Charles R. Eaid: Teacher, soldier, pharmacist and curator

From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:

The name Eaid was familiar to many people in Sault Ste. Marie during the early to mid-1900s. Charles R. Eaid was born in Jarvis, Ontario and attended school in Jarvis, Cayuga, a Model school in Caledonia and finally Normal School (Teacher’s College) in Hamilton.  

After teaching for two years at Balmoral and Jarvis, he travelled to Sault Ste. Marie in 1910 to become the principal of Alex Muir Public School, a three-room school at the time. He continued in this position until 1916.  

Charles Eaid married Dora Smith in Jarvis, Ontario on Aug. 26, 1915 and they settled into a home on the corner of Pim Street and MacDonald Avenue.  Charles and Dora Eaid had a son, Charles who became a prominent doctor in the city. With the First World War continuing, he joined the 227th Battalion as a Lieutenant and served until 1918. 

Following the war he enrolled in the College of Pharmacy and graduated in 1919. Returning to Sault Ste. Marie he became the manager of the Lawrence Drug Store from 1921 to 1925. He bought the business in 1925 and continued to run the drug store until his retirement in 1947.  

Both Charles and Dora Eaid were active and involved in many areas of the community. They were members of Westminster Presbyterian Church and both served in a variety of positions at the church throughout the years. Charles Eaid was a member of the Masonic Lodge. Perhaps due to his early teaching career, he became a member of the Board of Education from 1934 to 1940, serving as Board Chairman from 1938-39.  

With the onset of the Second World War, he served locally as an Air Raid Warden with the Civil Defence. He was a member of the Rotary Club and served as president of the Sault Pharmaceutical Association.  

Charles Eaid was a charter member of the Sault Historical Society and served as the curator of the local museum for nine years until he retired from this position in 1964. He was also a member of the 49th Officer’s Mess.  

His arrival in Sault Ste. Marie came at an exciting time for the city. According to a newspaper interview that he gave, he recalled that the first automobiles in the city where driven by R.W. Sielye, Charlie Sullivan and Bill Marshall. When the Greyhounds won the Allan Cup in 1924, he remembered meeting them at the CPR station where they arrived in a slag pot, decorated to resemble the Allan Cup! 

Travelling around the city and area was certainly more challenging, whether it meant “travelling to Point aux Pins by boat, traversing deep sand roads over the big hill in order to get to Gros Cap or attending picnics on Whitefish Island.”  He also remembered Bellevue Park when it was still called Cameron’s Farm.

With his long history in the city and his many interests and varied careers, it is no wonder that Charles R. Eaid had a significant impact on so many aspects of our city’s history.

Each week, the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library and its Archives provides SooToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past.

Find out more of what the Public Library has to offer at www.ssmpl.ca and look for more Remember This? columns here