Charlie's Hotel

Charlie’s Hotel was a hotel owned and operated by Charlie Chow in Kirkland Lake’s early days. Charlie Chow is remembered to this day as one of Kirkland Lake’s most well known figures. He immigrated to Canada in 1900, and opened a small cafe and lunch counter in downtown Kirkland Lake in 1916. Ever innovative and hardworking, as the population in Kirkland Lake expanded, Charlie opened a brand new, larger kitchen in 1924 with a hotel attached. At the time of its grand opening, the hotel had 16 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a sitting room.

In the image of the man who ran it, Charlie’s Hotel was quiet and unassuming. As the town continued to develop and fill up with miners from all over the world, Charlie’s remained a constant, good hearted place for Kirkland Lake’s residents to enjoy a hearty meal. Even after becoming a millionaire, Charlie Chow continued to focus on his family and his business, as he continued to work and live at the hotel to better serve his customers.

Charlie Chow, rather famously, used to store large amounts of cash within the hotel instead of using banks. This came in handy in a particular instance, when the train carrying in the payroll for local miners was delayed due to a storm. Fearful of public backlash, the manager of the Royal Bank across the street asked Charlie for a loan. On that day, Charlie loaned him $250,000 dollars in small bills, with the entire ordeal going down in Kirkland Lake history.

Charlie’s stood tall and proud for over forty years in downtown Kirkland Lake. Unfortunately, due to Charlie’s failing health, the hotel was closed several years prior to his death in 1972. In the 1980s, a member of Charlie’s family re-opened the hotel briefly, but it closed its doors for the last time in 1989. The hotel was torn down in 1992, and Subway restaurant and a parking lot fill the space today.