Transit Hotel
Encyclopedia
The Transit Hotel is a hotel and tavern in Edmonton
, Alberta
, Canada
. It is located at the intersection of 66th street and Fort Road
, in the northeast part of the city.
Opened on September 11, 1908, the Transit was strategically placed as the first or last stop for travellers between Edmonton
and Fort Saskatchewan, and for its proximity to the recently built J.Y. Griffin slaughterhouse (later Swift's Packing Plant).
The hotel included many modern conveniences, including hot and cold water, bathrooms on the top floor, and electric lighting.
From the Edmonton Journal
:
The Transit has also been known to hold gerbil
races and has seen only one murder in its history, over fifty years ago
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is located at the intersection of 66th street and Fort Road
Fort Road
Fort Road may refer to:*Fort Road, Edmonton in Edmonton, Canada*Fort Road, Kannur in Kerala, India*Fort Road, Lahore in Lahore, Pakistan*Fort Road, Singapore in Singapore...
, in the northeast part of the city.
Opened on September 11, 1908, the Transit was strategically placed as the first or last stop for travellers between Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
and Fort Saskatchewan, and for its proximity to the recently built J.Y. Griffin slaughterhouse (later Swift's Packing Plant).
The hotel included many modern conveniences, including hot and cold water, bathrooms on the top floor, and electric lighting.
From the Edmonton Journal
Edmonton Journal
The Edmonton Journal is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network.-History:The Journal was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as a rival to Alberta's first newspaper, the 23-year-old...
:
- "The hotel and the land that surrounds it have undergone many changes over the years. The hitching posts that surrounded the hotel are long gone, as are the packing plants and stockyards. Asphalt has replaced the dirt roads farmers once brought their pigs, sheep and cattle in on for slaughter. The Belvedere LRT station now sits on land where once there was a hatchery. Even the community known as Packingtown no longer exists. The area was incorporated as the Village of North Edmonton in 1910 and annexed by the city in 1912. Little remains of the hotel's original interior and exterior, although the current owners, Bob and Pauline Ruzycki, have spent a lot of time and money restoring the front facade to its original boom-town architecture, complete with a second-floor veranda, elaborate parapet and finialed roof line. The hotel was run down when they purchased it in December 1986."
The Transit has also been known to hold gerbil
Gerbil
A gerbil is a small mammal of the order Rodentia. Once known simply as "desert rats", the gerbil subfamily includes about 110 species of African, Indian, and Asian rodents, including sand rats and jirds, all of which are adapted to arid habitats...
races and has seen only one murder in its history, over fifty years ago