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Place of Publication
Windsor, Ontario
Description
Title Variations
Windsor Review
Review
Publication Dates
1878: Oct. 11 (Vol. 1: no. 1) - 1902
Frequency
Weekly
Online Holdings
1878: Nov. 1 (Vol. 1: no. 4) 8 p.
1885: Dec. 25 (Vol. 8: no. 7) 8 p.
1899: July 28 (Vol. 23: no. 30) 12 p. (pages 3-10 are missing)
Keywords
Newspapers, Windsor (Ontario), Essex County (Ontario), Essex Review (Windsor, Ontario), Windsor Review (Windsor, Ontario), Review (Windsor, Ontario)
Disciplines
Canadian History | Public History
Rights
Public Domain
Comments/Notes
The Essex Review (Windsor, Ontario) appeared for about 23 years, from 1878 until 1902. In about 1890, it became known as the Windsor Review, or sometimes simply the Review. The newspaper was always published in the "conservative interest" and was a "journal devoted to politics, literature, agriculture, and general news". It was mostly an 8 page paper, published weekly, every Friday morning, with a circulation of about 1,000 copies per issue. Its motto was "Hew to the line, let the chips fall where they may".
For most of its existence, the Review occupied the basement and 1st floor of a building at 4 Pitt Street West. This building was the first building west of Ouellette Avenue, on the north side, more or less opposite the Post Office. Until about 1884, it seems there was also an office at 13 Ouellette Avenue.
The first editor, and then owner, was Charles C. Cliffe. He was born November 10, 1842 in Leeds County, Ontario, of English/Irish descent, and was a newspaperman by profession. In the mid-1870s, he owned the Kincardine Review and the Wingham Advance. He arrived in Windsor in 1878, probably around the time the federal Conservative party under Sir John A. Macdonald came back into power. Perhaps, sensing a business opportunity, he started the Essex Review. It was the only conservative paper in Windsor at that point, the Essex Times having folded earlier in the year. In the November 1st, 1878 issue, there is a detailed report of the Conservative party banquet in Maidstone. However, the remainder of the content is fairly non-political and standard for the time: advertising, local news, copied international news, poetry, prose, advice, curiosities, and articles about minor issues of the day.
After a few years, Charles Cliffe sold the newspaper to Thomas M. White. He ran the paper from 1883 until 1892 when he retired due to ill-health and changing political views. F. H. Macpherson was the next editor/owner. He conducted the Review for about six years but gave it up around 1898 when he became a chartered accountant. On July 25th, 1899, the Windsor Review put out a twelve page special edition. Only pages 1-2 and 11-12 remain. As well as a history of the City, there are detailed descriptions of many local enterprises, almost a business directory of sorts.
In October 1900, the Windsor Review offices were badly damaged by fire. Incredibly, just months later on May 22nd, 1901, another fire completely gutted their premises on Pitt Street. Claude Stanley Allen and J. J. White were involved with paper around this time. In November 1901, the newspaper was again sold to Thomas W. Whally and Arthur T. Craig. However, as the Evening Record reported (1904: Jan. 23rd, p. 1 and p. 7): "The paper changed hands every few months and went from bad to worse until the office was finally closed, a year or so ago." A sad end!
Updated: Katharine Ball, August 2020
Source of our Digitized Holdings
Museum Windsor
Other Potential Holdings
Windsor Public Library: 1885: June - 1886: Feb. (microfilm); 1895: Jan. - 1896: Feb. (microfilm)
Western University: 1885: Nov. 13
National Library: 1889: Feb. 15
Archives of Ontario: 1885: Jan. 16; 1886: Jan. 8; 1893: Feb. 16
To view online at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/essexreview