- At 50A Avenue and 51st Street. Built in 1905 of stone collected from the area, by Mr. & Mrs. Archambeau.
It is a replica of Mrs. Archambeau's home in southern France.
At first, goats were kept in the top of the castle, until a fence could be built.
Today, the tower has a peaked roof.
Castle on 50A Avenue, Today - At 46th Street and 50A Avenue. Built in 1910 by Mr. and Mrs. Balleu.
Stones were collected from around the lakeshore.
Today it serves as a coffee shop.
Castle on 46th Street, Today
Built around 1930 and demolished in 1979, it was known throughout Alberta and drew many people to Sylvan Lake for a good time.
Brothers bill and Russell Heenan bought a grocery store in the hamlet of Snake Lake (later Sylvan Lake) in 1906. Russell hauled supplies from Red Deer for their store and other businesses. Then one winter when the regular mailman was ill, he delivered the mail along the Burnt Lake Trail. The store was situated on the first Main Street, which ran along the lakeshore just west of the present Main Street.
Painted green and white, built in the early 1920s, for performances of the Sylvan Lake Community Band, it was one of the earliest structures on the beach. The band, dressed in traditional band uniforms with white hats and brass buttons, performed concerts every Sunday during the summer months, under the direction of F.W. McWerter, and later, John Platham.
For 63 years Antler Lodge was the hub of activity on Main Street. Built in Red Deer about 1902-03 by Alexander Loiselle for a boarding house and moved to Sylvan Lake sometime before 1924 where it was home to the new managers, Ogden and Clara Wilkinson. Cabins were added a the rear of the building for summer visitors and the store front on Main Street was rented to various businesses including Mah Chew's restaurant and, later, Cec Ritz's Drugstore. Antler Lodge was purchased by Teddy and Ginty May who owned it until their retirement in 1959 when it was sold to Cliff Long and later Cobb's for their new store in 1991.
In 1911, Alexander Loiselle built a hotel on the site of the present Sylvan Lake Golf and Country Club clubhouse. It was called the Alexander Hotel and housed a very fine dining room and a bar complete with brass rails and spittoons. Business was good for many years, especially during the time the railways were being built. The hotel was operated for eleven years, then was converted to apartments and finally destroyed by fire.
In 1931, Walter and Ernest Jackson built the building known as the Jackson Block. Together they opened a bakery and Sylvan Lake's first theatre which they called the "Lakeshore Cinema". In 1933, Mr E.C. Watkiss purchased the tehatre and renamed it "Uptown Theatre". He operated the theatre for 34 years. From 1941 to 1962, Mrs. watkiss (Dorothy) operated a coffee shop in the bakery part of the building. Her coffee shop soon became very well respected for serving excellent meals. The Jackson Block was on the west side of Main Street and was situated about where Cast Away Sports is today.
In 1928, the Sylvan Lake W.I. financed the building of a 500 foot pier out from McCluskey's Boathouse. The Hon. R.B. Bennett, then the leader of the Progressive Party, cut the ribbon on opening day and the pier was in use for the next 25 years. Ten years later, another pier was built from the Alexander Pavillion (later called the "Prom") to connect with the W.I. pier. The crosspiece was outfitted with benches from which the public could watch swimming events in the area between the two piers. Both piers suffered extensively from ice break-up damage for many years until finally, in 1971, the federal and provincial governmnets financed the building of a unique landfill pier which is now a part of the provincial park beach area.