Another Eston landmark gone

By Verna Thompson

ESTON – August 19, 2026.

6:45 a.m. Eston's Main Street is empty save for two half-ton trucks, one white, one red.

Bird song fills the air.

The morning sun shines for the last time on the Great West Café, a local landmark for more than a century since Mrs. Bill Graham established her café and butcher shop on the site in 1914.

The demolition equipment stands ready, the large excavator that just last week was used to take down the former United Grain Growers elevator and a huge semi ready to take away the last vestiges of what was a popular eating spot in the town.

Last light on a landmark. The morning sun catches the Great West Café sign on Eston's Main Street on August 19, hours before demolition crews began taking down the building. Mrs. Bill Graham opened a café and butcher shop on the site in 1914. PHOTO BY VERNA THOMPSON

A century comes down. An excavator from Adrian's Demolition of Southey works through the front of the Great West Café on the morning of August 19. The first cut was made at 8:30 a.m. Within 15 minutes of the second cut, the building was rubble. PHOTO BY VERNA THOMPSON

Nothing left but the flowers. Hanging baskets and street banners frame what remained of the Great West Café after the façade fell. The building had stood empty for years before the August 19 demolition. PHOTO BY VERNA THOMPSON

7:15 a.m. The crew of Adrian's Demolition from Southey, Sask., arrives and begins making ready.

8:30 a.m. Work begins with the first cut made in the 1914 portion of the building.

Work continues as residents come and go watching the action and drivers slow as they pass.

10:35 a.m. The first cut is made in the 1936 café building.

Minutes later the façade falls with a roar and a cloud of dust.

In 15 minutes all that is left is a pile of rubble.

Nothing is left to do but clear away the debris and eventually level the site. This could take two or three days, I'm told by crew member Zane Bedraz.

History of the site

Mrs. Graham's 1914 building on the site predates the formation of the town of Eston.

The railroad steel came to the town in 1915; also that year Bill Kraft and Mrs. Niccum set up a confectionery and boarding house on the site.

Eston officially became a village in 1916.

An addition was put on the building in 1920. Living quarters were added around 1940.

In 1926 George McIvor, Ed Hammett and Scotty Allen set up a café.

George Der was the next owner of Block 8, setting up the Great West Café in 1931. Next came Der Cil in 1936, Der and Mah in 1945 then Jack and Wayne Mah in 1962 until 1998.

Originally there were five partners, but eventually just the partnership of Jack and Wayne.

There were two major renovations during their tenure, the first in 1967 when they remodeled the interior putting in a dining area and separate booths and changing the exterior and the second in 1983 when they put in new panelling, flooring and upholstery.

For more than 10 years from 1998, Kim Luong and Kevin Quach operated the Gold City on the site.

The building has been empty now for several years leading to the sad event of August 19th.

Jack and Lina Mah were on hand to watch the demolition of the building where they spent so many years.

Lina told The Voice that this was a "very sad day."

She reminisced about the many plates of chips and gravy she served over the years.

Jack was a good cook, she recalled, with patrons especially liking his fried rice, his fried shrimp and pineapple chicken balls.

People still ask him how to make his fried rice, she says.

Writing in the local history book, Grass to Grain, Volume 2, their son the late Larry Mah recalled, "The Great West Café was open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and supper and served Western and Chinese cuisine, later closing on Wednesdays." Workdays were long, from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

"Sunday smorgasbords and morning or afternoon coffee was a popular time for many."

Lina recalled that a large pot of soup was always made for the Sunday smorgasbords but, she said "it was never enough."

The only time the Great West was closed was during Christmas, closing early on Christmas Eve.

Lina said that cleanliness was always important. She said that in addition to washing down the kitchen, Jack would regularly wash all the tables and chairs, legs included and Pinky, her sister and Wayne Mah's wife, would wash the walls under the tables and booths.

She recalled one health inspector who was especially taken with the cleanliness of the café. Having to find something to write down, she said, he found a small hole in one screen. That was his only criticism.

Late in the morning, with the building now a pile of rubble, townsfolk drifted away, leaving the site to the demolition crew.