Founder Great Northern Railway Governing body Parks Canada Designated 1995 | Built 1926–1927 Website Glacier Park Inc. | |
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Location Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada | ||
The Prince of Wales Hotel is located in Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada, overlooking Upper Waterton Lake, near the Canada-United States border. Constructed between 1926 and 1927, the hotel was built by the American Great Northern Railway to lure American tourists north of the border during the prohibition era. The hotel was named after the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), in a transparent attempt to entice him to stay in the hotel on his 1927 Canadian tour, but the Prince stayed at a nearby ranch instead.
The Prince of Wales Hotel enjoys the distinction of being the sole establishment among Canada's grand railway hotels to have been built by an American, as opposed to a Canadian, railway company. The hotel was designated a National Historic Site of Canada by the Canadian government in 1995.