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.