36) Elma Pool Hall

Elma Pool Hall

Listen to recorded audio by clicking the audio button on the left.

The Elma Pool Hall was built in the 1920s by owner Peter Kolega (c1885-1960) as a men’s only pool hall. It had a games room on the main floor and a lunch counter in the basement. A residence building behind it had boarding rooms upstairs and a crawlspace connected to a network of concrete-lined tunnels. The Pool Hall was built after a fire in 1922 that destroyed almost every building in the area. After Peter’s death, and later, his son’s passing, the property was willed to the Salvation Army who chose to put the unique heritage site on the auction block. Frank Laba acquired the property at a Salvation Army auction in the early 1990’s. In 1998, Frank Smerch purchased the large lot on Elma’s main street containing both the pool hall and a uniquely designed and constructed one and a half storey home from Whitemouth resident Frank Laba. The residence is now privately owned. 

The Elma Tunnels

For decades, speculation and rumor have fueled stories of some not so legal going-ons in the humble little eastern settlement known as Elma. It is no secret that during prohibition and the pre-war years, gambling and drinking was fairly common place in most rural settlement and Elma was no different. The exception was the organization that one dwelling, located behind the old pool hall on Elma’s main street, provided. 

Recently, a series of tunnels was discovered under the old Pool Hall/ Confectionery building on Main Street. The building was purchased by Frank Smerch (1998), who decided to clean up the basement, discovering an elaborately constructed gambling den, and of even more interest, hundreds of feet of concrete lined tunnels, just large enough for a person to crawl through on hands and knees. 

Tunnels lead from the basement north to the old dance hall, and south under the street, probably to the CNR tracks. When prohibition was in force from 1916 to 1921 these tunnels would have afforded private access to the illegal drinking/gambling rooms, as well as a hasty exit should the building be raided by police. It is also believed that draft dodgers and illegal aliens would have hidden here. Rum Running or "boot-legging" would have been made possible by the tunnel connecting to the railroad tracks. A piece of history made famous by the tunnels in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan is hidden in the sleepy hamlet of Elma! Long time residents report hearing stories of the tunnels traveling as far as the railway tracks on the south side of the street and to the old dance hall in the north. Stories tell of the days when draft-dodgers were hidden in the house and rum running was a common occurrence made easier by the underground passages leading from the basement coal room to waiting railways cars. 

Additional Details

Civic Number: 67 159 PTH 15   l    Amenities on Site: N/A   l    Building on Site: Yes; Private Residence (Do not trespass)

Elma Pool Hall (October 2013)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough