Stories of Northern Life

There are many famous people who lived in Sault Ste. Marie, many of whom have also appeared in this Podcast. People like Roberta Bondar or Paul Kane are fairly well-known in this category, but one person you may not know off by heart is Joseph Laderoute. Rather than being a politician, astronaut, or explorer, he was a professional singer and a very talented one at that. Listen and learn a little b...

The city of Sault Ste Marie had 15 theatres between 1901 and 1923. There was a theater every few steps along our downtown core at one point in time and we are going to talk about a few of these city gems. The first theatre in town was the Grand Opera House, constructed in 1903 by Albert Search at the corner of Bay and Brock Streets. It ceased operating in 1923, and the building itself was demolish...

The Steam Baths was located on Albert Street and was built by the Finish as it was an important part of their culture. The rest of Sault Ste. Marie began to fall in love with the steam! This local landmark is no longer standing but Play this short episode and learn a brief history and its importance to Sault Ste. Marie.  Information from this podcast came from a conversation with locals as well as...

This episode is a continuation of last week's episode and will go through all the designated plaques, buildings, and sites of Sault Ste. Marie. Learn more about the History of your city through its heritage sites!! The information for this episode came from the City of Sault Ste Marie website under the Municipal Heritage Committee.

Sault Ste. Marie currently has 38 designated heritage properties which include buildings, plaques and monuments. Most of these are found in the downtown core or in nearby neighborhoods where most of the early development of the City took place. These designated sites help keep the city's history alive! So let's talk about them... The information for this episode came from the City of Sault Ste Mar...

This week's episode of the stories of Northern Life is a series of clips taken from interviews with the Italian community recorded in 2001. The clips are their answers to the question “Have you been discriminated against?”. These stories are mainly from people born here in Sault Ste. Marie but parents immigrated to the West end from Italy, while very few interviewed immigrated themselves.  Nonethe...

This episode is a  historical society meeting in 1971 with Corp Ivan Shanahan talking about Skindiving and Shipwrecks in the Great Lakes. He discussed Scuba Diving and some of the wrecks he has come across during his dives. Come by the Sault Ste Marie Museum and check out our Air, Land, and Sea exhibit on display in our Durham galery as well as our permanent marine exhibit! 

Keeping with the theme of Indigenous people's month we have for you an interview with Chief Meawasige of Serpent River Reserve as he is asked a series of questions about his day-to-day life and the life of his people on the reserve throughout his years of life.

It is June so that means it is pride month. And we wanted to share with you a little history about pride in the community as well as create a form of documentation of this presence. We don’t have a single artifact or document in our collection on the subject. We know that there is a proud LGBTQQIP2SAA+ community here in the Sault. This community has been around for many years but our collection do...

Chief Shingwauk otherwise known as Shingwaukonse or Little Pine, was born in 1773, on the shore of Lake Superior. He rose to prominence fighting in the war of 1812. He developed a new native rights and self-determination strategy which sparked “Teaching Wigwams” an education strategy that incorporates European knowledge and skills with traditional Ojibway teaching. His vision was later carried on...

John Johnston is the Sault Michigan version of Ermatinger. He was an independent fur trader business who married an Anishinaabe woman and stay with her till the day he died. He had a strong influence in this area in the late 1700 and early 1800. 

This is a historical recording of R.W. Knight as he talks about the Building of the International bridge for the Sault Historical Society in 1971. 

Let us talk about everything the museum houses behind its doors, beyond the walls, and all the things our visitors don’t always get to see.

This episode features a historical recording with D.H Roy as he talks about the First Three Years of Historical Society. He discusses the publications made by the Historical Society and the beginning years of how the group functioned.

Have you ever wondered how street names got their name? Who chooses them and what significance do they hold if any? In this episode, you will get a little glimpse as to who choose the names in a period of Sault Ste. Marie History as well as some of the significance of a few streets used by you and many generations before.

Want to know the history of how the Sault Ste. Marie & 49th Field Regiment R.C.A. Historical Society came to be the Museum you see today? The story starts in 1902 with just a group of avid history buffs... 

Historical Recording of Marjorie MacDonald, reading a diary from her ancestors John and Maria Evoy

We go through a brief timeline of Sault Ste. Marie's favourite Park and talk about some of the iconic features it had over the years. 

This episode features a historical interview with Will Ross, a former sports manager. Will speaks about the local Greyhounds and other sports history.

We continue the story of Roberta's undeniably inspirational life. We talk about her relationship with her home of Sault Ste. Marie, her biggest life decisions, her time as an astronaut, and the difficulties she faced.

Roberta Lynn Bondar. We’ve come to love her for her time as an astronaut and for furthering research in science, but she continues to impress us with her breathtaking photography and her motivational words as she speaks to people across the globe. The Sault allowed her to dream and grow those dreams into reality. Listen to her incredible story! 

Anna McCrea was the principal of McFadden School in the west end of the city, home to the new immigrants in the early 1900s.  But she was way more than a principle. She was a friend of the community and a humanitarian. She supported the upcoming generation in every way she could.

This week's spotlight is on a special woman that felt like a part of the family throughout the 40 years of her career in radio and television broadcasting in Sault Ste. Marie. She became something of a local celebrity who entertained and inspired everyone, especially women, in the twin Saults.

This week's episode is on Aurora Butkovich, otherwise known as the Pizza Queen. This is the woman who brought Sault Ste. Marie Aurora’s, Mrs. B’s, a few other spots over the years. Order yourself a slice of pizza and dig into this week's episode!

This episode features a historical recording of the ceremonies at the Sault Ste. Marie armoury in 1952.