Saultites and tourists, especially those who are history buffs, will enjoy visiting a fully restored and repurposed Stores Building at the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site in 2021.
An ambitious, painstaking, labour of love restoration of the now 125-year-old, two storey structure began in earnest in 2016 with the help of federal government funding.
The project involved careful removal of each one of the Stores Building south wall’s red sandstone bricks, tagging each one and keeping them in safe storage while the building’s foundation was repaired, then rebuilding the wall by putting each of the bricks back in its original place.
The building was used by the canal’s maintenance crew and blacksmiths back in the day when the canal was a vital part of the commercial shipping route on the Great Lakes.
Parks Canada took over management of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site property in 1979, the canal closed.
It was reopened with a smaller lock for smaller boats, such as pleasure craft, in 1998.
Rehabilitation of the Stores Building was completed in late 2018, Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site officials now working on a new self-guided interior exhibit space for the structure and planning to open the new exhibit next season, said Stephane Comeault, Parks Canada Northern Ontario Field Unit public relations and communications officer, speaking to SooToday.
The Stores Building will become the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site’s new Visitor Centre and expanded exhibit area.
The space will be available for visitors to learn about the Sault Ste. Marie Canal’s history, viewing a timeline of events which will include Indigenous history and the technological achievements made in the lock’s construction in the 1890s.
The new exhibit will include a touch screen map of the site, a new interactive lock model, an historic photo collection flip book, artifacts, interpretive displays and more, Comeau said.
The Stores Building, Powerhouse and Carpentry Shop, which make up the canal site’s Historic Core, were vital to the canal’s operation, the Powerhouse being home to the machinery used to operate the former lock in its glory days.
The Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site administration hopes to centralize all of its visitor services in the Historic Core with the new Visitor Centre in the revived Stores Building, an exhibit area, tours of the Powerhouse interior and outdoor amenities, Comeau said.
The new Visitor Centre in the Stores Building was set to open this summer to commemorate the Canal’s 125th anniversary but that was delayed by (yes, you guessed it) COVID-19 precautions put in place to protect the public from the virus.
The Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site plans to open the new space for the 2021 season, Comeau said.
In 2015, the then-Conservative federal government announced $2.2 million would be spent to rescue the Stores Building, the structure described as being in a state of ‘critical failure’ at the time.
That money was part of a larger amount of $12.3 million in federal funding, intended for restoration and protection of the site's Powerhouse and associated structures, repairs to the superintendent's residence and design and repaving of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site’s entry road.
SooToday took exclusive photos and video of the Stores Building project at a media-only event in 2016 (click here to view).
Work on the Stores Building was performed by local contractor CDI and RA Engineers & Inspectors consulting firm, in conjunction with Parks Canada's engineering and conservation teams.