The Wildcat Cafe is a popular summer restaurant in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 located in what was then the central business district of the city. It is a vintage log cabin structure and represents the mining camp style of early Yellowknife. The structure is a City of Yellowknife Heritage Building, designated in 1992. First opened in 1937 by owners Willie Wylie and Smokey Stout, it is said to be the oldest restaurant in Yellowknife. Subsequent owners were Carl and Dorothy Jensen and Mah Gow, Yellowknife's first recorded Chinese resident. The cafe closed in 1951 when business dropped off considerably, likely due to the expansion of businesses in the new sections of town. The building was saved from demolition in the late 1950s when a small group of Yellowknifers fought to have it protected as a heritage property. The cabin was mostly used as a store house from the 1950s to the 1970s. It was renovated in the mid 1970s and reopened as a functional restaurant in 1979. The Old Stope Association, a non-profit heritage society, has been responsible for its operation since the 1970s 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. 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 dis-assembly process, including cataloguing and numbering the pieces, started on May 11, 2011 and was completed on June 4.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization

Canadian Museum of Civilization

The Canadian Museum of Civilization is Canada's national museum of human history and the most popular and most-visited museum in Canada....

in Gatineau, Quebec, exhibits a replica of the cabin.