Fonds glen-2231 - Swinarton family fonds

John Swinarton, 1878-1943, was born in Ontario and settled in Fort Macleod, Alberta after 1900. With David J. Grier and Richard Jones, he built the Empire Hotel in 1906, and after the First World War he and Grier purchased the Queen's Hotel from W. Harry Stedman. In the 1920s, Jones sold out and Swinarton and Grier bought the American Hotel in 1927. Albert G. Swinarton, 1908-1992, joined his father's business in 1929. He was very active in community activities, serving on town council from 1941 to 1959, and as mayor from 1957 to 1959. In 1956, he was elected president of the Hotel Association of Canada. The Swinarton family sold their hotel interests in 1976.

Simon John Clarke demolished the Castle Mountain Billiard Hall and Saloon which he had co-owned with M. Beaudoin in the 1880s to make way for his Queen's Hotel, built in 1892-1893. The new hotel at 802-2nd Street SE, Calgary, Alberta, was three storeys, and after an addition was built in 1902, it had about 85 rooms. Simon owned it until his death in 1918, and it remained part of his estate until it was sold to Calgary Hotels Ltd. in 1932. It was then sold to the City of Calgary in 1980 to make way for the new Civic Centre. The hotel was demolished ca. 1982. The hotel's managers included Edward Mayhew, 1929-1940, and Harold J. Scott, 1940-1960. Businesses at the street level included a barber shop, dry cleaners, tobacconist and cafe.