SIGNIFICANCE
The Soo Locks Historic District (Saint Mary's Falls Ship Canal), encompassing the shipping canals and locks and hydroelectric facilities at Sault Ste. Marie, is historically significant for several reasons. The property is important for its contribution to the industry and commerce of the entire United States by providing an inexpensive and convenient transportation route to and from the upper Great Lakes, long the source of iron ore, copper, grain, and timber which helped shape the industrialization of America. The locks are significant engineering feats, having required much time, organization, technology, and capital investment to design and operate them. Several buildings on the locks property possess architectural significance for their continuity and elegance in design, as well as being the work of master architects. The history of hydroelectric power in the Soo Locks Historic District is also significant, as it is the site of a very early hydroelectric plant, and hydroelectric power is still generated today. The locks have also been an important commercial, tourist, and recreational site since the first lock opened in 1855, and continue to be so today. (Provided photo courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
DESIGNATION(S)
- 1959, State Register of Historic Sites
- 1966, National Historic Landmark
- 1966, National Register of Historic Places
ARCHITECT, BUILDER, OR DESIGNER(S)
- Smith, Hinchman and Grylls, architects
- Edward Pearce Casey, designer
- United States Army Corps of Engineers, designers
SIGNIFICANT DATE(S)
- 1668, Jacques Marquette and Louis de Boesme reoccupy a mission site (first established in 1641) below the rapids at the Sault
- 1853, ground was broken on June 4 for construction of the locks at Sault Ste. Marie
- 1855, the first locks (the State Locks) opened, June 18
- 1881, the Secretary of War assumed possession of the locks on June 9; The Weitzel Lock opened, September 1
- 1896, the original Poe Lock opened, August 3
- 1897, the Administration Building, designed by Edward Pearce Casey, was completed. It served as the canal office and Poe Lock pumphouse
- 1914, the Davis Lock opened, October 21
- 1919, the Sabin Lock opened, September 18
- 1942, construction began April 20 on the MacArthur Lock, constructed on the site of the old Weitzel Lock
- 1943, the MacArthur Lock opened, July 11, after just 14 months of around-the-clock construction
- 1964, construction for a new Poe Lock (on the site of the original Poe Lock) began on August 7
- 1969, the new Poe Lock able to accomodate vessels over 1,000 feet long, opened June 26
LINKS AND FURTHER READING
- Soo Locks Visitor Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District
- "Soo Locks," Wikipedia
- "St. Mary's River," Wikipedia
- "St. Mary's Falls Canal, Soo Locks, St. Mary's River at Falls, Sault Ste. Marie, Chippewa County, MI," Historic American Engineering Record, Library of Congress
- "Visit the Soo Locks," SaultSteMarie.com
