131 Main St

Stop 17

Proceed east down the south side of Main St.

Site is on the right.

Original Fire Hall

The Fire Hall

The Marks Hotel sat at this site until 1875, when it burned to the ground.

This building was the first fire hall in Ailsa Craig. In the upstairs the Loyal Order of Foresters held meetings. In 1906, when the new town hall and fire hall were built, Chester Morley converted the building into a garage.

In 1929, the Masons purchased this building for $250 from the Foresters. They remodelled the building to be used as a Lodge Hall, with the lodge room in the second storey and the lower level being used for lunch and social events.

The lodge is still currently owned by the Masons, who completed renovations in 1955, 2007, and 2015.

Craig Lodge when it was operated as a garage, showing the Queen's Hotel/Pinewood in the background, as a BOM branch.