Hotel Fires

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)

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.

Image source

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.”

Firefighting demonstration, Comstock Hotel, Halbrite, n.d.

Plowshares to Pumpjacks (1984)

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):

1. Aberdeen: Aberdeen Hotel, March 3, 1997 
2. Abernethy: King Edward Hotel, May 27, 1909 
3. Aneroid: Aneroid Hotel, June 3, 1953 
4. Antler: Antler Hotel, 1912 [started in the hotel gas works; several injured, one killed]
5. Ardill: Ardill Hotel, October 1965
6. Asquith: Asquith Hotel, October 24, 1911 [explosion; four injured] 
7. Assiniboia: Franklin Hotel, December 16, 2008 
8. Atwater: Atwater Hotel, 1927 
9. Avonlea: King George Hotel, 1916 
10. Balgonie: Balgonie Hotel, November 7, 1909 
11. Beechy: Closes Hotel, December 1948 
12. Bengough: Bengough Hotel, 1978 
13. Biggar: Eden Hotel, July 13, 1982 
14. Broadview: Broadview Hotel, Jan. 1956 [$100,000 fire; and café] 
15. Brownlee: City Hotel, June 30, 1929 [smaller hotel built in its place] 
16. Cadillac: Vendome Hotel, December 27, 1923 
17. Cadillac: Cadillac Hotel, 1946 [rebuilt] 
18. Carnduff: Clarendon/Queen’s Hotel, 1921 or 1924 
19. Carrot River: Carrot River Hotel (Derniuk’s), 1933 
20. Ceylon: Ceylon Hotel, December 25, 1911 
21. Chamberlain: Chamberlain Hotel, June 21, 1942 
22. Chaplin: Chaplin Hotel, September 1933
23. Chaplin: Chaplin Hotel, October 1956 [$80,000 damage] 
24. Choiceland: Choiceland Hotel, Feb. 19, 2011 
25. Clavet: French Hotel, 1915 
26. Craik: Craik Hotel, January 31, 2003 
27. Craven: Iroquois Hotel, 1908 
28. Craven: Empress Hotel, 1961 
29. Cudworth: Cudworth Hotel 1973 
30. Debden: Debden Hotel, 1926 
31. Debden: Debden Hotel, early 1930s 
32. Debden: Debden Hotel, early 1960s
33. Delmas: Delmas Hotel, 1912 [at least one person killed] 
34. Disley: Disley Hotel, July 1954 
35. Earl Grey: Hotel Grey, 1924 
36. Eastend: Cypress Hotel, March 1916; rebuilt 
37. Eldersley: White (Tice) Hotel, December 1927 
38. Elrose: Elrose Hotel, September 12, 1993 
39. Elstow: Elstow Hotel, 1916 or 1918 [two people killed] 
40. Estevan: Estevan Hotel, Feb. 27, 1936 [hospital also destroyed] 
41. Fairlight: Fairlight Hotel, 1978 
42. Fielding: Fielding Hotel, July 22, 1922 
43. Fiske: Fiske Hotel, May 27, 1919 
44. Flaxcombe: Silver Hotel, January 26, 1929 
45. Fort Qu’Appelle: Fort Hotel, Feb. 1974 [$250,000 damage]
46. Gainsborough: Queen’s Hotel, between 1900-1905 
47. Glen Ewen: Glen Ewen Hotel, 2007 
48. Goodeve: Goodeve Hotel, January 19, 1982
49. Govan: Silver Plate Hotel, 1960 
50. Govan: Govan Hotel damaged, February 1978 
51. Gravelbourg: Cecil Hotel, August 12, 1926 
52. Gravelbourg:  Gravelbourg Hotel, May 1972 
53. Grenfell:  King’s Hotel, 1927 
54. Gull Lake: Lakeview Hotel, June 12, 1921 
55. Harris: Commercial Hotel, 1924 
56. Hazel Dell: Hazel Dell Hotel, October 2, 1978 
57. Herbert: Commercial Hotel, 1918 
58. Herschel: Herschel Hotel, December 25, 1979 
59. Hoey: Hoey Hotel, 2004 
60. Hudson Bay:  Etoimamie Hotel, 1935 
61. Hudson Bay: Red Deer Motor Hotel, February 1979 
62. Humboldt: Humboldt Hotel, 1923 
63. Indian Head: McIntosh Hotel, early 1890s 
64. Indian Head: Indian Head Hotel, 1993 
65. Ituna: Carlton Hotel, 1925
66. Jasmin: Jasmin Hotel, 1920 
67. Kandahar: Lakeview Hotel, 1925 or 1926 
68. Kelliher: Grand Trunk Hotel, December 22, 1931
69. Kinistino:  Kinistino Hotel, March 1950 [two killed] 
70. Kuroki: Kuroki Hotel, April 30, 1922 [one man killed] 
71. Lampman: Lampman Hotel, January 24, 1932 
72. Lancer: Lancer Hotel, 1958
73. Lanigan: Lanigan Hotel, October 25, 1958
74. Laura: Laura Hotel, November 1, 1966 
75. Leask: Hotel Windsor , Feb. 9, 2011 [arson suspected] 
76. Lebret: Lebret Hotel, October 5, 1916 [and dance pavilion] 
77. Lebret:  Lebret Hotel, September 6, 1927 
78. Limerick: Dickenson Hotel, early 1920
79. Lockwood: Lockwood Hotel, March 9, 1951 
80. Loverna: Vernon Hotel, 1960s 
81. Lumsden: Maple Leaf Hotel, February 23, 1909 
82. Lumsden: Lumsden Hotel, Sept. 1977 [caused by smoking; people killed] 
83. Lumsden: Lumsden Hotel, Nov. 21, 1998 [damages in excess of $600,000] 
84. Macleod: Commercial Hotel, July 13, 1891 
85. Macoun:  Macoun Hotel, April 20, 1914 [13 people killed] 
86. MacNutt: MacNutt Hotel, 1924; rebuilt 
87. Macrorie: Queen’s Hotel, January 31, 1958 
88. Manitou Beach: Manitou Beach Hotel, 1943 
89. Manor: Manor Hotel, 1910 
90. Margo: Margo Hotel, November 5, 1954
91. Maryfield: Arlington Hotel, 1945; rebuilt 1946 
92. McGee: Van Alstyne’s Hotel, 1915 
93. Meath Park: Meath Park Hotel, October 22, 1995 [arson?] 
94. Meota: King Edward Hotel, 192
95. Melville: Killaly Hotel, November 11, 1981 
96. Melville: King George Hotel, February 17, 2010 [arson]
97. Milden: Milden Hotel, 1985
98. Moosomin: Queen’s Hotel, 1905 
99. Moosomin: Moosomin Hotel, Jan. 19, 1969 [one man dead, two missing] 
100. Neilburg: Golden Oak Inn / Pitt's Bar & Grill, April 23, 2011
     
101. Nipawin: Anderson Hotel, 1923 
102. Nipawin: Nipawin Hotel, 1933 
103. Nipawin: Park Hotel, 1953 
104. Nipawin: Nipawin Hotel, May 17, 1979 
105. Nokomis: Patricia Hotel, May 25, 1926
106. Nut Mountain: Mountain House Hotel, Novemver 22, 2006 
107. Ogema: Little Amego Inn, April 20, 1958 
108. Otthon: Otthon Hotel, March 1925 [$20,000 loss] 
109. Oxbow: Palace Hotel, August 1907 [rebuilt as Alexandra Hotel] 
110. Parkbeg: Temperance Hotel, August 1919 
111. Parkside: Parkside Hotel, 1961 
112. Paynton: Paynton Hotel, 1915
113. Paynton: Leland Hotel, 1920 
114. Penzance: Penzance Hotel, May 18, 1941 
115. Piapot: Piapot Hotel, January 15, 1932 
116. Plato: Rymal’s Hotel, 1919 
117. Ponteix: Windsor Hotel, 1929 
118. Ponteix: Ponteix Hotel, June 26, 193
119. Portreeve: Portreeve Hotel, February 1919 or 1920 
120. Prelate: Prelate Hotel, August 10, 2009 
121. Prud’homme: Flanders Hotel, 1957 [rebuilt the same year] 
122. Punnichy: Glenrose Hotel, December 14, 1955 
123. Ravenscrag: Ravenscrag Hotel, 1954 
124. Redvers: King’s Hotel, 1951 
125. Riverhurst: Riverhurst Hotel, 1975 
126. Rosthern: Klondike Hotel, 1906 
127. Rosthern: Occidental/National Hotel, August  26,1928 
128. Rosthern: Queen’s Hotel, 1961 
129. Rush Lake: Rush Lake Hotel, October 5, 1926 
130. Ruthilda: Boon’s Hotel, summer 1926 
131. Shaunavon: Empress Hotel, December 17, 1914 
132. Shell Lake: Shell Lake Hotel, 1956 
133. Shellbrook: Former Tynen Hotel, January 18, 1943.
134. Somme: Somme Hotel, 1943 
135. Sonningdale: Sonningdale Hotel, March 19, 1995 [cooking oil to blame]
136. Sovereign: Sovereign Hotel, 1915
137. Spalding: Spalding Hotel, 1922 
138. Speers: Speers Hotel, December 7, 1989 
139. Spy Hill: Spy Hill Hotel, 1940 
140. Stoughton: King Edward Hotel, February 1, 1905 
141. Sturgis: Hotel Sturgis, March 1926 
142. Swift Current: Empress Hotel, December 25, 1931 [$100,000 loss] 
143. Tantallon: Tantallon Hotel, December 5, 193
144. Tisdale: Imperial Hotel, February 7, 1933 [seven died in fire] 
145. Turtleford: Glenhavon Hotel, February 1, 1922 
146. Tway:  Tway Hotel, April 5,1996 
147. Vidora: Vidora Hotel, Feb. 19, 1925 [also pool hall and a store; $14,000 loss] 
148. Vonda: Vonda Hotel, 1924 
149. Walpole: Walpole Hotel, 1923 or 1924 
150. Wapella: Wapella Hotel, June 1890 [two arsonists convicted of setting fire] 
151. Webb: [Weere’s] Hotel, January 1962
152. Willow Bunch: European Hotel, November 11, 1959
153. Willow Bunch: Willow Bunch Hotel, Feb. 1995 [caused by electrical short] 
154. Wolseley: Windsor Hotel, 1905 
155. Wolseley: Leland Hotel, October 5, 1923 
156. Wynyard: Wynyard Hotel, March 6,1932 
157. Yellow Grass: Yellow Grass Hotel, November 13, 1994 [arson]
158. Young: Young Hotel, November 13, 2011

© Joan Champ, 2011