No Canadian town has closer links to an American city than Windsor does with Detroit. Under the French and British regimes, people on both sides of the river considered themselves members of the same community. Even after Detroit became American, it was still just “the other side” for people in Windsor. Although residents on both sides lived under their respective flags, they continued to work and play together, to support the same businesses and manufacturers and to share common values.

Several ferries maintained links between Windsor and Detroit at the end of the 19th century, allowing for constant interaction between the two sides. Le Progrès reports on various incidents having to do with the ferries, such as a tragic event involving the steamship Hope . The price of ferry tickets was important to Windsor residents who made daily trips to Detroit . In 1888, plans were drawn up for a new link between the two sides in the form of a railway tunnel , .

Ticket for the steamship Argo

Then as now, the subject of customs is one of abiding interest to people living in a border town like Windsor. A list of the duties paid for various goods gives us an idea of what people bought in Detroit at this time. Le Progrès, which as a liberal paper was decidedly against the idea of protectionism, never missed an opportunity to point out the excessive zeal with which certain customs officials carried out their duties , , and to condemn the corrupt practices of other officials . Best of all was when the victims of official zeal happened to be members of a political party which did support protectionism . Le Progrès was nevertheless in favour of protecting certain valuable natural resources , .

In spite of problems at the border, residents of Windsor and the surrounding areas counted on Detroit’s powerful economy when it came time to sell their products , , and to purchase manufactured goods , , , , . Even Le Progrès took advantage of the situation, as for several years the brothers Pacaud printed their paper on an American press. It featured as many adds for American businesses as it did for Canadian ones, as this page from 1881 will attest .

Economic ties were not the only ones linking Windsor and Detroit. American politics was always a hot topic of interest in Windsor. At election time, Le Progrès supported the American candidates who would best serve the French-Canadians of Detroit . Windsor and Detroit residents took part in the same popular and cultural events, whether it was a night at the opera , a day at the circus , an excursion on the river or simply an evening visiting friends . Windsor and Detroit also celebrated together : during the great G.A.R.(Grand Army of the Republic) gathering of 1891, both cities welcomed thousands of veterans of the American Civil War .

News from Detroit were of great interest to readers of Le Progrès, which covered big city events ranging from terrible disasters to amazing medical procedures . Above all, however, it was Detroit’s crime scene that fascinated people in Windsor, as it still does today. In one famous case, the sensational murder of Dr. Horace Pope underlined the evil influences of the big city on a naive and innocent young man from small-town Canada; even then, Detroit could offer Windsor a chance to contemplate - from a safe distance - its own criminal alter-ego , , . On occasion the criminal element would spill across the river to the Canadian side .

One extraordinary incident gives us a striking illustration of the distinctive character of life in a border city. One summer’s evening in 1883, a man named Luke Phipps shot and killed his wife aboard the ferry Hope. He was arrested and taken to jail upon landing in Windsor. But Phipps had murdered his wife in the middle of the Detroit River, and a burning question had to be resolved:. which side of the border did the crime had take place? This was crucial, for Canada had capital punishment at the time and Michigan did not. An inquest eventually determined that the murder took place in Canadian waters and Phipps was sentenced to hang. But before the date set for execution, Phipps managed to escape, along with three accomplices. A prison guard was killed during the jail-break. Several months later, Phipps was recaptured in Illinois and, following a long extradition hearing, brought back to Sandwich. He was finally hanged there on June 17, 1884. People on both sides of the river were fascinated by the developments in the case for an entire year. Unfortunately, issues of Le Progrès covering the crime, the escape and capture are missing from our collection; you will have to go to other newspapers of the era to get the complete story. But we do have the issues covering Phipps’ execution and the ongoing interest the case generated among Windsor residents , , , .

It is impossible to remove Detroit from any portrait of Windsor at the end of the 19th century. It is just as hard to untangle all of the historical, economic, cultural and family ties that bind the two cities. The situation is best summed up in a letter a French visitor sent to the publisher of Le Progrès in 1886 : as he visited Windsor, the traveller wondered if he was truly in Canada and not in the United States . It is clear, however, that even at this time, the two cities were clearly developing their own identities. These differences hinted at in an editorial printed in Le Courrier in 1908, although some of the distinctions might seem somewhat ironic to modern readers .