Lambert's Hotel and Others R W Johnson from The Evening Guide  January 4, 1955 In the eighties there were about fifteen licensed hotels in Port Hope, some catering to the travelling public, others to farmers, and several that were only drinking places. All were required to have at least two or three bedrooms and a small dining room in order to qualify for a license, but most of them existed only because of the bar trade. The St Lawrence Hall under William Mackie was the leading hostelry, but a fire about 1890 in the adjoining Opera House (entrance from John Street) resulted in the hotel being closed down for several years. The Queen's under Allan Adams then handled all commercial business alone for several years. The Royal at the foot of Walton Street, under Charles Nixon, the American on Walton, opposite Queen, under Lawrence Haw, and Lambert's on Ontario Street, later called the Ontario House, under Louie Bennett, and now the Ganaraska, all did a thriving business especially with farmers as all had ample stable accommodation. The smaller outfits were Dick Christopher's at the GTR depot, Tom Plain's, a frame building on John Street that still stands at the corner of Park, Blackham's, a brick building on Dorset between John and the Midland Railway, Martin Griffin's just south of the Queen's, Dicky Pethick's British Hotel on Queen, between Walton and the Post Office, the Turner House on the south-east corner of Mill and the Cobourg Road, Silas Winters' farther down Mill Street near Caldwell, Johnny Lee's on Mill Street nearly opposite the end of Ward, and another on Cavan Street a little north of Walton kept towards the end by William Gamble. Most of them found the going hard as the years went by and were converted into residences or put to some other use. Martin Griffin's had the reputation of being a highly reputable place, where business men and others could meet for a social hour, and where nobody was allowed too much. When necessary he is said to have had an ultimatum -  "Ye are up to the mark. Ye will get no more here." His place had also a reputation as an oyster house where many a delicious stew was served on cold winter afternoons. His younger son, Vincent, played football with us, and I remember one fall day when the young American Consul of that time entertained our club at Griffin's after school. We had elected him to be our honourary president, and moreover he was at the time paying attention to one of the sisters of Walt Ross who was our captain. It may be seen that we showed good judgment in the choice of our officers. Besides the many hotels in those early days two breweries continued to operate. James Calcott's was on Mill Street, about opposite Barrett's Terrace. One can hardly imagine now that he had an ample supply of good spring water right there on the property. Where has it gone? When business dwindled his building was dismantled and the bricks used in the construction of two or three houses, one of which is now occupied by Miss McLean. Our good friend Will Williamson lived next door to the brewery on the north. Ambrose & Winslow's big new brewery out Cavan Street, prospered for some years, but it also had to go out of business in due time. It may be worth recalling here that the Molsons, now of Montreal, were in business in Port Hope very early, and I often heard the big pond at the head of Hope Street called Molson's Pond. Later it was Orr's Pond, and then Corbett's. The Molsons had, I think, a distillery, but moved it to Montreal as a more promising location. Their water power later turned Orr's grist mill, then Dr Corbett rebuilt the dam for his electric light plant, managed by Tom Tuer and Vince Coleman, and still later for gristing and other purposes. A complete history of this water power would be of much interest. Who can write it? When I last saw it, the dam had again gone out, and all that was left there was a swimming pool and some old buildings which were said to be used as a summer school by Toronto Communists for their young people.