Viewing Object

In 1920, John S. Donnelly opened a boarding house in Langley Prairie (this original location is unclear). By 1921, he was running the Station Hotel, a two-storey building just west of the railway station. Early in the same year it was renamed the Langley Prairie Hotel, and became the Half-Way Hotel later that year. In 1926 Conrad Traversy started running the business, and renamed it the Langley Hotel. The next year Ralph Godall and his wife took over the hotel, and on May 21, 1928, while they were away and a Mr. and Mrs. Rolph were looking after the hotel for them, a fire broke out at the rear of the hotel. Within a few minutes the whole hotel was on fire, starting the Langley Prairie Fire. The fire spread to Sam Brown's Barber Shop, Mclean's Dry Goods, the Interurban Station, and then across the road to Alf Warman's Bakery. From there it spread to the Hilton Brothers Garage, the Fraser Motors' storage shed, Wilfred DesRochers' tire sop, Fred Pollard's tinsmith shop, Jim Morris's grocery store, and Pete Prytherch's shoe repair shop. The Langley Hotel was not rebuilt on this site.