For today’s lunch-time posting, I want to highlight a classic prairie hotel. The Seymour Hotel in Hanna, AB has certainly seen better days, but that is what makes it so appealing to me.
It was September 11, 2017 and Emily and I were working our way home from Saskatoon. We pulled off Highway 9 into Hanna, likely for a fuel stop.
I don’t know why we ended up driving around town, but we soon found ourselves in front of the abandoned Seymour Hotel. Well, in all honesty, we didn’t know what it was called and only learned its name by doing some online digging which revealed an older photo which still had a sign intact on it.
Speaking of signs, the most notable feature of this building is the neon sign on the roof. Situated on the southwest corner and standing tall and proud in all its faded glory, it still proclaims “HOTEL”, although the only guests taking up residence at the Seymour are pigeons and mice.
I’m not sure exactly when it opened, but it appears to have been around 1913. In terms of closing, there were articles in the local newspaper discussing its potential demolition as early as 2011 or 2012, so it must have closed somewhat earlier than that.
I doubt it will be around much longer, especially considering its “sister hotel” the New National was demolished in 2014.
Once a common sight, more and more of these classic railway boomtown hotels are fading away much like the sign atop the Seymour.
DanOCan 
Listed under “dive hotel” in the dictionary…
Looking worse since we saw it a few years back. Suspect its days are numbered. No doubt its fortunes were tied to the railway. Bet many a CNR employee, coming in from the nearby roundhouse and shops, whet their whistles here after a hard day’s work.
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I have to go see this! I love old neon, as well as old hotels!
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It appears they are doing some work on it, possibly restoring it. I have pictures if anyone would like to see it as it stands right now
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I had someone tell me that it is being demolished. I know there were concerns about what will happen to the great “hotel” sign but it was supposedly going to be preserved somehow. I’d love to see your photos.
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I found this blog post because I actually stayed at the Seymour hotel several times as a kid in the 90s when my dad basically lived there for a period of time. Very unique experience and memories. Everything in that hotel was ancient, what stands our in my memory is the brown-orange colored curtains, carpet, bed covers, Everything matching and very old, i know orange brown was a 70s thing but it seemed older than that. The small rooms connected to eachother, the old light switches and plugs and doorknobs. The radiator heaters by the windows. The lack of TVs, there might have been a radio. There must have been a small stove because my dad basically lived off of “cambels chunky soup”. The lobby and staircase looked more “grand” than expected, beautiful wood banisters, and woodwork details, and like some kind of thick satin curtains that made it feel like an old theater. A rough but kind looking old lady seemed to run the place. And I remember by dad saying that it was cheaper than ranting ⁹an apartment. $15/night or something crazy. Oh and the smell. Very distinctive, it wasn’t bad but smelled really old, like the smell of an old library. Dad was there for work and would come home to edmonton on the weekends. Other memories… there was basically one restaurant, a diner type place with regulars. The town had a daily newspaper which printed on a single page. “News” included stuff like “Bob and Ellen went to Lloyd and Sue’s house and played scabble” and an article about a chicken that had wandered away from someone’s backyard.
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