Thursday, August 8, 2024

Five members of the Lavoie family met the tour leader at 11:00 a.m. at the old Canadian Northern Railway station. Kim Korioja works for Thunder Bay Historical Society. She handed each person an electronic earpiece to follow her monologue .

Two others who signed up for this tour failed to show up at Marina Park. The rain, except for a few sprinkles, held off. 

1. Canadian Northern Railway Station, 1905

William Mackenzie and Donald Mann brought the railway from Winnipeg to Port Arthur in 1901. The main incentive was to tap into the wheat supply chain from the western prairies. Water transport was considerably cheaper than rail transport. Their branch line terminated at the King elevator.

The station itself was not open to the public; a boutique coffee shop served customers. We started at the pedestrian overpass, climbing the ramps that spanned the railway tracks and Water Street. Kim pointed out points of historical interest. We failed, through no fault of Kim, to capture every tidbit of her spiel, so I have resorted to Google to supplement her words. At one point on the overpass, we called 911 to report a pedestrian in distress.

The pedestrian overpass looking west. In the background are the Prince Arthur Hotel and the Whelan Building.

View from the overpass looking south to Water Street. The through track and two side tracks belong to the CPR. The track connects the west and east coasts of Canada. The CNoR track (later renamed the Canadian National Railways track) has recently been removed between Longlac and Thunder Bay.

The Tourist Pagoda looking west, at the corner of Red River Road and Water Street. Opened in 1909, Kim said it is the oldest tourist  office still operating in Canada. My sister Grace particularly liked Kim’s comment about the pagoda at one point sporting huge polka dots on its roof.

2. Tourist Pagoda, 1909

Both Lakehead cities, Port Arthur and Fort William, vied for the tourist trade. Note the striking pagoda-shaped roof topped by a domed cupola. My brother, John, remembers that in the ’50s and ’60s the Greyhound bus stopped just east of the railway tracks, and he remembers a dock beyond.

View of the Prince Arthur looking west. The parking lot replaced attractive terraced gardens back in the day. The building to the right is the old Whelan Building.

Getting off the overpass, we crossed the parking area of the Prince Arthur Hotel and headed north and west to Cumberland Street. Kim entertained us with an account of the secret tunnels from the hotel to the waterfront which, during the Prohibition Era, provided access for whiskey runners to ship forbidden cargoes to the States. In an article in Bayview Magazine, September 2019, reporter Connor Kilgour was admitted to the basement of the hotel and explored tunnels, one of which (now sealed) management claimed was connected to the former Mariaggi Hotel, with its stories of secret tunnels.

3. Prince Arthur Hotel, 1911

17 Cumberland St. N. This edifice was built by the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) to compete with the spendours of the Mariaggi Hotel, since demolished. It was expected to boost tourism and attract investment capital from Great Britain and the Orient. The six storeys featured rooms with heat and light and hot and cold running water. Guests are still greeted at the original handsome marble staircase.

We struck out across the parking lot heading northwest towards Cumberland Street North. Kim pointed out some of the outstanding features of the edifice.

The Whelan Building, known since 1931 as the P.U.C. (Public Utilities Commission Building) until recently.

From Patricia Vervoort’s article published in 1989.

4. Whelan Building, 1914

34 Cumberland St. N. This structure was celebrated as  Port Arthur’s  first “skyscraper”. James Whelan arrived at Prince Arthur’s Landing (later named Port Arthur) at the age of six. He became involved in multiple business endeavours including logging, railway contracting, harbour dredging, and shipbuilding. He dreamed of making the city “The Chicago of the North”. In 1913, a visiting New York architect declared “this [building] ranks with our best buildings in New York.” According to Vervoort, the building was “constructed of reinforced concrete and faced with terra-cotta panels judiciously enhanced with sculpture”. My daughter, Laura, was intrigued by them.

We walked west up the gentle hill along Van Norman Street to Court Street.

(Continued in Part 2 of 3)

Section of 1908 fire insurance map of Port Arthur, annotated. Credit Chas. E. Goad, Ltd.