Louisa leads a tour down historic First Street SW.--PHOTO COURTESY James Smith
With three great historical walking tours to offer, the Esplanade’s tour guides are gearing up for the 2025 season. One tour impacted by recent site changes is offering a new approach.
The Historic Railroad District walking tour was launched in July 2022. Barely two months later, the first site on the tour, the historic Royal Hotel on S. Railway Street burned down. Despite the setback, the next day the tour proceeded as scheduled with the charred ruins of the Royal painfully in sight.
More challenges were still to come. Last year, two vacant historic buildings on S. Railway were demolished. And a city landmark, the 1953 three-storey neon sign on the old Assiniboia Inn was cut in half and removed.
On a promising note, in the 400 block of N. Railway Street, a 1947 coffee shop has been repurposed as a modern restaurant, Hometown Culinary. As a tribute to its post war heritage, tour participants can step back in time and enjoy a cup of coffee at the 1947 price of 25 cents!
Most exciting, the building at 515A N. Railway Street which has been vacant for several years, was purchased with high hopes of restoring it back to its 1913 origin.
To make up for the loss of notable sites on the railroad district tour, new ones have been added such as the historic CPR bridge. And Rotary Park, once an industrial site complete with a rail line running down the centre.
Now the tour includes the two 1952 train locomotives located in Riverside Veterans’ Memorial Park. Did you know one of those diesel locomotives was featured in a famous movie?
There may be a new and improved railroad district tour, but the other two walking tours are just as exciting. After great reviews, the character actors are back on the Historic First Street SE tour. And Louisa continues to bring her neighbourhood knowledge to the Historic First Street Southwest tour. Find out what unexpected treasures were recently uncovered under layers of insulation in the attic of one of the historic homes on her tour.
All three walking tours begin at 10 a.m. Tours are approximately one hour long. For more tour information and to register, please visit tixx.ca. The ticket price for all historic walking tours is only $20 and includes a quality souvenir booklet.
Sally Sehn is a past Member of the Heritage Resources Committee and a historical tour guide for the Esplanade, City of Medicine Hat.
