The Story of Italians in Fernie, 1881 - 1921 The Story of Italians in Fernie, 1881 - 1921 Fernie Museum
The impressive bar is a testament to the importance of liquor for the success of Fernie’s hotels.
The Alberta Hotel, Blairmore, Alberta, ca 1920 where Emilio Picariello based his bootlegging business. It was close to the liquor wholesalers in Fernie, BC and runs could be […]
The Roma Hotel was one of 11 Fernie hotels whose sales significantly declined following the enactment of Prohibition in 1917. Italian miners and others who frequented the hotel had […]
Fernie, B.C. with the coke ovens in the foreground, May, 1899.
In 1922, as Florence became estranged from her husband Charlie, she was given work as the Picariello’s housekeeper and looked after the younger children.
Many hotels generated more revenue through the sale of liquor than by room rentals and meals. In BC, the Merchants’ Protective Association, comprising hoteliers and liquor industry people, […]
Paul Guzzi holds the reigns of the wagon (his daughter Connie is seated next to him) and his wife Liberata is in the doorway. His brother Domenico is […]
The Roma Hotel was built by Philip Carosella in 1903 and was destroyed in the 1904 and 1908 fires. It was leased and later purchased by Al Rizutto, […]
The Columbia Macaroni Works, Fernie, BC, was opened around 1909-1910 by C. Marinaro who enticed Emilio Picariello to come to Fernie from Toronto to run it in 1911.
A hand-written note on a photo states: “Lacking Enough Hearses or Wagons, Most Bodies Were Borne for Burial.” The 1902 Coal Creek mine explosion killed 128 miners. There […]
The railway station became the hub of the community and represented prosperity. Communities that were ignored by the railways became ghost towns. In 1990, the station was relocated […]
A birds eye view of Fernie, BC deemed to be “The Pittsburg of Canada” by the media and the Board of Trade.
