Victoria Hotel

The Victoria Hotel was a small establishment south of the river. It was in operation in September 1875 when Evan Edwards paid the Lindsay Orchestra Band to play at “his house” [CP 10 Sept 1875; 3] after their excursion and concert at the McArthur House.

Evan Edwards appears in the directories as the operator of a tavern from 1874 to 1876. The Fenelon Council granted Edwards a license to keep a tavern at Fenelon Falls on March 30th, 1874 and again in February of 1875 and 1876. In 1876 The Canadian Post stated the Victoria Hotel “had been re-opened by a man named Larin, a Frenchman, from Peterborough” [CP 13 Oct 1876; 3]. This name does not appear in the directories.

Nonetheless on the 5th of January 1878, the Victoria Hotel was destroyed by fire. Owned at the time by William Routley, and occupied by Mr. John Brokenshire, the fire nearly destroyed other area businesses. “The whole premises, together with a log blacksmith shop owned by Messrs. Green & Ellis and occupied by Mr. Jerry Concamon, was totally destroyed. Mr. Concamon got everything out of the shop. A pretty hard fight was required to save Mr. Sandford’s premises adjoining Green & Ellis’s office, and Mr. J.D. Smith’s place on the other side of the road, but it was done.” A large barn attached to the hotel was also destroyed. “The man who had [the hotel] deserves a vote of censure. The hotel has always been a roughly kept house” [CP 11 Jan 1878; 3].