Feature Article

THE TRANSIT HOTEL OF PACKINGTOWN

Written By: Lawrence Herzog
Published By: Real Estate Weekly
Article © Copyright Lawrence Herzog
2004-02-05

When the Transit Hotel opened for business on September 11th, 1908, the only buildings in the vicinity were farms and a couple of new packing plants. But Patrick O. Dwyer saw a prosperous future in this area locals called Packingtown.

With the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway coming through and the Burns and J.Y. Griffin meat packing plants nearby, he felt certain there would be customers aplenty at his watering hole and 40-room hotel. Right on what was then called the Fort Trail, the route to Fort Saskatchewan, it had location in its favour.

Dwyer, who was born in Massachusetts and came to Canada in 1906, erected the structure for a total cost of about $50,000 on the corner of what was then called Fort Trail and Norton Street (now 66th Street). Land Titles records show the site was just a small part of 201 lots he had purchased from Archibald York in 1907 for $3,000.

The three-storey wooden framed hotel, measuring 32 feet wide by 80 feet long, went up quickly and just as quickly became a local landmark. Its two-storey verandah and elaborate parapet with finialed roof line signalled the last chance or first chance for travellers - depending on their direction of travel.

Architectural expert Diana Kordan, writing about the hotel several years ago, called it a superb example of boom time architecture. She noted the two-storey verandah added a touch of domesticity, so that everyone had a chance to sit on the front porch - just like at home.

Kordan explained that boom time architecture evolved from the common commercial subdivision practice of narrow and deep lots to maximize the number of commercial fronts that would be exposed to the street. Because of that, architectural ornament was concentrated on the facade because it was expected that the sides of the building would butt up against neighbouring structures.

As the hotel neared completion in 1908, Dwyer hired James A. Murphy and James Ryan to operate it. The Edmonton Bulletin, reporting in its September 14th, 1908 edition, noted that, with two gentlemen in their standing in charge, the public are assured the house will be conducted in thoroughly first class style in every detail. The Bulletin, under the headline New Hotel in Packingtown, listed the Transit Hotels many modern conveniences of the day. The two upper flats are provided with lavatories and bath rooms. The hotel will be lighted by electricity and will be supplied with hot and cold water. A telephone call system has been installed, and in a few days the proprietors expect to have a barber shop open in the basement.

The Griffin, Burns and later Gainers meat packing plants lured hundreds of workers. They were thirsty and they helped make Dwyers venture a success.

Packingtown, or North Edmonton, as it was formally known, became part of Edmonton in 1912. The brisk business along Fort Trail in burgeoning North Edmonton turned a lot of heads. In 1913, the North Edmonton Industrial Review wrote that while the hotel looked at the time much like a Folly . . . as things turned out it was just one further demonstration of western foresight.

The recession that came in the days before World War I assailed property values and, when Dwyer sold the Transit to relatives in 1917, the land was valued at $1,500, the hotel at $9,000 and an adjacent barn at $1,000. Patrick Dwyer died in 1924 and the family then sold the property to hotel keeper Sveinn Swanson for $10,500.

The next year, Swanson sold it to Jennie and Frank E. Goode for the same amount. The Transit Hotel Company, the Goodes firm, held the property until 1949.

Several other owners held the property until 1986, when Bob Ruzycki bought it. Somewhere along the line, Fort Trail became Fort Road and the hotels original wood siding was covered with stucco and one-storey additions built to the north and east. Little remains of the original interior.

On the street, the clip-clop of hooves has been replaced by the drone of traffic. The packing plants - Griffin, Burns, Swifts, Gainers and Maple Leaf - are long gone.

But the Transit Hotel endures, a remnant of Packingtown and a survivor of changing times. Recognizing its historic value to our city, the property resides on the Register of Historic Resources in Edmonton.

But it is not designated, meaning it could fall to the wrecking ball anytime. What will happen to the hotel with a planned widening of Fort Road remains to be seen.

If you'd like to offer your thoughts, please drop me an email at lawrenceherzog@hotmail.com.For information on reprints of previously published articles, check out my website at www.lawrenceherzog.com