(died 30 May 1947, aged 69), hotel keeper. Born at Alfred, Ont. Parents: Mr and Mrs Alexis Rouleau. He operated the Royal Hotel at Bourget, Ont., for some 16 years, then after a short period in Hawkesbury he came to Alexandria on 1 Aug. 1916. Thereafter, he operated the Ottawa Hotel (Ottawa House) on Main Street, Alexandria, for close to 31 years. We may speak of his proprietorship without diminishing the contribution of his wife to the hotel. For some years, while Ontario was under temperance (prohibition), the hotel remained “dry.” It seems not to have been till 1936 that he actually purchased the hotel. Clarence Ostrom, in a description of Alexandria at the beginning of 1941, observes that on account of Rouleau’s poor health the Ottawa Hotel was managed by 1941 by his children Florence and Roméo. Appreciatively, Ostrom records that it served the best hotel meals in Eastern Ontario. In Rouleau’s obituaries we read that his hotel was “known as one of the best in Eastern Ontario. Service to the public and good order, rather than personal gain was his objective,” and that he was “One of the most widely known hotel men in Eastern Ontario.” As a side note on his career, it may be mentioned that beginning in 1920, Rouleau had been employed, though probably not for a long period, in the King George Hotel, Cornwall (see D. R. Duquette). It is not clear whether this involved a break in his connection with the Ottawa Hotel of Alexandria, or whether he was simply combining two roles.

     He died in Ottawa, where he was visiting. (children surviving him: 7) Like his wife, he had an extremely well-attended funeral at Sacré-Coeur Church. The honorary pallbearers included the minister of transport, Lionel Chevrier, who was presumably acting on behalf of the constituency MP, Mackenzie King. Also among the honorary pall bearers were E. A. MacGillivray the Liberal MLA and Osie Villeneuve just about to begin his long dominance of the GC parliamentary scene as a Conservative. Rather surprisingly, we are told that Rouleau himself “never took an active interest on politics.” (obituary, Glengarry News) He was, however, a member of the separate school board, and like so many of Alexandria businessmen was a dedicated supporter of the local sports scene. He was married to Elda Beaudry (see Elda Rouleau), a person of marked achievement in her own right. Their children included Roméo Rouleau.

Glengarry News 30 May & 6 June 1947, The Alexandria Times 6 June 1947 (copy of this newspaper in present author’s files; the obituaries in these two Alexandria newspapers are both long and are not identical) * interview with his grandson Paul Rouleau (later Judge Rouleau) taped 10 Nov. 1977 for the Multicultural History Society of Ontario * Ostrom 35, 298