187 William St

Earl Ross is best known for being one of only six non-American born drivers to have won a NASCAR Cup Series race.

Ross was born in Charlottetown, P.E.I., and moved with his family to London when he was 11 years old. Ross, his wife Bonnie and his three daughters moved to Ailsa Craig in 1970. 

At the Old Domimion 500 on September 29, 1974, at Martinsville Speedway, Ross beat Buddy Baker to the line by more than a lap, thus making him the first and still the only Canadian to have ever won a Winston Cup event. The victory helped him win the Winston Cup Rookie of the Year in 1974.

After competing in two events in 1975 and 1976, Ross retired from NASCAR racing but continued to compete in a number of regional racing series before his ultimate retirement in the late 1990s.

Earl Ross passed away in 2014, at the age of 73.

Prior to the Ross's, this was the home of Frank Anderson. His father John operated a carriage works and had several bee hives around his home, and it was in these two places that Frank's talents were developed and showed boundless creative activity.

As a young man, he designed the pilot model and supervised the production of the entire line of custom-built cars for the McLaughlin Buick.

Anderson also drafted working drawings for a pasteurizer for honey and supervised its construction.

The long black barn behind 187 Williams Street (former home of “Born In A Barn”) was the “Crystal Palace.” 

The Crystal Palace originally sat the Ailsa Craig fair grounds, which was located in the field to the east of the current nursing home. The building housed displays for the annual fair.