Submitted

The following article and accompanying picture were submitted by the Sylvan Lake and District Archives Society as part of a series celebrating the society’s 20 years of existence this year.

The Alamo was called the most beautiful hotel along the CPR from Winnipeg to Calgary in 1910. The hotel was named after the famed Alamo site in Texas, and was originally built by three U.S. oil speculators in Suffield, Alta. The furnishings and fittings were of oak, maple, and mahogany, and featured a 40-foot-long stand-up bar.

This jewel box of a hotel was moved to Sylvan Lake in 1927. The move took two winters with 16-horse teams inching the building along on heavy rollers. The hotel reached its final destination as the Sylvan Lake Hotel on the corner of 50 St. and Lakeshore Dr. without mishap, except for the theft of an unusual ‘square’ flush toilet — taken by a tourist as a souvenir.

The hotel is physically gone, but is well preserved in photos and memories.