DRESDEN CASINO
The Dresden casino was built in 2001, and unfortunately had to close its doors in 2019. Since 2019, the building has been sitting vacant. When Chatham announced in 2018 that they were going to be building a large Gateway Casino, this forced the Dresden location to have to close. This resulted in many people losing their jobs, and Dresden losing a piece of their community.
The casino was located behind the hockey arena, and beside the racetrack, so this area was always a “popping” place when you were to drive by. You could watch a hockey game, bet at the horse track, and win on the blackjack table all within a 3-minute walk between each other. Now, the casino is starting to show a lot of wear and tear and doesn’t look the same as it did when people were constantly maintaining the appearance of it. The photograph shown portrays the stagnation of the building because if this image was taken when it was active, people would constantly be coming in and out of the doors. This shows that in order for there to be growth and expansion, some things will have to suffer, which in this case is the Dresden Casino. For there to be a casino in Chatham that is easily accessible to more people, forces the other location to have to close. Everything is always evolving, and as community members, we must evolve with the flow if we want to stay up to date.
WABASH BASKETBALL COURTS
Many people used to attend the church that resides next door, and then after the service all the kids would go and play basketball at the courts. As of today, the older generation are the only people that attend the Wabash church, so the courts don’t get used anymore. This is an image of what the courts look like today. The hoops are extremely rusty, and the poles are too wobbly to even play. There is also moss and fungus growing on the ground, which is proof that community members don’t utilize this space anymore.
This image demonstrates that as soon as somebody doesn’t have a purpose for something anymore, they stop using it. Because the kids got older, they didn’t find a need to play basketball anymore, so everybody stopped going to and maintaining this particular public space.
BAR IN RONDEAU/MORPETH
The photograph below is an image of an old bar that is on the corner of Highway 3 and Kent Bridge Road that you pass on your way to Rondeau. This particular building used to also be an internment camp for Japanese Canadians during World War ll. It sat idle for many years after, until it was repurposed into a bar for residents to enjoy. Unfortunately, it closed and has been left abandoned since then.
This property is filled with lots of history, that adds character to Chatham-Kent. Due to the changing needs of the community, the past uses of this building don’t serve a purpose anymore and because of this the building is left to decay.
