Joan (Warren) Jones, who was born and raised in Chapleau, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Morley Warren, found a plate with "Queen's Hotel Chapleau" engraved on it.
Her brother Donald advised "not certain how the plate ended up in Quebec but was found in St Lazare antiques market."
Thus a new adage has been created, "You can take the plate out of Chapleau but you can't take Chapleau out of the plate."
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The original Queen's Hotel was built in Chapleau in 1887, two years after the community was established, with the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway, according to 'Pioneering in Northern Ontario' by Vince Crichton.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE
Over the years it had a number of owners, but in 1958 Nicholas Gionet who had bought it in 1945, sold it to Matt Castonguay.
It underwent extensive renovations and emerged as the Sportsman Hotel by 1960. The bar opened on November 29.
It was destroyed by a fire in 2003.
Thanks Donald and Joan. If anyone has further information on the Queen's Hotel, enjoy hearing from you. My email is mj.morris@live.ca
1 comment:
Good afternoon Mr. Morris,
Thanks for posting this tidbit on The Sportsman Hotel.
I would like to point out that Matt (Majela) Castonguay wasn't the sole owner of this hotel. There were three co-owners in this partnership. My father Flo (Florian) Castonguay (Matt's brother) and Albert Portelance (Matt's father-in-law) were equal partners.
Matt bought out his partners share in 1965 and became sole owner after that. I'm not sure of the year or to whom he sold it.
Albert Portelance bought the Old WMCA building after leaving the Sportsman. My dad moved to Windsor for a few years after selling his share in this business venture.
Have a good day,
Cleo Castonguay
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