About

An Aylmer landmark with a rich history steeped in golfing tradition

The Gatineau Golf and Country Club clubhouse, circa 1935.

Gatineau Bus Line owner, Alfred Aubry purchased the Hull Country Club from Aylmer Mayor George Nash in 1926. Aubry and his partner, Alexis Carrière changed the name to the Gatineau Golf and Country Club in 1929, and hired golf professional Gus Mullen to design the course. A stone house, built by the original property owner, William Grimes, was used as the clubhouse for golfers, and an enormous, barn-like, wooden structure was built behind the house as a night club for dancing and entertainment. The golf club would close in November, but the night club, which could hold 1,200 people, stayed open year round.

In 1939, the business was bought by three partners: Joe Saxe, owner of Saxe Shoes on Sparks Street; Hymie Kurt, of Evans and Kurt, stationers in Ottawa; and Harold Copeland, of Hull Iron and Steel. Saxe bought out his partners ten years later.

Satchmo himself, the iconic Louis Armstrong, was just one of many famous entertainers who performed at the golf course’s nightclub in the 1940s and 50s.

In its heyday, the night club claimed to have "the second best show to Broadway". In fact, the stars couldn't have been bigger: Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Oscar Peterson, the Mills Brothers, the Inkspots, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie among them. During the '40's and '50s, "The Gatineau" was a top supper club drawing patrons from miles around to eat, enjoy the entertainment, and dance to band music.

In a spectacular blaze that could be seen for miles, the club burned to the ground on September 24, 1960. The rebuilt club was run more as a banquet hall than a night club. In 1970, the Saxe family sold the property to G.J. Simpson Construction.

Richcraft Homes bought the property in 1984 to build a housing development in conjuction with a redesigned, 18-hole golf course and new clubhouse.

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