It might not look like much, but beneath the ol’ Hub Hotel’s pockmarked walls and faux-stone facade hides the remnants of Jasper House, the first brick building between Vancouver and Winnipeg.

The Transit Hotel speaks to a different time — one where the roads were dirt, horses outnumbered cars, and meatpacking was Edmonton’s big claim to fame.

Built by a prominent businessman and once home to some of Alberta’s first Lebanese immigrants, the Archibald Block is an important link to Old Strathcona’s earliest days.