We captured the Now image used in this historic comparison of downtown Cadillac Saskatchewan while shooting an installment of the Beer Parlour Project in town. It happened at the Cadillac Hotel, sort of out of view in this shot and back right in the distance. We’ve included a link from our visit, further down and towards the photos. Sadly the hotel closed after our visit.
Our home base was a rental unit in town that was once a mechanics garage and service station. It’s that red-roof structure to the left. While in this part of Saskatchewan we visited several other hotels and spent the rest of the time just exploring.
Over one hundred years separates the images and as you can see, the little community has been witness to much change. Only a single building present in the original photo remains and it’s the closest one to the right. That’s it and everything else that once stood back in the 1910s, when the town was new, is gone.
Downtown Cadillac Saskatchewan ~110 Years Apart: only one building remains. Historic comparisons with Chris Doering & Connie Biggart (BIGDoer/Synd)
Thanks to “Dale” for sponsoring this and many other posts at BIGDoer.com. Be like Dale…
The Now image is from an old postcard and comes from our friends at Prairie-Towns.com. It’s in the public domain. They told us it has a 1916 postmark and based on what we know of the buildings seen, it shows Cadillac no earlier than 1914. The photo displays some blurry text and presumably this was the mark of the photographer and/or publisher. The image reflects the tattered nature of the original, from which it was scanned.
It’s certainly from a very early point in the town and when it was perhaps only a year or two old. There’s a distinctive air of newness. The street is a cart track in the grass, everything looks freshly built and many buildings have yet to receive paint or signage.
At its peak in the 1920s Cadillac had a population approaching three hundred, but today it’s about a third that. Agricultural is big of course. Named after Cadillac, Michigan, many settlers came from that area.
The town held much promise in early days and prospered. It’s certainly reflected in the old photo. Look at downtown and you can see it was goin’ places, even if it had a real frontier feel at the time.
There was every imaginable business in Cadillac back then. This included a hotel, a bank, grocery and hardware stores, farm equipment dealers, salons, lumber yards, a number of restaurants. And many more…you name it!
In the original picture the Cadillac Hotel is the most prominent building seen, there in back. It’s huge. Opened in 1914, it burned down in 1946. The current hotel replaced it soon after and is of more modest proportions. Other buildings in close proximity went up in flames too or received significant damage due to this event. Many buildings or entire blocks were lost to fire with alarming regularity in this town.
There’s a former bank building (ex-Royal Bank) on the lot north of the hotel today and it dates to 1918. Made of brick, it survived many town-fires and is now a residence.
Other notable buildings seen in the old image included the Gunn and Buckwald general store, just up from the hotel (burned in the early 1930s) and the CR McKeen Hardware the next block up. It’s small but you can sort of see the sign for that business.
A big fire in the late 1930s destroyed much on the west side (right side) of downtown, and anything still standing here from the early days was presumably lost at this time. McKeen’s or what was McKeen’s included, we suppose.
While this wasn’t the last fire, it did have a big impact on the community. It seems they never fully rebuilt that side of downtown
The little building that’s the only thing left from the old photo, interestingly, is the former fire hall. All those blazes in Cadillac and it managed to survive. The irony. A newer fire hall is located right behind it, but is somewhat set back and not really visible from this angle, except for a sliver. That pickup is parked out front.
The old fire hall is a true survivor and must be one of the oldest buildings from Cadillac’s early days.
The closest building on the left (east side) of town might be the George Salloum bakery/Moncrieff Store listed in the history book. We’re not sure as the exact position can’t be confirmed in the photo and neither can that of the other buildings in back. Later Begin’s Garage was built about here and recall, this was our home for this trip. The owners made a rental suite out of some of the former store front.
Old photos show the building looking much the same today as when it functioned as a service station.
It might be hard to see given the small size of the photo, but there’s horse drawn wagon in the original. It’s almost about centre of the old scene. There is what appears to be a person standing close by (in front of McKeen’s), but otherwise there are no other people about. A quiet Sunday morning? These pioneer towns were often a beehive of activity most days, so this shot might be from some odd hour. Early AM, a holiday, or with everyone in church.
There is also a car on the left side of the street, but far in the distance.
Notice the lack of trees in the old photo, but remember, the town emerged from the bald prairie not long before. They only grow well out this way when protected by either some natural feature or man-made structures.
Where there was once a vibrant downtown, now there’s not a single open business in the scene. Except for the hotel on our visit, but as we mentioned, it’s now closed. There is a garage and store a few block over on the highway, but downtown is a shell of its former self. This type of extreme contrast is not unique to Cadillac and we see this all the time when shooting these historic comparisons in small prairie communities.
There’s a boom period soon after founding and then they settle in to a long, slow quiet time. It mimics life itself. We shoot these pieces not to lament or disparage, but rather celebrate what was and what is. Change is a normal everyday thing, and it’s interesting to see how it plays out.
We’ve heard there’s a chance of new owners taking over the hotel, but there’s no recent news. It was busy the night we shot there for the Beer Parlour Project and the staff said overall business was steady. We hold out hope – it is a fine old building too with lots of improvements – but until someone sees the potential, it’s empty and quiet. As a fan of old, small town hotels, it really needs to happen. They a social centre.
Fingers crossed.
While we source many of the Then photos used in these historic comparisons in-house, we also accept contributions from readers. If you have an old family photo showing a street scene like this, we’d love to talk. Reach out via our contact page.
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Date of adventure: 1910s and June, 2024. Location: Cadillac, Saskatchewan. Article references and thanks: University of Calgary archives, Prairie-Towns.com, the town of Cadillac, and the book Cadillac – Prairie Heritage.
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