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Chippewa County Historical Society

Name: Chippewa County Historical Society
Address: 115 Ashmun Street, PO Box 342, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, 49783, US
Telephone: (906) 635-7082
Price range: $$

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Chippewa County Historical Society

The research area is now open 10am to 4pm Mondays and Fridays. Parking in the back of the building. Call for appt. and during events.

Office hours are Mondays and Fridays at the back of the building. Gift shop and displays at the front of the building are closed until June tentatively(Access to the shop and displays is possible during office hours, by appt. You also order books through Paypal via cchsmi.com or email us at [email protected]

09/03/2026

In this aerial photo from the early 1930s we are looking northeast at Sault Ste. Marie, seeing the St. Marys River, separating the Canadian Sault to the north (above) from the Michigan Sault to the south (below).

The power canal shows up well in this picture, as do its Ashmun, Bingham, and Johnstone Street bridges. We can make out the powerhouse, where the power canal meets the river, and we can’t miss the smoke from the carbide plant to the right (east) of the powerhouse. Looking closely, we can spot several prominent churches, including St. Mary’s on Portage, Central Methodist on Spruce, and Presbyterian on Bingham. One of the tallest buildings is the 6-story Adams Building (northwest corner of Ashmun and Spruce).

The prominent white road on the right is Easterday Avenue, which runs past the landmark water tower. Running perpendicular to Easterday past the water tower we can barely make out Ryan Avenue. It must have been very small at that time. Notice how few homes have been built on Ryan by this time.

In the foreground, we see Fort Brady, operating as the U.S. Army’s northern Michigan outpost. The Administration Building was new at that time, sitting at the lower left corner of the prominent field (with the baseball field). All of the buildings to the left of the Administration Building are now gone, having gradually been replaced once the fort became, in 1946, the Sault Branch of Michigan College of Mining and Technology, then in 1966, Lake Superior State College, and in 1987, Lake Superior State University. Many of the fort’s buildings in this picture are still in use at LSSU. Walter and Carl Materna Collection neg. # 1872.1. Post by Collette Coullard

08/27/2026

Post by Chippewa County Historical Society. This unusual picture caught my eye as I browsed our collection for a Throwback Thursday post. It was taken ca. 1940, when our City Hall was on the northwest corner of Arlington and Ashmun. This ice-scultured lion was near the sidewalk in front of the City Hall. The view is looking east across Ashmun from the City Hall lot. The sign on the store across the street reads "Barish Bros.," and that store is still at that location.

Two of our iconic street lamps from that era can be seen.
The city used to hold a Winter Carnival around the time of this picture, and we suspect that is what occasioned the ice sculpture. Did the Lions' Club have a hand in it? Was Metro-Goldwyn Mayer perhaps in town? Or was it the work of a talented fan of the Detroit Lions? Does anybody have other ideas? Walter Materna Collection neg. #1546

08/20/2026

n this picture from about 1960 we are looking north on the east side of Ashmun Street. We can see Ely’s clothing store, Arbuckle (Walgreen) Drugs, and the Sault Savings Bank on this side of the street, and Scott’s and Kresge’s on the west side. It looks to me like Ashmun Street had 2 lanes in each direction, plus on-street parking. And those cars were not small. Community Action Agency Collection neg #6000. Post by Collette Coullard

08/13/2026

Post by Bernie Arbic, Chippewa County Historical Society. We posted this picture in June of 2018 in our Throwback Thursday series. Besides it being a very interesting picture of an iconic Sault Ste. Marie structure under construction, I have an ulterior motive for re-posting it: to announce that the Historical Society will be publishing a second volume of "SaultVenirs" sometime this fall. My co-author, Collette Coullard and I are hard at work now indexing the book, which will contain 72 popular Throwback posts over the years, together with our captions and a few of the comments made by followers. This picture will be on page 16, over the title "Manpower + Horsepower + Steam Power = Powerhouse."

Here is the caption from 2018: "This picture shows the Cloverland Electric Cooperative Powerhouse under construction, looking northeast toward the west end of the building. The facility opened in October of 1902, so this image probably was made in late 1901. The magnificent structure was built with manpower, horse power, and steam power...all three visible in this image, scanned from an 8 by 10 inch glass negative. Chippewa County Historical Society owns about 1,000 such negatives, which document the construction of the power canal and powerhouse between 1898 and 1902 by the Michigan Lake Superior Power Company. "

One of the comments on the 2018 post by a follower, referring to those who worked on the building was this: "I bet they’d be shocked and amazed to know that this building has not only survived, but has continued to thrive over 100 years later!" Indeed! We can be proud of the skill of those who built it, and also of those who continue to maintain it.

Volume II of "SaultVenirs," with 71 more images like this one, should be available in plenty of time for Christmas gift-giving. We'll keep you posted! Anyone living in the area, and even those who have roots here but have moved away will find pictures in the book that bring back memories. (And BTW, Volume I is still available!) Cloverland Electric Cooperative Collection neg. #238

08/06/2026

This picture was taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s, back in the day when we only had full-service gas stations. I believe I can read the gas price is 32 cents a gallon. And just look at that stylish vehicle, with those white sidewalls. They don’t make them like that anymore.

This was Payment’s Zephyr Station, at 901 Ashmun, the southeast corner of Ann Street and Ashmun. Before it was Zephyr, this station was South Side Super Service, and then Dick’s Gulf Service. The building behind the station was Wheatly’s Apartments and also served as a warehouse for Wheatly’s Grocery, which was just south of the Zephyr Station. Today, the gas station is gone, but the apartment building still stands. Gordon Daun Collection #261.1 and #261.2. Post by Collette Coullard

07/30/2026

This picture came to us recently, courtesy of Roger LeLievre. It shows a bunch of men dressed in various "old-timey" ways and clearly out to have some fun. Roger's father, the late Alphonse LeLievre is at the far left, holding a bow and arrow. The man fifth from the right looks like a barefoot Uncle Sam, and the man sixth from the right is holding a gun, looking ready for action. I think the person at far right is a man dressed up like a woman. Next to him (her?) is a street-sweeper's trash barrel. Did the dude in the tux forget to put on his pants?

The picture was in the LeLievre family collection, but Roger never heard any details about it. We wonder if someone among our followers might recognize one or more of the men, and know why they are done up as they are. The Centennial of the first lock at the Sault was held in 1955, and many history-oriented events took place that year, so that's a possibility. But we see nothing in the picture to tie it to the centennial. Roger said that judging by his father's apparent age at the time of the photo, the mid-1950s looks about right. Judging from the lack of any leaves on the trees, it must have been in early spring of whatever year. Any ideas? Photograph courtesy of Roger LeLievre. Photographer unknown.

07/23/2026

This picture from the 1890s shows the Charles Supe Building, at the corner of West Portage Avenue and Ferris Street. When this was taken, the building housed the American Steel Barge Company, the Otto Supe Grocery and Jeweler, and Hursley Tug Line. Notice the unpaved streets, wooden sidewalks and carbon arc streetlamps. Also, the two ladies are dressed smartly in woolen suits and fedoras. Along Ferris Street side of the building are several kegs, a crate, and a wagon.

Over the years, this building has housed too many different businesses to list here. The building looks quite different today. It houses Sugar Daddy Bakery. Gone is the ornate cornice, and the upper windows no longer sport the curved brick arches. Gordon Daun Collection Post by Collette Coullard

07/16/2026

This picture from the 1930s shows Sims Motor Company, at 204 East Portage (just east of where Soo Corner Store now sits). The owner was John J “Jack” Sims. If you look closely, you can see autos in the showroom behind the front windows. The one on the left, behind the “DeSoto does it again” sign, looks like it could be a 1930s DeSoto.

Notice the mechanical gas pumps out front. We had a post a few weeks ago describing how these operated; the requested amount of gas is hand pumped into a labeled graduated cylinder near the top of the unit, and then it flows by gravity into the customer’s tank.

According to a newspaper ad in 1936, Sims Motor Company would sell you an Oldsmobile, “The car that has everything.” A 6-cylliner 2-door with trunk would be delivered for $846.50; a 4-door was $911.75; a 6-cyllinder Business Coupe was $779.50.

The 1952 directory has Sims Motors run by Jack Sims, Jack McKee, Harold Grugel, and George Osborn. They were distributors of Oldsmobiles and Volvos and sold Sinclair Oil Products and Goodyear Tires. By 1970, they were distributors of Oldsmobile, Chrysler, and Plymouth Autos, and they sold Firestone Tires. They either moved or went out of business in about 1974. Walter Materna Collection, neg. #183. Post by Collette Coullard

07/09/2026

Last week we posted a photo of a monument at Brady Park that commemorates a man named Chevalier Louis le Gardeur de Repentigny. ( last name pronounced rep-on-TEEN-yee) In 1750, when this area was still part of New France, he was a military officer at Fort Michillimackinac, and was asked to build a fort here for the protection of French fur traders. In exchange, King Louis XV of France gave him and another officer a land grant (seignory) of over 200,000 acres…. roughly the area along the waterfront from Brimley to Barbeau, extending several miles inland from the shore. Repentigny built the first fort ever at the Sault, on the shore of the St. Marys River, below the rapids, and he spent part of each summer here for several years. There were probably never many French soldiers stationed here. However, Jean-Baptiste Cadotte and his wife were hired as caretakers and to begin farming nearby land…. a condition of the land grant. The Cadottes subsequently became major figures in the fur trade, and their name should be better known in our history, since Jean-Baptiste was the first non-Native to truly make the Sault his home. He arrived 45 years before the much better-known John Johnston settled here.
In the mid to late 1750s, Repentigny led assaults against the British in the French and Indian war, and fought at the decisive battle in 1759 on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City, which the French lost. Many of his fighters were probably warriors from local Ojibwe and Ottawa bands. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 terminated the French colonial presence in North America. Thus New France ceased to exist, and Repentigny never returned to the Sault after 1759.
In 1776, Repentigny was still in the military, stationed on the Carribean island of Guadaloupe. The French were of course allies of the Americans against the British in the Revolutionary War, and in 1779 Repentigny led troops from Guadaloupe, joining American revolutionary forces who were laying siege to Savannah, held by British troops. He finished his career as governor of the French colony of Senegal in West Africa (he really got around!) and died in Paris in 1786 at the age of 65. The image of Chevalier de Repentigny posted here was made from a portrait of him that resides, as far as I know, in some museum in Paris. CCHS Image # 1163.3

07/02/2026

Post by Chippewa County Historical Society. This July 4th, we celebrate our nation's 250th Anniversary! It seems appropriate to ask what connections Sault Ste. Marie might have had to the Revolutionary War. In fact, we at the Historical Society were asked that very question recently by an NPR producer in Lower Michigan, and it moved me to do some digging. The picture shown here was taken July 4th, 1931, and the occasion was the dedication of a monument at Brady Park to the Chevalier Louis le Gardeur de Repentigny. We'll do a post next week with more about this man whose name should be better remembered in the Sault. For today's post, I'll just note that when the monument to him was dedicated on July 4th, 1931, The Evening News ran a photo of it, and over the photo they stated "To Michigan's Only Revolutionary War soldier." That seems like a pretty broad claim. I can't verify it or dispute it. But he definitely did lead French soldiers against the British in the Siege of Savannah in 1779.
The first photo today shows Chase Osborn (in suit and tie at right), Father William Gagnieur behind the flag-draped speaker's stand, and a young girl standing between them, who obviously had some role in the ceremony. Part of the large crowd in attendance can also be seen. The Osborn and Gagnieur names are well-known in our annals. The girl is probably Barbara Montgomery, who was mentioned in the newspaper coverage as helping to unveil the monument.
The monument, shown in the second photo, was a 12-ton boulder on which a bronze plaque is mounted. I hope the inscription on the plaque is legible for you. A key phrase on it describes Repentigny as " Always a French Officer Ally of the United States During Revolution" This monument still stands (it would be difficult to move!) just north of Water Street at the east end of Brady Park. I went to see it yesterday. The ninety-five years since it was placed there have made the plaque almost unreadable. I am going to look into how it might be cleaned. The Chippewa County Historical Society is one of four groups recognized on the plaque as sponsors of the monument. Walter Materna Collection, negs. #297, 298

Address

115 Ashmun Street, PO Box 342
Sault Ste. Marie, MI
49783

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm

Telephone

(906) 635-7082

Website

http://www.cchsmi.com/

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