Senator’s Place maintains town history
Senator’s Place might only be about 26 years old but the property’s history dates back to the 1800s.
In the book, “Big Cy and Other Characters, Pat MacAdam’s Cape Breton,” author Pat MacAdam says Senator’s Corner was Glace Bay’s best-known piece of real estate, a triangular intersection at Main, Union and Commercial streets.
The property was owned by Senator William McDonald, born in 1837 at the Settlement of River Denys Road in Inverness. McDonald’s holdings included houses and commercial buildings on Minto, York, Reserve and Union streets and Number Four Road as well as land on Caribou Marsh Road, Grand Lake Road, Dutch Brook, Mira Road and Birch Grove and Ben Eoin.
According to Wikipedia, McDonald was a merchant who was first elected to the House of Commons representing Cape Breton in 1872 and re-elected in 1874, 1878 and 1882.
In 1884, he was called to the Senate where he served until his death in 1916.
The intersection of Main, Union and Commercial streets in downtown Glace Bay was named Senator’s Corner in his honour.
According to Elke Ibrahim and Ray MacAdam of the Glace Bay Heritage Museum Society, after McDonald’s death, his wife sold the property to a local merchant whose last name was MacNeil and a building was erected and housed several businesses. MacNeil’s wife died young and he started drinking and gambling. During a card game he lost the property to Jack MacRae, an entrepreneur and bootlegger during Prohibition and the property was renamed MacRae Block.
Developer Wayne Weatherbee tore down four old businesses at this corner in 1992 — including the MacRae Block— to build a 56,000-square-foot office building.
However Weatherbee maintained the historical significance of the area.
“It was always known as Senator’s Corner so that’s why I went with Senator’s Place,” he said.