Andrew as we know it today dates to 1928 and like many small prairie towns, it sprang to life thanks to the railway. In this instance it was the pending arrival of a Canadian Pacific secondary line, running from Lloydminster on the Alberta/Saskatchewan border, to a point near Edmonton.

The steel reached town by 1929, and by the next year Andrew already reached village status. You needed a population of hundred minimum, at the time, for that to happen then.

“So you know what? Funny story to that. My husband and I used to do DJing and we had a whole bunch of equipment and the hotel was up for sale and he’s like, we’re just south of Andrew. He’s like, oh, he said, we need someone to store all the DJ equipment. Why don’t we buy the hotel? I was very reluctant in doing so at the time because we have four young kids. So anyway, we ended up purchasing it back then just because. (We had) no hotel experience” – Tammy – just because is often reason enough – She & her husband purchased the hotel just over dozen years ago, and it sold soon after our visit.

Prior to the arrival of the railway, there was a town of sorts with the name Andrew going back a number of decades prior, but not in exactly the same location as the current incarnation. Several stores and a stopping house are among the businesses listed for the old Andrew at that time.

From the local history book:

“The Andrew Hotel was the first business in Andrew. In 1900 John Borwick had built his Half-way House, as it was referred to, at the crossroads of the two trails. The hotel had a bar at which whisky was served. Lunch was also available.

Mr Borwick sold his hotel to George Woolley in 1906. Mr. Woolley added a second storey to the building, thus having rooms for rent. As the need arose, the hotel served several purposed in the community. Several couples had their wedding dance held at the hotel. During the flu epidemic of 1918-19 the hotel served as a hospital”

Old Andrew was a short distance away to the southeast. It is suggested that some buildings were moved from the old townsite to the new, but it’s not clear if the aforementioned hotel was one. Research suggests no.

Much of the land to the east and northeast of Edmonton, specifically, but not limited to, Lamont County, Two Hills County and Smoky Lake Counties, were settled by immigrants from Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Names and customs today in the area reflect this background.

The community is named after Andrew Whitford, an early settler, whose name suggests an English, rather than eastern European connection. Interestingly, a small settlement named Whitford once existed to the northeast of Andrew. There was a rail siding, grain elevator, and a couple of stores but nothing remains of it today.

“This is everybody’s gathering place for funerals, weddings or birthdays. Everybody seems to come here. It’s a friendly environment with good laughs and good friends.” – Char & Ed (also nicknamed Ernie).

“,,,We just did some grass cutting at the Kysylew Churchyard Cemetery. I do the opening and closing services as well as grass maintenance. And I do the full graves too, by hand…(it takes) six or seven hours. I do 20 cemeteries now, but I’ve dug graves in 71 different cemeteries in the area. I’m getting close to 900 funerals.” – Terry, on keeping busy by helping out at local churches and cemeteries – he’s no youngster, yet hand digs the graves!

Andrew’s population in 1930 was 130 and by 1940 it had grown to around 300. This upward trend continued, to 425 in 1950, and peaked at about 600 in 1960. Afterwards the census numbers bounced around a little and it was down to 500 in 1970, but then rebounded to 550 in 1980. It again declined to 500 by 1990. Since then it dropped a little more and is under 400 today.

Many local residents work in agriculture, but some commute to the large petrochemical complexes at nearby Fort Saskatchewan and Scotford.

In its heyday the Andrew business district included hardware stores, many general stores, implement dealers, a car dealership, bakeries, butcher shop and many service businesses. Andrew had multiple grain elevators, though only one remains today and the community fought to save it when it was slated for demolition.

The old train station was also saved, but it was moved to a park slightly west of its original location. The railway line was closed down in the early 2000s and the rails were subsequently pulled up.

Today Andrew has a number of operating businesses, including a couple of restaurants, a bank and a gas station. Plus the hotel and attached liquor store or course. Most are in the downtown core, however just as many buildings there are empty and unused. Andrew is relatively close to greater Edmonton, so many residents shop there.

“Well, we’ve done a lot of different renovations in here for one, it started off with like the old dingy carpet, the red carpet, you know, yeah, exactly. I feel like I probably should have wore a hazmat suit when I removed it. And we don’t know what was in it.”– Tammy (why did so many hotel bars in the 1970s & ’80s have carpets?)

“I love playing crib and we’ve had some interesting crib nights here, especially when Glen and Amanda used to run the bar. We’d play the usual crib tournament and then there was the after hours crib tournament. I hope the bar stays open forever.” – Terry – crib, card and board games seem popular here.

The first Andrew Hotel in the new town was constructed about 1929. It was a two story rectangular structure, fairly plain and utilitarian in form. It occupied the same lot as the present hotel, although the current building seems to have a larger footprint.

Large signage on the Railway Avenue (now 50th Ave) and Main Street (now 51^st St) sides of the building are seen on the Andrew Hotel in old photos. The location here was directly across from the railway station and that was prime real estate in small towns like this. Everybody once came and went by train, so being in this spot meant high visibility and lots of business.

The Hotel first shows up in phone books starting in 1930, and MN Jerwak is listed as manager. For many years in the early days the telephone number for the Hotel was simply “7”.

In the 1930s the RCMP set up a temporary jail cell in the basement but the reason is unknown. Perhaps there were renovations being done to the police station? Visiting doctors and dentists operated out of the old hotel up until the 1940s.

Managers or proprietors are not listed in the directory for every yearly entry, but by later in the 1940s one Fred Dmytron appears.

“I looked out my dining room window, and it (the hotel) was on fire. Probably electrical. Old building, right? It was about 35 below that time, so we started fighting it. I got there probably about 2 in the morning, and then everything’s freezing up and causing problems. So then we got the fire departments from Mundare and Lamont to come. It was a big deal. And I remember our fire chief, he lived next door, so we were worried about his place. We had my place across the street (the stone building seen in the gallery), so then we just had a place to warm up and feed them because we went 24 hours and my wife cooked for all the fire departments.” – Herb, recalling the previous hotel on this lot that burned back in the ’80s and helping out.

“I know many of the people that get buried. I’ve had to do opening and closing services for just about every family in the Andrew area, Willingdon, St Michael. It’s not something that I look forward to but it’s something that…it’s almost an essential service. A loved one passes away and they can depend on me in their time of need.” – Terry, on knowing many of the people destined for the graves he prepares, or their families, and feeling the need to help.

By the early 1950s AG Palamarck (also spelled Palamarek) had taken over and the business name was changed to the Corona Hotel. A mid-’50s photo from the Molson Brewery archives shows the building looking much as it did in the early years, except that a false front had been added to the 51st (Main) Street side. It also appears as though there may have been an addition on the north side.

Later in the 1960s Nick Pamasiuk takes over the hotel. Owners/managers were not always listed in telephone directories, but the local history book indicates that Peter Borwick, George Palamarek (related to AG?), Andrew Ralamarek (possibly Palamarek?), someone named Panasiuk, another named Riwliuk, Henry Lee and Loretta Hodge, and PK Olsen Holdings all took at turn at operating the hotel. Specific dates for each are not known, but all are from before 1980 (when the history book was published).

Some years in the 1970s the hotel does not have an entry in phone books, suggesting it closed for periods between owners.

When the original hotel burned down in the early 1980s, the structure seen present day was built to replace it. Olsen, mentioned earlier, was owner at the time. This date makes the Andrew Hotel, by far, the newest one visited by the Beer Parlour Project. However, its roots go back much further.

When the hotel returned it was now called the Andree Inn and that first shows up in a 1983 directory. By 1993 it is back to being the Andrew Hotel, and later still it officially becomes the Andrew Hotel and Liquor Store, with the addition of that side-business. That business, early on, operated out a different part of the building.

“My manager’s been here since 2013. We’ve got a lot of long time staff. You want to hold on to those because like if they go, it’s very difficult. They all become family.” – Tammy, on keeping the staff happy so they hang around.

“Mr Olsen got the new hotel going (early 1980s?) and then there was Steve Levoque(sp?) came in and, you know, ran the hotel for many years. And then Glenn and Amanda Lapaschuk ran the hotel.” – Terry, sharing the names of more recent owners he’s known.

The hotel seemingly had a restaurant on the premises for much of its history. The names are not listed and the last one we could find a printed record for was in the 1970s. However, it’s known that one operated here into the 2010s at least.

At the time of our visit the hotel bar operated as Unwind Bar & Grill and the attached liquor store was known as (snicker) Liquor Box & More. The whole lot of it was for sale at the time of our visit and we understand new owners have since taken over. They seem to have kept the same business name.

One thing is certain in the small-town hotel business and that is that change of ownership happens frequently. We see it all the time.

When the hotel last rented rooms has not been confirmed, but it’s been a while. They were being used as a temporary residence for family of the owners when we visited.

The Andrew Hotel is located on the corner of 50th Avenue and 51st Street in Andrew. Many small towns labelled the main intersection as 50th and 50^th, or Railway and Main. Old records suggest the Railway and Main naming convention was originally used in Andrew, but then they switched to numbers at some point later. It is not unheard of for this to happen.

“I had to do four this week…one was a local girl. She died of a heart attack here about ten days ago. That one, that was a real tough one because I knew her. And a young girl, 40 years old, it should never happen.” – Terry, on digging more graves.

“Mr Olsen that owned it at that time (of the fire), and he was thinking twice about rebuilding. But he decided to rebuild and I remember I built all the railings and all that because I was across the street.” – Herb, who ran a welding business in the stone building seen in this post.

Oddly, Main Street became 51st, rather than the usual 50th Street. Perhaps this is because the main road into town is Secondary Highway #855, on the east edge of the community, and it is this that became 50th Street. This further suggests the names were changed to numbers at a point in time when cars replaced the railway as the dominant means of transportation.

Immediately across the street from the Andrew Hotel there is an old building with a fieldstone front that is quite interesting. The date 1929 is was added above the entrance. It must have been one of the very first buildings in town and it is remarkable that almost a century later it is still standing, although currently unoccupied.

Old photos show it was a service station early on, but in more recent times it functioned as Herb’s welding shop.

Reporter Connor Hogg from CTV News in Edmonton joined us at this outing and stayed around for most of the night. He seemed really into the project and almost became one of the team. More: Beer Parlour Project in the News (new tab).

Andrew, Alberta. Population around 380 and it is located in Lamont County about 100km northeast of Edmonton.