In 1883, local hotelier Louis Hilliard opened the Hilliard House on the northeast corner of Main and Second Streets in Rat Portage (now Kenora). The following is the story of Hilliard’s fine establishment as recounted in newspapers of the day at three significant times in the building’s history.
The Hudson’s Bay Company in Rat Portage Lake of the Woods Museum NewsletterVol. 14 No. 2 – Spring 2004 by the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives 1836. That is the earliest reference to a trading post near the site known as Portage du Rat or the...
McLeod Park Lake of the Woods Museum NewsletterVol. 13 No. 3 – Fall 2003 by Lori Nelson There’s a small parcel of land situated between downtown Kenora and Tunnel Island that, in its history, mirrors a substantial part of the development of the entire...
Farming on the Canadian Shield LOUIS HILLARD’S FINE FARM Rat Portage Miner and News – September 6, 1904 Excerpted from a letter written to the editor by a visitor to Mr. Hillard’s farm which was located in Jaffray, about 2 miles from downtown Rat Portage (now Kenora)....
Western Algoma Brick Co. Lake of the Woods Museum NewsletterVol. 17 No. 2 – Spring 2007 On July 31, 1894, the local newspaper, The Semi-Weekly Record, made this pronouncement… “The wooden era of our town is at an end and we have entered upon the brick...
The Prominent Business Houses of Rat Portage Lake of the Woods Museum NewsletterVol. 18 No. 4 – Fall 2008 In 1888, “The New West”, a publication from Winnipeg, Manitoba, published the following account entitled Prominent Business Houses of Rat Portage....
