Hawkshaw House
117 Main Street South, Seaforth, Ontario
( Year built: 1874 )
The brick hotel, now familiarly known as The Dick House, was built in 1874 by John Bowden. William Bowden was the property owner at the time. Bowden purchased the lot from Thomas Govenlock. Govenlock had a lumber yard here in 1866. He had purchased the lot from its first owner, Sam Hannah, who bought the property in 1863 and made pumps here for a few years before moving to Pennsylvania.
When Govenlock owned the property there was a frame hotel here. It appears in a stereograph taken from the railway tracks looking north (see the story about Houghton’s Hotel). John Crites was the first Inn Keeper listed in 1870. From 1871-73, John H. McCallum was the inn keeper of McCallum’s Hotel.
James Weir was the first hotel keeper in the new brick hotel from 1876 to 1879. David Ritchie is listed as hotel keeper for 1880 and John Bowden of Egmondville is listed as owner of the property. William Hawkshaw was the owner and hotel keeper of Hawkshaw House by 1883.
In 1890, Frederick Frey, age 40, was the hotelkeeper and William Hawkins was the bartender at Hawkshaw’s hotel. The next year, Levi Walper was hotel keeper while Albert Webster was the hostler tending the stables. Walper worked here until 1894. He was replaced by J.H. McClinchey who acted as hotelkeeper for two years. Hawkshaw again took over management of the hotel until 1899 when Jacob Kling was hired. The hotel was sold in 1900 to James Dick, who kept the name Hawkshaw House, and managed it himself throughout the 1900s.
In his younger days, in the 1880s, James Dick sought adventure in the southwest territories of what today is known as Arizona and New Mexico. In later years he would reminisce about driving loads of supplies into the well-known Territorial Prison at Yuma (Arizona).
In 1909, Dick hired Frank Kling and “Kling’s Hotel” was added to the name. Frank Kling died in 1913 of typhoid. His death was blamed on contaminated water from a well next door.
James Dick and his son, Arthur, were the last to do business here as a hotel. By 1918, Arthur was managing the hotel and did so throughout the 1920s, to the early 1950s.
James was among the many residents of Seaforth who financially backed construction of the Palace ice rink. He and his family had a long-standing interest in sports. James was an enthusiastic curler. His sons and grandsons were avid hockey and baseball players.
Above Photo: Hawkshaw’s hotel as pictured in Souvenir of Seaforth, 1900. Photo Below: the white brick of Hawkshaw House is, in this c. 1915 photograph, painted red. Striped awnings dress up the second-storey windows and balcony. The original 6-over-6 sash windows have been replaced by newer windows.
In 1954, Lenna Dick, Arthur’s wife, began using the Dick House as a boarding house. In 1986, the old hotel was renovated into apartments.
It is a handsome two-storey brick structure with a hipped roof. Originally white brick, it appears to have been painted red when it became The Dick House. Slightly arched labels above the doors and windows are accented in white. The six-bay building had three entrances, dividing it into two halves.
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