75 Navy Street - The Murray House Hotel

The Murray House Hotel, known at different times as the Canadian Hotel, has passed through the ownership of John Williams, James Teetor, other proprietors, and then to Murray Williams.

The Murray House Hotel stands on the site of a home of Captain Nicholas Boylan, second master of the "Trafalgar", the first schooner built in 1857 by John Williams, brother of Captain Hiram Williams. It opened for business on December 15, 1857.

Originally named the Canadian Hotel, it offered its patrons twenty-one bedrooms (many only six feet by six feet) and four parlours.

For the security of his customers' valuables, John Williams provided hidden cupboards in the cellar stairway.

John Williams sold the hotel to James Teetor in 1867, for $2,500, and returned to operating the Oakville House at the corner of Navy and Lakeshore, which he had previously owned. He had also been proprietor of the Railway Station Hotel which he built in 1856.

In 1896, the Canadian Hotel returned to the Williams family having been purchased by Murray Williams, John's nephew. It was Murray who changed the name to The Murray House Hotel. Murray Williams brought the hotel back to the standards set by his Uncle John since the hotel had gone downhill under a dozen proprietors since James Teetor.

Standing in lawns, with a fountain in the centre, it generously supplied wagon sheds for the use of customers. It was Murray Williams who introduced the automobile to Oakville, to begin the demise of the wagon.