BY VOICE STAFF
Fonthill’s oldest standing building was torn down last week. The “Temperance Hotel,” just to the west of the former Keith’s Restaurant, was built in the 1830s and was operated as an inn and a tavern for traffic along Canboro Road. Farmers from as far as Fort Erie and Hamilton would often overnight at the inn while waiting for their grain to be grist at the mills in St. Johns.
In 1874, legislation was passed outlawing the sale of liquor, and the hotel closed down until 1885 when it was refitted as a “temperance hotel” with food and lodging but without alcohol. Whether this legislation was always strictly observed is questionable, and reportedly one proprietor had a cache of booze inside a grand piano.
It opened as the “Fonthill Inn” in the 1920s, but closed down a short while later to be rented out as apartments and office space.
It was purchased in the 1940s by a family and lived in until 1997. Keith’s founder Keith Crick rented a portion before moving an address to the east.
Though the storefronts had been vacant for some time, the apartments in the building were lived in until at least last year.
Town of Pelham Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald said last week that the Town has not received a site plan application for the location.
