{"id":677142,"date":"2026-05-18T08:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T08:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/677142\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T08:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T08:57:12","slug":"gold-rush-era-westminster-hotel-lost-to-fire-in-dawson-city-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/677142\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold-rush era Westminster Hotel lost to fire in Dawson City \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Chris Ross celebrated the birth of his son in 2003 he remembers smoking a Cuban cigar at the Westminster Hotel \u2014 known affectionately as \u201cThe Pit\u201d to locals in Dawson City, Yukon.<\/p>\n

The pink gold-rush era hotel and bar that dates back to 1898 has always been a gathering place for the community, whether to celebrate a milestone or just enjoy a beer.<\/p>\n

At about 6 a.m. on Sunday, Ross, who has lived in the community on and off for 30 years, woke up to a \u201cgiant smoke cloud\u201d in the sky and walked from his home to find the landmark hotel engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Firefighters
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFirefighters work to extinguish a structure fire at the Westminster Hotel, a historic building from the gold-rush era, in Dawson City, Yukon, in a Sunday, May 17, 2026, handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Handout \u2014 Manu Keggenhoff (Mandatory Credit)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still in a bit of shock. This morning it was there, it\u2019s always been there. It\u2019s been there for 128 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna hit. There\u2019s no doubt about it. It just hasn\u2019t hit yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Images and video posted to social media show flames and thick, dark smoke shooting from the wooden, three-storey structure as firefighters doused the blaze and partially collapsed building with water.<\/p>\n

Dawson City Mayor Stephen Johnson said in a Facebook post on Sunday that the building, which felt like home to so many, has been lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to put into words what this place has meant to our town. The Westminster wasn\u2019t just a bar or a hotel. It was a gathering place, a landmark of stories, a home for music, laughter, friendship, and the kind of memories that only Dawson can make,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Johnson said he\u2019s grateful no lives were lost and noted that \u201closing it feels personal because it is personal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bar in the hotel was damaged earlier in January when a water main broke amid a cold snap, flooding the building and the street outside.<\/p>\n

Ross said it had been closed ever since.<\/p>\n

Ross called the bar a gathering spot for the town and said people who didn\u2019t know any better were likely to pass it by.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did look a little bit rough-and-tumble on the outside, stray dogs, little bit rough crowd inside, definitely dark \u2014 lighting wasn\u2019t its strength,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo people would pass on by, not really knowing what was going on and how warm and inviting it actually was on the inside.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The mayor said the spirit of a place like the Westminster lives in the people who filled it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDawson has never been a community that lets its stories fade. We will carry the memories forward, and when the time comes, we will help shape whatever rises next.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 17, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Chris Ross celebrated the birth of his son in 2003 he remembers smoking a Cuban cigar at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-677142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}