Of the many hotels constructed in the city of Cranbrook over the years, the Canadian (York) Hotel is among the oldest. Both it and the Royal (Byng) Hotel arose in early days and both are still in place today. Although the Cranbrook Hotel was, in fact, the first hostelry built on the town site, the present day structure dates from 1907, a replacement for a smaller building later moved across the alley and subsequently destroyed by fire in 1936. Both the Royal and Canadian Hotels began construction in 1897 but of the two, the exterior of the Royal has changed a great deal over the years leaving the Canadian as (arguably) the oldest and least changed hotel in the city.

Joseph Brault and his wife Emilia undertook the construction of the hotel on what was then the outer eastern edge of the business district. Being of French-Canadian extraction, they made a point of catering to the many “boucherons Francais” of the district at a time when other hoteliers most decidedly did not. The gradual eastward expansion of the city enhanced the original investment and ensured a steady clientele. The erection the Opera House in 1907 (soon to be renamed The Auditorium and now the site of the deserted Armond Theatre), and the further addition of City Hall in 1912 transformed Norbury Ave. into a bustling commercial thoroughfare.

Monsieur Brault owned other interests in and about the city, including a nearby farm, which the Board of Trade utilized as a demonstration orchard for a season or two. It is safe to say it was an impractical enterprise and it would appear that the farm became a subdivision of the city by the early 1920s. The Braults owned property on Garden (12th) Ave. and Pooley (15th) Ave. and Joseph became the president of the first Cranbrook Brewery Co.

By 1902, the hotel had undergone an addition, most probably to the rear of the building, which nearly doubled its rooming capacity in order to capitalize on the booming lumber and mining trade in the district. The local population census of 1911 shows the hotel as containing Mr. and Mrs. Brault and their three children – both the mother and only daughter would die within a decade and now lay at rest in the Old Catholic Cemetery - two brothers, one sister-in-law, one nephew, forty-six boarders and three domestic workers.

The Canadian Hotel maintained a reputation as a neat, comfortable, and well-run establishment. Continual upgrading and renovations - including floors, windows, amenities and the conversion of the original barroom to a beer parlour in 1926 – added to the popularity among those of the working class who preferred to lodge on the ‘nice’ side of town. That is to say, away from the rooming houses, gambling parlours, gin joints, and opium dens of the general area near the CPR depot.

In the spring of 1926, Joseph Brault, in poor health and wishing to relocate to Spokane, sold the hotel to Messrs Bigatinni and Zilli. The Canadian Hotel generally remained a peaceful enough place although it did play host to the occasional violent episode. In Dec. 1930, local lumberjack Bill Matkoff fired three shots from a .38 calibre pistol into a busy beer parlour. John Prosow died where he sat and John Kodroski died from his wound shortly thereafter. The third bullet imbedded itself in the wall as co-owner Zilli attempted to wrestle the weapon from the assailant. Zilli’s partner Bigatinni was no stranger to gunplay. He himself sustained a near fatal gun wound in an altercation with a customer in the Venezia (Sam Steele) Hotel a decade earlier while in charge that establishment. The resulting trial took little time and Matkoff hung for his crime in Burnaby on Sept.4 1931. Infrequent episodes of violence occurred in the ensuing years. In 1934, hotel dishwasher Mah Duong attacked customer Nicholas Francis with a knife following a heated exchange of words. Duong hurled his blade at Francis who avoided injury when the knife lodged in the screen door of the beer parlour that Francis was rapidly vacating. Both the knife and screen door appeared in court as evidence at the ensuing trial. There seems to be no record of the outcome although it was likely an open and shut case.

Next week: Part II – The Canadian becomes The York