Grand Hotel
Shaunavon

Shaunavon's Grand Hotel was completed in 1929 by Carl Kjarsgaard of Moose Jaw to serve the quickly growing community, nicknamed 'Boomtown".

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Originally owned by Fred Mah and Mah Hop, the Grand Hotel was typical of many hotel's in Saskatchewan's rapidly growing communities before the start of 1929's Great Depression.

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A modern hotel by the standard of the day, the hotel was constructed with 38 guest rooms featuring steam heat, hot and cold water and a doctor's office adjacent to the hotel on the main floor.

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The hotel received some notoriety in 1940 with first the murder of RCMP Sgt. Arthur Barker followed by the unrelated murders of both hotel owner Mah Hop and baker Mah Sai in a knife fight. All three murders happened in the same spot Sgt. Barker lost his life only two months earlier - in the front rotunda at the bottom of the front staircase.

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Famous Saskatchewan photographer Everett Baker also called the hotel home at one point when the hotel had shut down and the building was re-opened as the Beverly Court.

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The building was shuttered for good in 1981 after the final resident moved out and was used for storage until being purchased by Kent Karemaker in 2023.

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The hotel is now undergoing a full sympathetic restoration with  the intention to re-open as a full-service heritage hotel in time for the 100th anniversary of the property in 2029.