A Post Office was opened in the Coleville area around 1907, but it was in anticipation of the railway arriving that the town itself was laid out. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway arrived in 1913, and at that point the town expanded. The name of the town comes from its first postmaster, Malcolm Cole.

The arrival of the rails is a common denominator in the birth of almost every town visited by the Beer Parlour Project. The rail line ran from a connection at Biggar, Saskatchewan, through Coleville and onward to Loverna and points west in Alberta.

Just after the First World War the Grand Trunk and rival Canadian Northern overextended themselves and the government of Canada stepped in and initiated a merger. Without this action both railways would have floundered at considerable expense to the national economy.

“This was a Chinese restaurant when I was a kid growing up (ed: here in the hotel). And then there was another Chinese restaurant across the road. There was a hardware store on the opposite corner from the grocery store where it is now. We used to have a bank. So, there was three gas stations at one time. What a shrinkage, eh? So, that leaves just the hotel and the grocery store.” – Donna, Donna & Jenn.

“There were two (oil exploration) camps here. The one didn’t even have a kitchen. So there was probably 50 guys, and at least half of them came in here to eat every night in the summertime.” – Greg, on how the camps in town brought in good business.

The resulting Canadian National Railway took control of the line through Coleville around 1920.

Over the years the rail line was shortened as freight volume declined. By 1987 it only remained in operation from Biggar to Smiley, a town a bit east of Coleville. All sections west of that were shut down. Soon after the section through Coleville was transferred to Canadian Pacific and they continued to operate it for another decade.

Coleville was a sleepy little farming community for many years, but with the discovery of oil in the area in the early 1950s the population increased several fold. Over 280 wells were drilled shortly after the initial discovery, and a refinery was constructed.

With this the population, consistently under 100 in the early years, exploded to over 400. It later peaked at almost 500; though at the present time has declined to just under 300. Coleville achieved village status about the time of the oil discovery.g

“My story started I guess 26 years ago. I’d been here a few times because we played ball out here. And I knew it was in a really good area, really good traffic, so I knew it was a good little spot. I was working for somebody else and making them money, I decided maybe I should do something for myself for a change.” – Greg, on becoming a hotel owner.

Today the petroleum industry still employs many and of course farming is also significant.

Presently the downtown business district of Coleville comprises the Coleville Hotel and a general store. In years past there were other shops and services here, including a lumber yard, farm equipment dealer, a bank, gas station and cafe. The post office which has been here longer than the town itself, also remains.

A 1954 photo found during research shows a muddy, but fairly busy Main Street. In that photo the hotel is seen under construction, along with some other older buildings that are now only a memory. A number of trucking and oilfield businesses operated out of Coleville and several of them remain in the immediate area and in town.

The Coleville Hotel was completed in 1956 and until at least the early 1980s was called the Prince Charles. It seems doubtful his namesake highness ever stopped by for a cold and frothy mug of Bohemian, but who knows.

“I guess maybe I didn’t know how much work it was going to be. You never estimate that right. Yeah, I was never scared of work. It certainly was a long, long haul for a while. We were, first few years, six days a week, 18 hours a day. Something blowing up every day. Oh yeah, well we were renovating and doing fun stuff. We fixed up all the rooms, we took it from, I guess you would say, un-livable to quite nice. It was pretty rough and should have been condemned up there. All the rooms were full of just garbage and the plumbing wasn’t working.” – Greg, on the job he faced fixing it up.

The local history book dates to 1982 and the Prince Charles name was in use at that time. So it was obviously at some point after that the name changed.

Development of a hotel for Coleville was planned as early as 1953, and construction commenced shortly thereafter. Financing issues delayed completion for a couple of years and it sat unfinished for a time.

To help finance completion, shares in the business were offered by the Coleville Development Company Ltd and by 1956 it finally opened. Despite all this, additional financing was still required to see it to completion.

“Now that we have the golf simulator in the back, we get some winter business there that we didn’t used to get.” – Greg, on testing new ideas and adapting.

During these early years the Royalite Oil Company, which owned the refinery and wells in the area, used the incomplete structure as temporary offices.

Initially the hotel had 21 rooms, plus a cafe and of course the Beer Parlour. In the 1980s the number of rooms dropped to 14.

The local history book mentions living quarters upstairs at the hotel so this is presumably where some of the seven missing rooms went. The current owners live upstairs and this is a common arrangement for old hotel.

Also mentioned is some leased space downstairs. It is believed that several hair salons operated out of the hotel at various times (and one still does), as well as a movie rental store, an arcade and a liquor store.

“We probably serve more closer to 50% food now compared to it used to maybe be 25%. A lot of the people in the next generation don’t drink like we did. When I was a teenager, that was the first thing on my mind is when can I get into a bar? You were there on your 18th birthday. There’s still some of that goes around, but it’s just different.” – Greg, speaking of how times have changed. Going to the pub as soon as you were legal was once a right of passage – Chris.

The local grocery store currently operates the liquor store, though the hotel still offers off sales. Rooms are still offered on an emergency basis but not in the traditional sense.

Not long after the visit by the Beer Parlour Project team the local post office suffered a fire and for a time the hotel allowed them to temporarily operate out of their establishment.

It is not clear exactly when the cafe ceased to operate, but the space that it once occupied is now part of the beer parlour. It’s not clear what stood on the property prior to the hotel and if there was an earlier hotel in Coleville, it’s not mentioned.

“I’ve been around long enough that I’ve seen the goods and the bads and the ups and the downs quite a few different times.” – Greg.

“Our curling rink doesn’t put ice in anymore. Our skating rink no longer has artificial ice. It’s down to natural ice. So we don’t have the hockey teams here anymore and that sort of stuff. It all takes away from the community.” – Donna, Donna & Jenn.

Noted Saskatchewan baseball player Donald Hugh Stewart managed the hotel for a time soon after it opened. He was a hometown celebrity of sorts and it appears his notoriety was good for business. Stewart played as a minor league outfielder until around 1955.

Our research to date has not turned up any owners other than Stewart and current owner Greg. Obviously there were others and we will continue to pursue this.

At the time of the visit by the Beer Parlour Project team, the local radio station West Central Online sent out a crew to speak to us of the project and take in the vibe.

Coleville, Saskatchewan: Population around 300, located in the Rural Municipality of Oakdale #320 and 235km southwest of Saskatoon.