The Franklin Hotel, Assiniboia, burned down on December 16, 2008. Photo by Landon Ullrich |
Another small-town Saskatchewan hotel went up in flames this past weekend. Carol MacCallum, the owner of the Choiceland hotel and bar, vows to rebuild the hotel. “This is a great town, these are great people” MacCallum told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. “They need a bar. The bar is a community centre.”
Many hotels that once commanded the corners of Railway and Main have burned to the ground over the years. It didn’t take much – a live cinder drawn up the chimney by a strong wind and igniting the flat tar roof; the explosion of a coal oil stove – to set these rambling old wooden buildings ablaze.
Queen’s Hotel fire, Macrorie, 1957.
From Jubilee Reminiscences:
A History of Macrorie (1957)
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Hotel fires caused death and destruction. In 1912, the hotel in Antler, Saskatchewan, caught fire after an explosion of the gas works which provided the building’s light and heat. According to the town’s history book (1983), the guests in the front part of the hotel escaped unharmed, but it was a different story for staff members in the back of the building. “Two chambermaids were saved by the Chinese cook, who forcibly threw these two frightened girls over the hole, and they escaped unhurt. Dan Morrison, who was also in the back part, had his hair and face badly burnt. Fred Brown, a man of German descent, a carpenter and resident of the hotel, died in this event. He was found with his mattress still under him; evidently he died of smoke inhalation, never waking. They had held a birthday party for him the day before the fire.”
Aftermath of the Macoun Hotel explosion, 1914.
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One of the most tragic hotel fires in Saskatchewan’s history occurred in Macoun on a windy April day in 1914. Thirteen people died and many were injured when an acetylene lighting plant in the hotel basement exploded. It was lunch time, and the hotel dining room was filled to capacity. The owner’s son smelled gas and decided to go down to the basement to investigate – with a lit cigar in his mouth. As soon as he opened the basement door, the place exploded. The entire building was thrown about thirty feet in the air, and then crashed back down. The young man with the cigar survived with only a few bruises, singed hair and eyebrows. Everyone else caught in the conflagration – save two – perished in the fire, or died later as a result of their injuries.
In the early days, few of Saskatchewan’s small towns had the means to extinguish the flames of a big fire. A disastrous hotel fire prompted many a town council to buy firefighting equipment. Other town passed bylaws mandating the construction of firewalls between adjacent buildings. Roofs had to be made of incombustible materials. The front verandas and covered balconies that once graced most old hotels had to be removed as they added to the fire hazard. In 1933, the town of Radville passed a bylaw forcing every hotel to provide fire escapes, signs leading to theses escapes, fire extinguishers on each floor, and a rope for each guest room. The minute book of the town of Webb records Hotel Bylaw No. 19: “Every public hotel shall be provided with one cotton rope at least three-quarter inch in diameter to be firmly fastened at least two feet above the windowsill in each bedroom.”
Maple Leaf Hotel fire, Lumsden, 1909 Source |
Firefighting demonstration, Comstock Hotel, Halbrite, n.d.
Plowshares to Pumpjacks (1984)
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Not everyone was sad to see the town hotel burn down. When the women of Clavet heard that the hotel was on fire in 1915 - the year Prohibition was introduced in Saskatchewan, it is reported they said, "Hell is burning."
Small-Town Saskatchewan Hotels Destroyed by Fire (list in progress):
Small-Town Saskatchewan Hotels Destroyed by Fire (list in progress):
- Aberdeen: Aberdeen Hotel, March 3, 1997
- Abernethy: King Edward Hotel, May 27, 1909
- Aneroid: Aneroid Hotel, June 3, 1953
- Antler: Antler Hotel, December 16, 1912 [started in the hotel gas works; several injured, one killed]
- Ardill: Ardill Hotel, October 1965
- Asquith: Asquith Hotel, October 24, 1911 [explosion; four injured]
- Assiniboia: Franklin Hotel, December 16, 2008
- Atwater: Atwater Hotel, 1927
- Avonlea: King George Hotel, 1916
- Balcarres: Balcarres Hotel, November 3, 1974
- Balgonie: Balgonie Hotel, November 7, 1909
- Beechy: Beechy Hotel, December 13, 1948
- Bengough: Bengough Hotel, January 16, 1977
- Biggar: Eden Hotel, July 13, 1982
- Broadview: Broadview Hotel, Jan. 1956 [$100,000 fire; and café]
- Brownlee: City Hotel, June 30, 1929 [smaller hotel built in its place]
- Buchanan: Buchanan Hotel, June 20, 1988
- Cabri: Cabri Hotel, March 12, 2022
- Cadillac: Vendome Hotel, December 27, 1923
- Candle Lake: The Ship’s Lantern, November 26, 2006
- Cadillac: Cadillac Hotel, 1946 [rebuilt]
- Carnduff: Clarendon/Queen’s Hotel, 1921 or 1924
- Carrot River: Carrot River Hotel (Derniuk’s), 1933
- Ceylon: Ceylon Hotel, December 25, 1911
- Chamberlain: Chamberlain Hotel, June 21, 1942
- Chaplin: Chaplin Hotel, September 1933
- Chaplin: Chaplin Hotel, October 1956 [$80,000 damage]
- Choiceland: Choiceland Hotel, Feb. 19, 2011
- Christopher Lake: Christopher Lake Hotel, March 2019 [arson]
- Clavet: French Hotel, 1915
- Colonsay: Colonsay Hotel, October 2, 1920
- Consul: Consul Hotel, August 3, 2015
- Craik: Craik Hotel, January 31, 2003
- Craven: Iroquois Hotel, 1908
- Craven: Empress Hotel, 1961
- Cudworth: Cudworth Hotel 1973
- Debden: Debden Hotel, 1926
- Debden: Debden Hotel, early 1930s
- Debden: Debden Hotel, early 1960s
- Delmas: Delmas Hotel, 1912 [at least one person killed]
- Denholm: Denholm Hotel, October 6, 1913
- Disley: Disley Hotel, July 1954
- Dubuc: Bernier Street Hotel, June 11, 2013
- Earl Grey: Hotel Grey, 1924
- Eastend: Cypress Hotel, March 1916; rebuilt
- Edam: Rendezvous Hotel, June 5, 2017
- Edenwold: Edenwold Hotel, July 1, 1991
- Eldersley: White (Tice) Hotel, December 1927
- Elfros: Tequilas Hotel, October 9, 2014
- Elrose: Elrose Hotel, September 12, 1993
- Elstow: Elstow Hotel, 1916 or 1918 [two people killed]
- Estuary: Nordby Hotel, August 20, 1917 [entire business section of town destroyed]
- Estevan: Kelly House, 1909
- Estevan: Estevan Hotel, Feb. 27, 1936 [aka Clarendon or American; hospital also destroyed]
- Estevan: International Hotel, March 1973
- Fairlight: Fairlight Hotel, 1978
- Fenwood: Fenwood Hotel, January 22, 1963
- Fielding: Fielding Hotel, July 22, 1922
- Fiske: Fiske Hotel, May 27, 1919
- Flaxcombe: Silver Hotel, January 26, 1929
- Fort Qu’Appelle: Fort Hotel, Feb. 1974 [$250,000 damage]
- Gainsborough: Queen’s Hotel, between 1900-1905
- Garrick: Garrick Hotel, March 1988
- Glen Ewen: Glen Ewen Hotel, 2007
- Golden Prairie: Golden Prairie Hotel, December 1963
- Goodeve: Goodeve Hotel, January 19, 1982
- Govan: Silver Plate Hotel, 1960
- Govan: Govan Hotel damaged, February 1978
- Gravelbourg: Cecil Hotel, August 12, 1926
- Gravelbourg: King's Hotel, May 1972
- Grenfell: King’s Hotel, 1927
- Gull Lake: Lakeview Hotel, June 12, 1921
- Gull Lake: Clarendon Hotel, October 9, 2016 [arson]
- Harris: Commercial Hotel, 1924
- Hawarden: Hawarden Hotel, January 1949
- Hazel Dell: Hazel Dell Hotel, October 2, 1978
- Herbert: Commercial Hotel, 1918
- Herschel: Herschel Hotel, December 25, 1979
- Hoey: Hoey Hotel, 2004
- Hudson Bay: Etoimamie Hotel, 1935
- Hudson Bay: Red Deer Motor Hotel, February 1979 [fatality]
- Hughton: Hughton Hotel, September 24, 1914 [arson]
- Hughton: Hughton Hotel, December 3, 1949
- Humboldt: Humboldt Hotel, 1923
- Indian Head: McIntosh Hotel, early 1890s
- Indian Head: Indian Head Hotel, 1993
- Ituna: Carlton Hotel, 1925
- Ituna: Ituna Hotel, December 11, 2020
- Jasmin: Jasmin Hotel, 1920
- Kamsack: Woodlander Hotel, December 9, 2023
- Kandahar: Lakeview Hotel, 1925 or 1926
- Kelliher: Grand Trunk Hotel, December 22, 1931
- Killaly: Killaly Hotel, November 11, 1981
- Kinistino: Kinistino Hotel, March 1950 [two killed]
- Kuroki: Kuroki Hotel, April 30, 1922 [one man killed]
- Kyle: Kyle Hotel, May 16, 2018
- Laird: Laird Hotel, August 1915
- Lafleche: Flying Goose Inn, May 21, 2013 [formerly Hotel Metropole, built in 1913]
- Lampman: Lampman Hotel, January 24, 1932
- Lancer: Lancer Hotel, 1958
- Lanigan: Lanigan Hotel, October 25, 1958
- Laura: Laura Hotel, November 1, 1966
- Leask: Hotel Windsor , Feb. 9, 2011 [arson suspected]
- Lebret: Lebret Hotel, October 5, 1916 [and dance pavilion]
- Lebret: Lebret Hotel, September 6, 1927
- Lemberg: Lemberg Hotel, March 11, 2019
- Liberty: Liberty Hotel, September 2, 1958
- Limerick: Dickenson Hotel, early 1920
- Lockwood: Lockwood Hotel, March 9, 1951
- Loverna: Vernon Hotel, 1960s
- Lumsden: Maple Leaf Hotel, February 23, 1909 (see photo above)
- Lumsden: Lumsden Hotel, Sept. 1977 [caused by smoking; people killed]
- Lumsden: Lumsden Hotel, Nov. 21, 1998 [damages in excess of $600,000]
- Macleod: Commercial Hotel, July 13, 1891
- Macoun: Macoun Hotel, April 20, 1914 [13 people killed]
- MacNutt: MacNutt Hotel, 1924; rebuilt
- Macrorie: Queen’s Hotel, January 31, 1958
- Manitou Beach: Manitou Beach Hotel, 1943
- Mankota: Paris Hotel, December 28, 1988
- Manor: Manor Hotel, 1910
- Marchwell: Central Hotel, April 5, 1973
- Margo: Margo Hotel, November 5, 1954
- Markinch: Markinch Hotel, March 3, 1930
- Maryfield: Arlington Hotel, 1945; rebuilt 1946
- Mawer: Queen’s Hotel, 1918
- Mayfair: Mayfair Hotel, March 21. 2002
- McGee: Van Alstyne’s Hotel, 1915
- Meath Park: Meath Park Hotel, October 22, 1995 [arson?]
- Mendham: Mendham Country Inn, April 1997
- Meota: King Edward Hotel, 192
- Meyronne: Meyronne Hotel, November 14, 1988 [fatality]
- Melville: King George Hotel, February 17, 2010 [arson]
- Midale: Frances Hotel, November 8, 1987
- Milden: Milden Hotel, 1985
- Milestone: Milestone Hotel, February 6, 1927 [15-year-old boy dead]
- Montmartre: Montmarte Hotel, January 1993
- Moosomin: Queen’s Hotel, 1905
- Moosomin: Moosomin Hotel, Jan. 19, 1969 [one man dead, two missing]
- Neilburg: Golden Oak Inn / Pitt's Bar & Grill, April 23, 2011
- Neudorf: Neudorf Hotel, September 3, 2017
- Nipawin: Anderson Hotel, 1923
- Nipawin: Nipawin Hotel, 1933
- Nipawin: Park Hotel, May 17, 1979
- Nokomis: Patricia Hotel, May 25, 1926
- Norquay: Norquay Hotel, December 24, 2006
- Nut Mountain: Mountain House Hotel, November 22, 2006
- Ogema: Little Amego Inn, April 20, 1958
- Otthon: Otthon Hotel, March 1925 [$20,000 loss]
- Oxbow: Palace Hotel, August 1907 [rebuilt as Alexandra Hotel]
- Parkbeg: Temperance Hotel, August 1919
- Parkside: Parkside Hotel, 1961
- Paynton: Paynton Hotel, 1915
- Paynton: Leland Hotel, 1920
- Penzance: Penzance Hotel, May 18, 1941
- Piapot: Piapot Hotel, January 15, 1932
- Plato: Rymal’s Hotel, 1919
- Plenty: Plenty Hotel, 1981 [rebuilt by same owner]
- Ponteix: Windsor Hotel, 1929
- Ponteix: Ponteix Hotel, June 26, 1930
- Porcupine Plain: Porcupine Hotel, 2001
- Portreeve: Portreeve Hotel, February 1919 or 1920
- Prelate: Prelate Hotel, August 10, 2009
- Prud’homme: Flanders Hotel, 1957 [rebuilt the same year]
- Punnichy: Glenrose Hotel, December 14, 1955
- Qu'Appelle: Queen's Hotel, April 17, 2003
- Quinton: Quinton Hotel, May 10, 1983
- Ravenscrag: Ravenscrag Hotel, 1954
- Redvers: King’s Hotel, 1951
- Redvers: Western Star Inn & Suites, January 18, 2021
- Rhein: Rex Hotel, July 24, 1930
- Rhein: Rhein Hotel, May 11, 1967
- Riverhurst: Riverhurst Hotel, December 24, 1974
- Rosetown: York Hotel, July 9, 1983
- Rosthern: Klondike Hotel, 1906
- Rosthern: Occidental/National Hotel, August 26,1928
- Rosthern: Queen’s Hotel, 1961
- Rush Lake: Rush Lake Hotel, October 5, 1926
- Ruthilda: Boon’s Hotel, summer 1926
- St. Benedict: St. Benedict Hotel, April 18, 2018
- Shaunavon: Empress Hotel, December 17, 1914
- Shell Lake: Shell Lake Hotel, 1956
- Shellbrook: Former Tynen Hotel, January 18, 1943.
- Somme: Somme Hotel, 1943
- Sonningdale: Sonningdale Hotel, March 19, 1995 [cooking oil to blame]
- Sovereign: Sovereign Hotel, 1915
- Spalding: Spalding Hotel, 1922
- Speers: Speers Hotel, December 7, 1989
- Spiritwood: Spiritwood Hotel, November 20, 1946
- Spy Hill: Spy Hill Hotel, 1940
- Star City: Queen’s Bar and Grille, March 2021
- Stenen: King George Hotel, October 26, 2011
- Stoughton: King Edward Hotel, February 1, 1905
- Stoughton: Stoughton Hotel, August 1975 [two fatalities]
- Sturgis: Hotel Sturgis, March 1926
- Swift Current: Empress Hotel, December 25, 1931 [$100,000 loss]
- Tantallon: Tantallon Hotel, December 5, 1938
- Tantallon: Valley View Hotel, April 25, 2019
- Tisdale: Imperial Hotel, February 7, 1933
- Tompkins: Pypres(?) Hotel, February 3, 1925
- Turtleford: Glenhavon Hotel, February 1, 1922
- Tway: Tway Hotel, April 5,1996
- Val Marie: Val Marie Hotel, April 20, 1954
- Vidora: Vidora Hotel, Feb. 19, 1925 [also pool hall and a store; $14,000 loss]
- Vonda: Vonda Hotel, 1924
- Walpole: Walpole Hotel, 1923 or 1924
- Wapella: Wapella Hotel, June 1890 [two arsonists convicted of setting fire]
- Webb: [Weere’s] Hotel, January 1962
- Willow Bunch: European Hotel, November 11, 1959
- Willow Bunch: Hotel Manoir, Feb. 1995 [arson]
- Wolseley: Windsor Hotel, 1906
- Wolseley: Leland Hotel, October 5, 1923
- Wynyard: Wynyard Hotel, March 6,1932
- Yellow Grass: Yellow Grass Hotel, November 13, 1994 [arson]
- Young: Young Hotel, November 13, 2011
© Joan Champ, 2011