Hotel McKinney, Palm Gardens, Trinidad, B.W.I.

Abstract

The postcard shows the Hotel McKinney, Marine (Independence) Square, Port of Spain. Circa 1844 the building was known as the Ice house - a large cold-storage facility constructed by Mr. Cotton. He imported tons of lake ice from the United States which was advertised in the daily newspapers and sold to citizens. The property was subsequently owned by C.L. Haley - who expanded it to function as the Family Hotel; Croney and Co.; the American firm R.J. McKinney and Co. - who significantly expanded the grocery stock and renamed it the Hotel McKinney and the Palm Garden (because it had a palm garden) Restaurant and Buffet and Ernest Canning who in 1933 renamed it the Fernandez Grocery and in 1950 it became Hi-Lo, the first cash-and-carry supermarket in Trinidad. By the 1960s the structure had become dilapidated and it was demolished in 1977. Postcard number C27122.