Lost buildings: Last call at Trail’s Union Hotel

The City of Trail bought the Union Hotel (pictured below) and a neighbouring building last year with plans to tear them down and sell the lots for redevelopment.

The Union joins several other Trail heritage buildings and sites that have met the wrecking ball in the last 20 years, including the old Legion (now the site of Lordco), the Tadanac staff house, the Project 9 tower, the Auto-Vue Drive-In (now the site of Walmart), and an entire block of homes in the Gulch (now a truck chain-up area). The old bridge, opened in 1912, is also doomed, although demolition doesn’t appear imminent.

The Union seen during the flood of April 1969. (Selkirk College Regional Archives)

Here’s an ad for the Union Hotel from the Trail Times Diamond Jubilee Edition of June 29, 1976, which marked the city’s 75th birthday, albeit a couple of weeks late. The Union was designed by prolific local architect Archie Broderick. The rest of its history is detailed in the ad.

UPDATE, Sept. 13, 2019: Here is what the lot looks like now, soon to be home to a Dairy Queen.

Updated on Sept. 13, 2019 to add the photos of the empty lot. Updated on Sept. 19, 2022 to add the 1969 photo.