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Written by: Justin Brett One landmark of old Sault Ste. Marie that is unfortunately no longer seen in the city is the International Hotel. It was constructed in 1888 by N.M Neald and J.C. Meagher, two local businessman, and as the title suggests it was an attempt to court the business of people traveling to or through Sault Ste. Marie. To that end it was well-equipped for its time, boasting 255 rooms, a dining room that could seat up to 400 people, and all the modern conveniences of the time, such as hot water for guests and electricity running throughout the building. It was even built directly facing the river and had its own dock for guests.
The International Hotel seems to have been very successful despite numerous competing hotels in the area, including the Algonquin Hotel which wasn't far away. It even held some banquets for major Canadian names, such as Francis Hector Clergue. All this would come to an end in 1916, however.
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Written by: Justin Brett A local television and radio broadcaster no longer seen today was CJIC-TV, which broadcast from 1955 to 2002. One personality who was especially prominent was Grace Pitt. She worked for over forty years at the station, long enough she became something of a local celebrity.
Her career began with her as a co-host of the morning show, before eventually becoming women's director at the station and hosting her own television program. As you can see by these photos, she would often interview people, help advertise products, and even did cooking shows. Outside of the station she was one of the founding members of the Great Tug Boat Race, an event that ran yearly in the summer from 1982 to 2015. Written by: Cathy Beaudette  Everyone said Kanada would be better. Kanada needed farmers and the government advertised for Ukrainians to come. Our farm was too small to divide among all of the brothers. Daddy was the youngest brother and he loved adventure so he left for the New Country. He was going to work and send money so that we could cross the sea in a big ship to a new life in a better country.
I was almost four years old and my sister Lena was just a tiny baby when he left. He was gone so long that I hardly remembered him. He used to lift me up and tell me to touch the sky. We waited and waited. Baba and my uncles and aunties were kind but without Daddy we were not a family. Written by: Justin Brett Many people traveled through Canada when it was still largely an undeveloped area, helping to paint a portrait of what the country was like back then. Few did this more literally than Paul Kane, an artist who traveled the Pacific coast when the Fur Trade was beginning its decline. Through graphite, watercolours and oil on paper, Kane would produce over seven hundred pictures and accompanying journal descriptions of the lives of indigenous people.
Written by: Justin Brett Edith Cavell was a practicing nurse in Britain, and while not a resident of Canada she became an important figure in World War I due to her actions and what she represented.
Cavell grew up in Norfolk in the village of Swardeston as the daughter of a rector, and would end up working as a Governess in Belgium for a time. Her true calling, however, was Nursing, which she studied for in London. After working in hospitals across England, she found work in Belgium as matron of its first hospital and school for the training of nurses. This may seem like a rapid change, but luck was somewhat in her favor, as until that point nursing had not been a fully established profession in the country. Cavell is considered by many to be the founder of modern nursing education in Belgium. Written by: Justin Brett No semester at Algoma University can (or at least, shouldn’t) be finished without at least a few trips to the Arthur Wishart library, home to many books and resources for students, whatever their subject or assignment is. If you’ve been to or taken advantage of this library, you might wonder who he is. Well, ask no more.
Born in 1903 in New Brunswick, like many young men we have covered Arthur went into the field of law for his post-secondary studies. He obtained a degree from Osgoode Law School in 1930 and would work as a lawyer in both Windsor and Blind River, even serving as Mayor of the latter for a time. Finally, he moved to Sault Ste. Marie in 1939. Written by: Justin Brett ‘First’ can mean a lot of things in the world depending on the scale you use. There can be the first ever in general, the first in a country, and at the smallest, the first in a town. This doesn’t necessarily diminish any of them, of course, as being a trailblazer can be difficult regardless of the size of it. A good example of this is Lois Beckett, Sault Ste. Marie’s first female police officer, and as it stands one who set the record for the longest service of her gender.
Beckett was sworn in as a policewoman in 1949. This was an official term at the time, as women were not given the rank of Constable upon joining until 1962. The arguable sexism of this did not stop Beckett from staying on the job, although in 1961 she did switch from Sault Ste. Marie’s police force to that of neighbouring Tarentorus. Written by: Justin Brett As mentioned in our page on the Chicora Incident, you can often never tell when something will become historical. Sometimes a work written on a whim can become very important. This can be shown very well with Anna Jameson, a woman born in 1794 who wrote an account of her tour through Canada that became a notable historical source.
That isn’t to say Jameson was not a fascinating person in her own right, of course. A creative woman from her youth, her first work was an autobiographical book by the invented personality of a dying woman. This was published as The Diary of an Ennuyée, gaining notoriety when the book’s real author was discovered. Her first significant work under her own name was Characteristics of Women. This book was an analysis of the heroines in Shakespeare’s work, and shows a great deal of critical insight. Jameson also worked as a governess from a young age, something that would influence her in the future. Written by: Justin Brett Obviously, the president or financer of a company like Algoma Steel fill very important roles. But it can be easily forgotten that a hard worker among the hands-on employees can often be sources of great inspiration and deserving of respect. David Kyle is one such worker.
In fact, David’s time with Algoma Steel was before Sir James Dunn had anything to do with the company beyond an investor’s role. He had come to the Sault in 1909 and was in charge of installing a gas engine that would connect to the plant’s No. 3 Furnace. By all accounts he did this job well, well enough that when it was concluded in 1912 the plant’s owners employed him in a permanent position of Mechanical Superintendent. He would later receive a further promotion to that of Assistant General Superintendent. Written by: Justin Brett Throughout this project, we have seen men covered who were very ambitious, be it in politics, recreation or business. But we have not seen anyone that could be called a true capitalist quite yet. In that regard, few could be seen as more iconic in Sault Ste. Marie than Francis H. Clergue.
Though of French descent, Clergue was born in Maine following his father’s emigration to the United States. In school Clergue was said to be popular, and known for dreaming big and having a great deal of optimism. These traits would inform quite a bit about his path in life. |
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