The Wildcat Cafe is a vintage log cabin structure in

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, Canada and represents the mining camp style of early Yellowknife. The structure, which houses a summer restaurant, is located in what was then the central business district of the city.Wildcat Cafe to close in 2011 for renovations
/ref> It is a City of Yellowknife Heritage Building, designated in 1992. First opened in 1937 by owners

Willie Wylie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

and

Smokey Stout Smoky or Smokey may refer to: People * Smoky Babe (1927–1975), American acoustic blues guitarist and singer born Robert Brown * Smoky Burgess (1927–1991), American Major League Baseball catcher * Smoky Dawson (1913–2008), Australian country m ...

, it is the oldest restaurant in Yellowknife.Old Town - Heritage Walking Tour of Yellowknife
The Wildcat Cafe p.20 Subsequent owners were Carl and Dorothy Jensen (1939–1942) and

Mah Gow ''Mångha'' (') is the Avestan for "Moon, month", equivalent to Persian ''Māh'' (; Old Persian ). It is the name of the lunar deity in Zoroastrianism. The Iranian word is masculine. Although Mah is not a prominent deity in the Avestan scri ...

(1942–1951), Yellowknife's first recorded Chinese resident.Wildcat History
/ref> The cafe closed in 1951 with the illness of Mr. Gow. The building was saved from demolition in the late 1950s when a small group of Yellowknifers fought to have it protected as a heritage site. By 1970 no work had been done to restore the abandoned cabin and it was in poor shape when a new generation of concerned citizens lobbied for its protection. It was soon renovated and reopened as a functional restaurant in 1979. The

Old Stope Association Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

, a non-profit heritage society, was responsible for its operation in the 1970s–1980s, and today it is managed by the Wildcat Cafe Advisory Committee. In 1992, the cabin was declared a heritage site as an important old building in Yellowknife and the city took ownership. It is one of Yellowknife's most popular tourist attractions. Map of the Wildcat Cafe in Yellowknife

In 2011, the city of Yellowknife decided to completely renovate the log building, which had settled far into the ground and was leaning dangerously in several directions at once. The City engaged Rick Muyres, the premier log cabin builder in the NWT to oversee the rebuild. The dis-assembly process, including cataloguing and numbering the pieces, started on May 11, 2011.The Wildcat Cafe: rebirth 2011
/ref> Reconstruction and repair continued during the summer of 2012 and the opening was delayed due to a number of unforeseen problems; however, the Wildcat Cafe reopened on June 22, 2013. The

Canadian Museum of History The Canadian Museum of History (french: Musée canadien de l’histoire) is a national museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage of C ...

in Gatineau, Quebec, exhibited a replica of the cabin. This replica is being removed as part of a larger renovation to the museum's Canada Hall.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wildcat Cafe Restaurants in the Northwest Territories Buildings and structures in Yellowknife Buildings and structures in the Northwest Territories Heritage sites in the Northwest Territories