We’re spending a bit of time during our weekly look at Timmins history by examining what visitors in 1915 would encounter.
(Timmins Museum: National Exhibition Centre)
If you came in on the train all the way to downtown Timmins… you could stay at the Goldfields Hotel or perhaps the Algoma. They both had big dining rooms, but if they weren’t in your budget, there were also several restaurants. Timmins Museum director-curator Karen Bachmann says they also catered to single miners whose accommodations didn’t include food or cooking facilities.
“A lot of the restaurants would provide you with a meal ticket for the month,” Bachmann recounts. “So you would pay for 21 meals at like ten cents a meal. And then every time you went in, you got it punched and those things would have it.”
The food selections were also surprisingly large.
“We have a great menu in the collection from Lee’s Restaurant that provides you with no more than, I think, 85 different selections. Everything from chop suey to pork schnitzel to roast beef to turkey dinners. So you were well fed, very well fed.”
Next week: Entertainment options.
