots broke out, wherein English- and French-speaking parishioners threw stones and attacked each other with rakes and shovels. The riot was broken up by police, who also escorted Laurendeau past a French blockade into the building. Ultimately, the situation calmed, and after a year the French-speaking parishioners returned. The church began offering services in both French and English, and under Laurendeau its membership grew to include 3,000 people. Our Lady of the Rosary had several daughter parishes, including St. Anne, St. Rose de Lima, St Therese, Most Precious Blood, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, St. Joseph, St. Francis, and Our Lady of Guadalupe. In 1979, Our Lady of the Rosary established Drouillard Placea social services programmein conjunction with the East Windsor Citizen's Committee. Extensive renovations were conducted beginning in the 1980s, including work on the towers and the front entranceway; a CA$2 million restoration project was completed in 2002. Membership, however, was dwindling. By 1965, Our Lady of the Rosary counted only 300 families in its congregation. In 2007, the auxiliary bishop of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of London, Ontario, announced the closure of the church; the last Mass was held on 28 October 2007. The diocese then offered the building for sale at a price of CA$1. Our Lady of the Rosary was one of three
Roman Catholic churches in Windsor–Essex County placed on the market, as the church was unable to pay for maintenance. By 2013, the building was in need of significant repairs, with much of its facade crumbling.
Water's Edge Acquisition of the property was considered by the City of Windsor, but ultimately it declined the purchase. One staff member noted the "considerable" cost of refurbishing the building, estimated at CA$3.6 million. The city did, however, designate the building under the
Ontario Heritage Act through By-Law 209-2008 in December 2008. In 2013, the building was purchased by Windsor-based entrepreneur Larry Horwitz, though he only took possession in April 2015. He decided to repurpose the building as an event venue. Speaking with
The Windsor Star, Horwitz indicated that he had drawn inspiration from other repurposed churches, such as the Grand Hall at the Priory in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After two years of work, the building was reopened in May 2015 as the Water's Edge Event Centre. Much of the original architecture and furniture was retained. However, numerous changes were made. The pews were replaced with a bar, while the
confession booth was transformed into a coat check. New washrooms were installed, as were a bridal room and garden courtyard. The circular staircase was refurbished to provide an attractive backdrop for
wedding photographs. An area was dedicated to the history of
rum-running, citing claims that
Al Capone had used the church to facilitate his activities during the
Prohibition era. The Water's Edge Event Centre received a Built Heritage Award from the City of Windsor in 2017 for "good heritage stewardship", which included the installation of a new roof in 2016. In 2023, Horwitz announced plans to expand the Water's Edge Event Centre into a new complex named Distillery Place. Inspired by the Armouries in
London, Ontario, the complex would include new structures including a
boutique hotel, spa,
convention centre, and apartments. The estimated cost of the development would be millions of dollars. ==References==