Sorrentino Gas Bar
Miner's Union Building
By 1921 Gino Sorrentino had constructed a building just east of the Bellevue Cafe where he operated a shoe maker shop, confectionery and gas bar. In 1924 this building was leased out briefly to the Great War Veteran's Association, the forerunner to the Royal Canadian Legion.
The first union for Pass coal miners was instituted in 1902. After that time each mine had its own local and each local had its own building or home in which the die-hard miners and their union representatives met to negotiate, call for strikes, and distribute food relief to the miners' families.
Bellevue's first union hall, the Workers Hall, was a sizable structure located two blocks north of the present day Main Street. It was here that the jury met and deliberated a judgement after the fatal Bellevue Mine Explosion of 1910 in which 31 miners were killed. The Sorrentino building served as the second location for a Miner's Union Hall until the late 1940s. As the mines of the Pass began to amalgamate and coal markets weakened, the miners union business was conducted in a small building that would be adjacent to the present day West Wind Apartments. Long after the mines had closed the miners, who were now out of work, continued to pay their monthly union dues.
The Sorrentino Miners Union Hail also served the social needs of the community. On Saturday evenings the Frank Hosek Band from Maple Leaf would play for dances while Jock Dugdale, the union representative for many years, would collect the twenty five cents from each of the young men. Apparently the ladies were admitted free.
Once the miners' union moved out of the premises, the building served a number of various uses. In 1948 Charlie Ritchie Radio Repair Shop shared the premises with Dr. Ian Stewart Doctor's Office. In 1956 Sig Hagglund's Barbershop shared the premises with Zee Lawrence's Style Wear (1956-1971). Between 1969 and 1975 Burt Lane again operated a barbershop here. The last business to utilize this building was a shop in 1989 that specialized in home renovations.
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