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Saturday 3 October 2015

G. H. I. Hotels

Gainsborough

 

Crowd gathered outside the newly built Riverside Hotel, 1905. Source

Riverside Hotel, c. 1905. Source

 

Girvin

 

King Edward Hotel, c. 1912; built in 1907. Source

 

Glen Ewen

 

Imperial Hotel, 1908. Source
In 1907, George Reading "Tony" Wincott owned the Imperial Hotel in Glen Ewen. Born in England, Wincott came to Saskatchewan from Ontario in 1896. While working for a horse trader in Montana, it was said he looked like a Mexican to he was nicknamed Tony. While operating the Imperial Hotel, Wincott raised Saint Bernard dogs which won may prizes in shows across Canada. In December of 1908, he married Caroline Erickson who had worked in the dining room of the hotel. Their son George was born in the hotel in 1910. Their second son Alusym was born two years later.

Goodwater

 

Goodwater Hotel, c. 1910. Source
Mrs. Elizabeth (aka Betty Ann) McMickin built the hotel in Goodwater in 1910 when she was about 55 years old. (She may be one of the women shown in this photo, although they all appear to be fairly young.) Elizabeth and James McMicken, of Irish ancestry, came to Saskatchewan from Ontario, via Manitoba, in about 1905. They farmed in the Assiniboia district for several years. James and the six McMickin children moved to the United States at some point. In 1914, Elizabeth rented to hotel to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Foss and returned to the States where her husband was farming. After he died of smallpox in 1919, Elizabeth returned to Goodwater to operate the hotel again. Her son Hunter came with her. Her other two sons and three daughters remained in Montana. It was said that Mrs. McMickin was a very good cook, pastry being her specialty. Inn 1920, Hunter McMickin married Hild Bruning who worked in the hotel. In 1928, Mrs. McMickin sold the Goodwater Hotel and moved to California, where she died at the age of 95. Source


Gravelbourg

 

Hotel (probably the Cecil), c. 1920. Note the "honey wagon" at rear. Source
The Cecil Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1926. The owner, Mrs. Larochelle, had made a fire on the kitchen stove to heat some water to do some washing. She then went upstairs to clean rooms when she discovered the fire in the kitchen. She escaped the hotel with only her clothes. The hotel was reduced to ashes in about an hour's time. Source


Guernsey

 

Hotel Guernsey in background, n.d. Source

 

Gull Lake

 

The Lakeview and the Clarendon hotels, c. 1910. Source

Clarendon Hotel, 1915. Source

Lakeview Hotel, c. 1910.
The three-storey Lakeview hotel and the two-storey Clarendon Hotel were both built in 1906. The Lakeview, built by John Rushford, housed a bar, a barber shop, a dining room, and - for a short time - a branch of the Union Bank. Bert Jacobs built the Clarendon, which also had a bar. The Lakeview Hotel burned down in June of 1921 at 3:00 in the morning, half an hour after a dance had ended in the hall on the main floor of the hotel. Source

 

Hanley

 

Saskatchewan Hotel, c. 1910. Source

 
Saskatchewan Hotel, 1908, Source

The Saskatchewan Hotel in Hanley was built by John James Mitchell between 1905 and 1908. The hotel suffered from neglect during Prohibition years, but was revived under the ownership of Herbert G. Budd from 1928 to 1944. The third storey of this hotel was removed in 1970.


Hawarden


Hawarden Hotel on right, c. 1915. Source
John Van Leary built the hotel in Hawarden in 1909. It was origially called the Mary Edger Hotel. Van Leary died in 1910, and his wife Lena remarried Harry Crompton. Harry was killed overseas in 1916 while fighting with the Canadian Armed Forces during the First World War. Twice widowed, Lena continued to live in the Hawarden Hotel until 1956, when she went into a nursing home. She died in 1962 at age 92. The hotel building was sold to Mr.and Mrs. T. Riley in 1960, and burned down shortly afterwards.


Hazenmore


Vendome Hotel, c. 1912. source


Hughton



Hughton in about 1914. Source
Hughton Hotel, c 1915. Source


Imperial



Imperial Hotel, c. 1912. Source
The hotel in Imperial was built in 1910 by Harry Webster and Jack Davey. According to the Imperial local history book, the hotel was comfortable with carpet - green with pink cabbage roses - on the stairs and in the living room, and velvet curtains at the windows. There were challenges to operating the Imperial Hotel, including "boisterous and noisy railroad workers," inexperienced help, and, most troublesome, "the attractive, well-dressed ladies that seemed to appear at mealtime, climb the open stair, and draw a large male crowd in the evening." Source, p.375.


Ituna



Carlton Hotel, 1912. Source
The 40-room Carlton Hotel was built at Ituna in 1908 by either T. P. Jenner, a builder and contractor, or Frank X. Poitras, general merchant. This hotel was destroyed by fire in 1926.



©Joan Champ, 2015