Old Stude dealership, maybe...Timmins, Ontario

[Steve T]

Tripped over this today; had never heard of it before. Timmins is in northwestern Ontario. Note the prewar Studebaker script logo on the corner of the building. Nice tip of the hat to history!

http://www.amlholdingsinc.com/index.php/component/ezrealty/ezrealty/4-space-for-lease/13-little-cake-boutique

S.

[warrlaw1]

LOL. Looks like the building the Lord Thomson of Fleet used to start his media empire. His first radio station was in Timmins. Timmins is and was a mining town. I'll never go back of my own free will.

[candbstudebakers]

What would a building like that cost in Canada?

[2R5]

Probably about the same as Ca

[warrlaw1]

LOL. Not a huge commercial market in Timmins. I have a client that let a couple of his properties there go power of sale because he couldn't get good tenants. If you want an investment, buy in a growing, diversifed (and warmer) market.

[2moredoors]

I'll never go back of my own free will.

I was offered a posting there early in my career, turned it down, thank goodness. Once they posted you up there it was hard to get out. Timmins billed itself as the largest city in the province of Ontario. The "welcome to Timmins" sign was miles before you saw any sign of habitation, Just bush and more bush. They still have a gold mine up there.

[52-fan]

I notice the sign says "The Studebaker Building" and not just Studebaker with a logo. It's possible that the building was not a dealership, but was built by someone named Studebaker.

[warrlaw1]

If it's the one I'm thinking of, I was in there in 1977 and it still had a funky old radio control room with mics, et al from the 40's. Roy Thomson (aka Lord Thomson of Fleet) even bounced a few cheques that local businessmen keep on their walls. That was way before his international media empire. He was the Canadian version of William Randolph Hurst or Rupert Murdoch. Conrad Black bought some of his newspaparer holdings before giving up his Canadian citizenship to become Lord Black of Cross Harbour in Britain, and then jailed in the U.S. for using the now public corporation as his personal piggy bank. The mines however pre-dated even Thomson. Many mining cars were built in Orillia and shipped there until WW2. I bet lots of Studebaker wagons were used in the mines, too. That building could have been a sales and parts depot. Wished I would have looked up a little more when I was there.

[StudeMann]

Timmins' main claim to fame is that Shania Twain hailed from there, did she not?

I saw her on a CBC TV interview a couple of years before she became famous and I thought she talked about growing up in Timmins and looking after her younger siblings after her parents died in a car crash. However, I might be mistaken...wouldn't be the first time!

[whacker]

Studemann, you are right, also Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies and her brother are from there. The town is named after their grandfather.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHRFZFmEq9o

[StudeMann]

I have the Cowboy Junkies album 'The Trinity Sessions' on vinyl but I don't have a turntable anymore to listen to it. I didn't know that Timmins was named for their family. Thanks for filling me in on that fact. I'm a trivia sponge about music people.
cheers, Jim

[2R5]

Another piece of trivia is that Timmims is the larges city in North America. That is on the city limit sign as you drive in.....takes you about another hour to get there. Largest is size not population<g>

[warrlaw1]

The Trinity Sessions were recorded in a church in Toronto, I believe. Pretty remarkable stuff for live off the floor. Margo and Shania came along way after I got out of there. I started in radio (CFTI), had the station sold out from under me and then played piano, 6 nights a week for nine months at the nicest lounge in Timmins (and that ain't saying much): the Thunderbird Lounge at the Senator Motor Inn. I left in the dark of night and nobody missed me