Commercial/residential site.
Details of Site Location: At the extreme southern end of the Port Union Road on the south side of Duthie Street just east of the road.
Boundary History: The hotel was bounded on the south side by the railway tracks and Lake Ontario, on the east side by the GTR railway station, on the west side by the end of the Port Union Road, and on the north side by Duthie Street.
Current Use of Property: Wasteland, although according to local sources it is targeted for park development.
Historical Description: Built and opened in 1861 by a Mr. Stoner, the hotel was shortly after sold to Thomas Laskey, who operated it under his own name. It was the second hotel to be built at Port Union, but served for many more years than the first hotel. Constructed of locally cut and sawn wood, it was Georgian in style and had a two-storey veranda. Parts of the (later) narrow sidewalk that separated it from Duthie Street are still visible. The hotel boasted a kitchen, a dining room, and the required barroom, and had six rooms for guests and a large ballroom on the second floor. Initially, its clientele came from local farmers and fishermen, but mainly from railway passengers and staff, for it stood beside the railway station and backed onto the tracks. In 1865 the post office was moved from the railway station to the hotel and years later to a house across the road. When diesel locomotives were introduced, the function of the shunter and other facilities at Port Union were no longer needed. Then passenger service was cut. These were serious blows, to both the hotel and the little community, because in its peak years business had boomed: in the record year in 1859, 511 tons of freight and 2,600 passengers were handled at the station. When business dropped, the other Port Union hotel was demolished, and Laskey’s was converted into a private residence. It remained so for several years until in 1994 a fire destroyed the old wooden building.
Relative Importance: The hotel’s importance must be recognized, both on its own merits and as a focal point in a community that has now completely vanished. The modern community bearing the name Port Union has no connection whatever with the original village. The last building from the original community was torn down by July 2000.
Planning Implications: It is strongly recommended that commemoration should be made of the original village and. its history, including that of the hotel, in the future development of a park in the area of the hotel. The remaining sidewalk section should be preserved and a monument or cairn placed at its southern end, showing this history and a plan of the village, which consisted of only three streets at its peak. The waste area where the park is to be developed is also full of bluebells growing wild, and efforts must be made to preserve these as a feature of the park. Sensitive treatment of the park and Port Union’s history will be a welcome relief from the dense cookie-cutter subdivisions spreading south to cover the area of the old village. In addition, there are serious problems with the site of the Johns Manville plant on the west side of the end of the Port Union Road. This plant manufactured fibreglass and Transite pipe (made of cement and asbestos). Local sources report that although some remediation work is being done, there is concern that “tons of material was buried on the grounds” of the plant.
Reference Sources and Acknowledgements: John Spilsbury, Fact & Folklore (1998); oral history interviews, Maps Project; Ontario Genealogical Society, Toronto Branch; Maps Project.