Submitted by the staff of the Orillia Museum of Art & History (OMAH)
The plaza of 31-35 Mississaga St. E. in downtown Orillia was once the site of the grandstanding American Hotel.
Constructed in 1871 by proprietor William Edwards, the American Hotel was, by 1876, a hotspot for beer and bloodshed amid a notorious gang rivalry.
The Regan Gang from Mara commonly drank at the hotel, so the McDuffs of the Black Swamp Gang from Oro-Medonte knew just where to find them when spoiling for a fight.
These two gangs were terrorizers of the town throughout Orillia’s late 19th century. Black Swamp Gang leader Alex “Sandy” MacDuff was especially well known to the law and order of Orillia.
One year, the constables were known to have carried three separate arrest warrants for him in their pockets while on patrol for months, but none became bold enough to actually attempt an arrest.
The American Hotel also had its fair share of scrapes. The original structure burned down in 1872 during a massive fire that destroyed much of downtown Orillia.
As one newspaper phrased it, the wooden structure was just another “log on the pile” of numerous wooden buildings teeming with flammable goods inside. Fortunately for the gangs, the American Hotel was rebuilt in time to be a routine ground for them to trade the usual, and sometimes violent, fisticuffs.
The story of the American Hotel, the Regans and the MacDuffs is just one of many stops on OMAH’s Gangs, Guns, and Grog tour held on Wednesday nights throughout the summer, a fascinating exploration back in time to Orillia’s wild west days of prohibition. Join on the weekly tour by purchasing tickets through the museum’s website.
Next week we will feature another object from the OMAH collection that showcases our local history.
