Dear Editor
By now you will undoubtedly know the old Longhorn Steak House was destroyed in less than an hour. This was the famous Dominion Café, which was a social centre during the 40s, 50s and 60s. There were five or six cafés downtown and all of them were social centres for everyone from every walk of life. Another famous café and restaurant was the Savoy which was demolished in order to extend the south end of the RCMP (and public) parking lot. The Savoy was in good shape when it was destroyed. The Gold Leaf Café right across from the Dominion Café did a booming business. All of them did. The café and restaurant in the Auditorium (burned down in 1978) were also favourites. We used to take our kids there when they were little.
The Dominion Café was older than the old post office (which was destroyed in 1972). It was built close to the turn of the century. The Dominion Cafe was at its heyday when the pilots with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (1941-1944) brought their girlfriends (local girls who were enamoured of these handsome, daring young men) to the Dominion for a milk shake, ice cream soda, or a Coca-Cola. In addition, high school students and other groups of young people frequented the cafés more than older folks, but everyone was welcome.
The building adjoining the Dominion Café on the north side ha also been destroyed. This was certainly a unique structure because its south wall was the north wall of the adjacent Dominion café and its north wall was the south wall of the adjacent Speers Carpet and Floor Covering. So the building had two common walls with a roof over top. The building was built in about 1935. The first tenant was the Great Western Furniture Company. Don Grant bought the business in the late 40s and operated it as Don Grant’s Furniture. Roy Dean bought the business in the 70s. His son, Guy Dean, ran the business. Roy Dean’s Furniture was noted for its extensive inventory of cutting edge RCA electronics. The building most recently housed Linda’s Pawn. A couple of other furniture stores occupied this building for brief periods of time during the 50s and 60s. The building has sat vacant for a number of years.
Plain and simple, the reason heritage buildings are destroyed is because they are left vacant to languish and decay for years and decades. Then they are deemed to be too expensive to restore. There is no policy for preserving and managing our heritage buildings. A good case in point is the old CIBC and the smaller old Bank of Montreal on its south side on 100th Street. These are wonderful structures. How long will these beautiful buildings grace 100th Street downtown?
A few months ago, the old Asmussen building (next to the Bank of Montreal on its south side) was also destroyed. That’s three buildings on the east side of 101st Street between 11th Avenue and 12th Avenue (the Downtown Core) destroyed within the space of a few months. Which building is next?
It’s too bad. We have a great city. It’s unfortunate that we can’t preserve our history for future generations.
Richard W. Hiebert, Ph.D
President, Battlefords Heritage Society
