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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1975-07-24, Page 33Art -X24, 5 ..;.... once boo 14-- tbt�a. thwest cOrtter of ti Stmt and ter Streit. Queen's hotel copyright 1875 Between 1972. 876 the Queen's Hotel wee -hunt 'at the southwest .corner Of Victoria and: Cutter Streets,. The first proprietor was .'apparently Mrs. Pattison, who was followed in the 1890's by Mrs. McClaren who ins turn was followed by Charles 11ne in;, the 1890's. Mr. Milne apparently moved to Detroit in lam and resumed Operation of the hotel in 1900, it having been rented to 'Thomas Bell in the Meantime. In 1903 J. Perkins. who had - been in partnership with Mr, -- Mahon in the Clarendon 'Motel when it burned, rented the Qua's but stayed for only tvie. yeah. For soma time a botel had been. Without a ligunr license and ;apparently had ceased to be a Ming proposition. Mr. Perkins close it in August MOS and auctionedthe f rniture. The best offer ter the building at the sale was 8500. ft was bought in September for $600 by William Elliet WhO used one end of the building for a residence. Later in the year, he cut the hotel in two, moved the" south end to James streetito' be used as a storage shed about on the.. site of the present Senior Citizen's town houses. The section left at the south- west corner of Cutter and Vic- toria Streets was veneered with cement block and -converted to the residence that still stands on the site. The Commercial fnn, after 1922 but before ISMS, as seen from the south. CutterStreetis tothe left. "The fact that the .Queen's Hotel - the Iona building beyond the H.osp, twoindicatesthe time is before 1905. The Hospital is no earlier than)i 16 -Prohibition close The Waverly Hotel to—The Southeast Corner of Maria Street and King Street The Waverly Hotel copyright 1975 In November of 1882. a month or so after the Grand Trunk's new railway station was built at the King Street crossing, Sam Pike. erstWhile "host of the. Farmers Hotel (see 51), bought Mrs. Jahn Tontines 'heuse and lot at theT Corner Of Meru and king Streets, paying $800-,"a very high price". Here he bruit the Waverly Hotel. J. Weir excavated the basement. "Big Jack McLennan" con- tracted to move a ,building td serve as the stable. and the contract for construi cion was let to Cooper and Mackenzie whose new planing mill was just across theroad. Since the hotel budding . still stands. now converted to apart- ments. its history is largely - expressed as a succession of _____ owners. Mr. Pike operated it until - 1895 when he rented it to John (Pint) • Spooner, but resumed properietorship from 1897 to 1904 whon it was sold to George Buxton "of one time brewery fame" - an allusion to cir- cumstances now unknown. Mr. Buxton. erobably in ill ^ health since he died the same year at the age of 54. sold to George Stewart in February 1907. In August of that year Mr. Stewart became bankrupt, Mrs. Chris Heather of the Waterloo Brewery being the p"rincipal creditor. In September the hotel was taken over by J.E. Rheinhardt. On • the 1st of May 1913 Prohibition struck in the form Of Local Option and in the following February was made countyy-wide. by application of the, Canada _Temperance Act. Mr. Rheinhardt put the hotel up for auction and departed for Berlin(Kitehener) where he was employed as a salesman for the Quality Mat- tress Company. In April 1914.. even before the guns of August. the Waverly stood deserted. It was bought by Wesley Walker and for a couple of years was used for storage by the Doherty organ factory. but in 1916 it was purchased by the Misses.. Ward and Stone whc converted it to the School of Commerce.- .an instituter for the - inculcation of . secretarial and stenographic skills. So it remained until at -least 1950 anc probably later. whereafter it was converted to apartments whose tenants may sometimes feel in the small hours .the influence of the lively past that extended from inception to Prohibition. 13 - Cutter Street (continued from page 8) in all, including the aoperati operating room, and was fo surgical cases only. In 1908 a -charter was granted and a private hospital became a public hospital. It was closed from 1916 to 1920 when Dr. Gunn was on military service, and in 1922 the Mactaggart home, the site of.the present hospital was donated When the building ceased to be a hospital it was bought, by Mr. McCallum whaeonverted it into'a refined boarding house called the Commercial Inn which 'was patronized mostly by unmarried high ,school teachers. After the 1939-45 war. the building was purchased by Basil Thrower and operated as a restaurant. The present owner is thought to have bought it from Mr. Thrower. 7 - Hotel sold for $80Q 17—West Side of Victoria Street, third and fourth tots south of Maria Street The British Hotel; C copyright 1475 In 1669. there was a hotel in Clinton named the Royal Canadian but its location under that name is not known for certain. Its manager was Samuel Rance. and he was still manager -in 1871. He died in 1874. , It is known that there was a hotel informally known- as Rance's Hotel oh Victoria Street. In 1.877 the British Hotel. managed by a Mr. Tewsley is ..known to have been on the west side of Victoria Street on the -third and fi tf th blocks sout-Wof Maria Street. The names .and managers of the two other hotels.on Victoria Street within the period of the Royal Cdfladian are' known, and by a process' of exclusion, it l judged that the British Hotel previously the Royal Canadian. The name is presumed to have changed when Mr. Rance ceased to be proprietor. The British Hotel was sold in January • 1878 to U Mlr. Kitt. A•the previous owner apparently _ having gone bankrupt. -At this time the `hotel is. described as a "large frame" hotel to which a large addition '.was recently •-auade...."- In- 1879 Mr. Kitt tran- sferred the liquor license to • Mr. Kelly whose hotel at East Street and Victoria had been built in 1.877 (see 41.. When he transferred the license. Mr. Kitt sold the hotel for 8800. This low price suggests the hotel had ceased to be •a. viable business, and is not heard of after 1879. Itis thought that the house at 218 Victoria 'St. is a highly modified remnant of the hotel. Proud to be serving Clinton &area . •• -Proud to join in the cel��r�tQn fQr Clinton's Centennial OWEN DELVE Proprietor * WE SERVICE WHAT WE SELL! * HOMELITE Chois Sows * ARIENS Lows Equipment * WHEEL HORSE Gorden Troctors * MOTO-MOWER Lawn Eqsipment * SHO -JET Snowmobiles * LAWNiIOY Laws Equipment * AUTHORIZED SALES & SERVICE a.p!e Leaf Small Engine Sales & Service 24 Princess St. East, CHHM* 482-3722 41.