Casino Windsor Interim Location (445 Riverside Dr. W., Windsor, Ontario)

Recollections (Mid to Late 1990s)

During the mid to late 1990s, I remember driving past the interim location of Casino Windsor at 445 Riverside Dr. W., in Windsor, Ontario, between Bruce Ave. to the west, Church St. to the east, and Pitt St. W. to the south. This building had previously housed the Art Gallery of Windsor.

The building was roughly rectangular in shape, but was probably one of the most visually-extravagant and eye-catching in Windsor and Essex County at the time, due to its prominent illuminated sign and other decorative lighting on the front (north) side. There was also a large porte-cochère at the front entrance.

I recall the casino getting a lot of attention at the time. It provided an experience to the Windsor and Detroit areas that otherwise would have required travelling some distance. (The casinos in places like Detroit and Niagara Falls didn’t open until a few years later.) I’m pretty sure there were lineups of people waiting to get in, even after the opening day.

I never went inside the casino when it was in this temporary location.

It eventually closed around the same time that the permanent casino built farther to the east along Riverside Dr. E., between McDougall St. and Glengarry Ave., opened. The temporary casino building was demolished, and eventually the new building that, as of 2026, houses the Chimczuk Museum and Art Windsor-Essex was constructed.

Other Information

There are some photographs of the temporary casino building:

The City of Windsor’s website (archived 1997-03-07): Shows part of the front of the casino, including the large sign, the decorative lights, and the porte-cochère, apparently during the evening.
The Windsor Star (archived 1997-04-12): Shows the front of the casino, at night and with the sign brightly illuminated.
“‘Like the circus coming to town': 30 years of highs, lows for Windsor (and Ontario’s) first casino” (2024-06-17): Includes three photographs of the interim casino building. One photo appears to show a line of people crossing Pitt St. W., to the south of the casino building. Another photograph appears to show the south side, southeast corner, and east side of the building, at the intersection of Pitt St. W. and Church St., with a lineup of people along the Church St. and Pitt St. W. sidewalks. The final photograph appears to show people lined up in front of the building.
“Slide of Casino Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, circa mid to late 1990s”: The front entrance of the casino during the day.
The front (north) side
The front (north) side
The front (north) side

There are some videos that include footage of the casino:

Some news articles mention the interim location:

A Windsor-Essex County Development Commission webpage about the casino from the City of Windsor’s website (archived 1997-02-10) has some information about the casino, including:

“opened to the public May 17, 1994”
“features approximately 50,000 square feet of gaming space on three floors and offers 73 table games”
“contains over 1,700 slot machines in various denominations starting at 25 cents”
“can accommodate approximately 4,000 patrons”
“located at 445 Riverside Drive West in Windsor, Ontario”
“open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week”

The “The History of Casino Windsor” webpage from Casino Windsor’s website (archived 1998-12-02) features a detailed timeline of the casino’s early history, and gives additional details about the temporary casino location, including:

“October 14, 1993”, “The Art Gallery of Windsor was chosen as the site for the interim casino. Renovation and expansion of the Art Gallery building began.”
“May 17, 1994”, “The temporary Casino Windsor^TM opened to the public. It was Ontario's first Las Vegas-style casino. The casino featured approximately 50,000 square feet/4,645 square metres of gaming space on three floors.”
“June 11, 1994”, “Casino Windsor^TM welcomed its one millionth customer.”
“July 23, 1998”, “The temporary Casino Windsor^TM closes and final preparations are made for the opening of the permanent casino.”

Wikipedia’s “Caesars Windsor” article gives a brief overview of the casino’s history.

OLG’s “Our History” “1990 - 1999” webpage mentions the interim casino.

Some reports from the City of Windsor mention the interim casino:

“The City of Windsor Annual Financial Report For Year Ending December 31, 1994” includes details like:
- “is now the most profitable casino in the world, on a square footage basis”
- “about 19,000 patrons visit the casino every day”
- “recorded $100 million in profits in its first 10 weeks of operation”
- “Approximately 2,200 jobs have been created”
“The City of Windsor Annual Financial Report For Year Ending December 31, 1995”
“The City of Windsor 1996 Annual Report”

The “Our History” webpage of Art Windsor Essex’s website includes a photograph of the building when it still housed the Art Gallery of Windsor, along with some casino-related details:

“1993”, “AWE signs agreement with the Government of Ontario to lease 445 Riverside Drive West for a pilot casino project in downtown Windsor.”
“1999”, “445 Riverside Drive West is demolished following its use by the Ontario Casino Corporation for eight years.”

An International Metropolis article about the Art Gallery of Windsor also includes a photograph of the building before it housed the casino.