Limerick Saskatchewan was incorporated as a village in 1913 and that is a year after the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway. With the railway comes the people and Limerick grew from almost nothing, to a mini-boom town within a short time.

The first homesteader in the area, Edward Lossing, hailed from Limerick Ireland and named the area’s newly installed telegraph station in its honour. The name Limerick was kept when the town was established nearby. To this day many of the street names have an Irish ring. There is Galway, Shannon, Kerry, Connaught and Killarney.

“My kids grew up here…my entire life is here.” – Hilda.

In the 1920s Limerick had a busy commercial district that included:

Five general merchants – two hardware stores – three lumber yards – three livery barns – three implement dealers – real estate and insurance offices – a print shop – bakery – bowling alley – laundry – barrister – three barber shops – two cobblers – a tailor – this hotels with café – two banks – several blacksmith and harness shops – a jeweller – power plant – flour mill – several grain elevators.

“People will consistently come from Hodgeville, which is 100 clicks from here, right? People come from north of Mossbank, way over east of Assiniboia. We just kind of have a reputation of good food and we’re consistent. People always know they’re going to get a good meal. We can have 60 people in here for supper and 15 are from Limerick.” – Doug (we can confirm it’s fantastic).

Today only the Limerick Prairie Grocery down the street and the Limerick Hotel remain.

Although we could not locate any precise records, in its heyday the population of Limerick was considerably larger than today. The local history book (published 1982) does not seem to state an exact number, but does go on to say it was several times that the population of Limerick at the time (160). In addition there were many more folks living out on rural properties.

By the time the Beer Parlour Project visited in 2024, it had shrunk further and stands at about 115.

The Limerick Hotel started out as the Delaney, and the original sign remains proudly displayed above the bar. It was named after one of the original partners, Percey Delaney. Later, in the mid 1970s that the name was changed to its present incarnation.

“When I came in 1956, I stayed in the hotel with my grandparents. And then I met my late husband and we took over the hotel in ’59.” – Hilda.

Prohibition in Saskatchewan lasted from 1915 to 1925 and during that time the Delaney changed ownership almost annually. It is listed as having an original mortgage of $16,500 when constructed, but was valued at only $500 during the darkest, driest days of prohibition.

Even with prohibition coming to an end, the hotel remained unlicensed for a time. In the mid 1930s the Delaney Beer Parlour opened. There was no food, no games and no fun, with beer being the only thing served.

The Great Depression was hard on the hotel business, the Delaney included, but then out this way no one came out well. Government records show 90% of Saskatchewan hotels were at the time either late with or had defaulted on tax payments.

“It’s like 112 years old…everything was worn out…so we’ve changed every cooler and every compressor since we got here.” – Doug.

By the 1950s rules were relaxed somewhat and smokes and packaged snacks were sold at the bar. Women were allowed in Saskatchewan Beer Parlours staring in 1959, but local pressure prevented this from happening in Limerick until 1964.

At this time the beverage room took on its present form, with wine added to the menu, although no hard liquor was permitted. Around the same time the upper floors were updated.

In 1970 the Delaney added one of the first outdoor beer gardens in the province. Around this time the upper floor of rooms was blanked off as being surplus to the needs. There is a few things up there from the old days, but mostly it is dark and empty.

The Delaney/Limerick Hotel has had over a dozen owners and operators since it was constructed in 1914.

“When I even came to this country, they were still delivering beer with the horses. The guy that used to deliver the beer, he would tie the horses up front, and he stayed here and drank some of what he delivered.” – Hilda.

The Presler family took over in 1950, after immigrating to Canada from Croatia. Their granddaughter Hilda arrived from the old country in 1956, at age 13, to help out and a few short years later with her new husband Nick took over the business. Nick was also a Croatian immigrant.

The two operated the hotel for many years and when Nick passed on in the early 1970s, Hilda’s second husband Joe helped out and together they ran it into 2018. That year it was sold to current owners Doug and Sandy. They make an amazing steak!

At various times there were two other hotels in town but neither were more than a footnote in history. The Dawson operated briefly in the late 1920s and that is all we know.

The Dickenson, located about a block away, was built between 1913 and 1915 and stood at least into the 1920s. Records suggest it never officially opened and instead stood empty for many years. The grocery store and town offices occupy this lot today.

“I’m running a hotel at 16 years old, but because of my age I could not come into the bar.” – Hilda (not that she could come into the bar anyway – ladies were not allowed in the Limerick Beer Palour until ’64).

There is a thick-walled concrete vault in the basement and directly beneath the tavern. Originally a beer cooler, it was accessed from the main floor by way of a trap door. Later, when modern refrigeration was installed, it was no longer of use and access blocked offa.

However, a small chute remained that extended from the bar itself, down into the vault. For several decades the bottle caps of countless beers served to patrons were dropped down into the void. Rumour has it that some money found its way down there too and the legends suggests something considerable.

“You know when I first sold the hotel, it was very hard. I miss, I miss the people.” – Hilda.

The Beer Parlour Project got a look at this curiosity soon after Doug, with the help of staff, had jack hammered an opening to see. Thousands upon thousands (or tens of thousands?) of bottle caps were found inside, along with miscellaneous cast-offs. Old packs of smokes and paper bits.

Some of the caps are from once popular brands not seen much today. Labatt’s Blue used to be everywhere it seems and while still made, it is not common in these parts as it used to be. Remember those “Smile – Pass it On!” caps? Bohemian or “Boh” was big in Saskatchewan not all that long ago (into the 1970s) but then Pilsner came along to take that crown.

“We were booming the first 16 months, and then COVID hit, but we survived it. Our government doesn’t recognize how hard it was for anybody in the hospitality industry to recover from that.” – Doug (on challenges stemming from the pandemic).

Bohemian won some prestigious awards in the late 1960s and the “World Champ” cap seen is from that era. The staff have been slowing emptying the vault but it is a herculean task. There is many decades worth down there and it just keeps coming.

It is mentioned a few one dollar bills were found, but the the riches claimed seem to be exaggerations.

Limerick, Saskatchewan: Population about 115, located in the Rural Municipality of Stonehenge and it is 120km southwest of Moose Jaw.