Disillusioned citizens debate amalgamation

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

In the previous article, the residents living in the New Settlement, which came to be known as Steelton, were excited to be a part of building a town from the ground up. They were able to make decisions which they felt served their community best during those early years.

As time moved on though, some of the residents of Steelton were becoming disillusioned with their limited choices when compared to their neighbour, Sault Ste. Marie. Steelton had been incorporated as a town on April 26, 1904, and during its brief history had at least three mayors including William Goodwin, James Lyons, and Walter Stringer.

These local politicians were faced with a variety of problems to solve for their new town including higher taxes, struggles to provide a quality education for the community’s children, and difficulties providing other essential services to the town. The town council realized that they had to find a solution.

By 1916, these issues and others, led to the idea of amalgamation with the city of Sault Ste. Marie being presented.

However, the idea was not greeted with enthusiasm by everyone in Steelton. They knew that the city had financial debts and they also had a low opinion of the quality of the water available in Sault Ste. Marie.

The residents protested that they didn’t want to be taxed to pay the debts of Sault Ste. Marie and then be “poisoned” by the water too! Steelton had a spring-fed water system that supplied some of the purest water in the area compared to the chlorinated river water supply in Sault Ste. Marie. By 1917, the First World War was making a strong impact on the town of Steelton.

The costs associated with the war effort were high and products were scarce forcing prices to rise significantly leaving little money available to deal with infrastructure items such as sewers.

These factors probably forced the issue of amalgamation to the forefront for the town leaders even faster than planned. Both communities began meeting together to work out the details of what amalgamation would look like and then began presenting the plan to the community amid much protest from those in Steelton.

Although there were many protesting the idea of amalgamation, when a meeting was held at the O’Brien Hall, less than one hundred people came out to hear the pros and cons of joining with Sault Ste. Marie.

The date for the vote was set for Sept. 25, 1917, and as the date approached, there were more impassioned speeches on both sides of the issue.

Former Steelton Mayor, James Lyons and Councillor James F. Shaw were strongly in favour of amalgamation and wrote letters and gave speeches to demonstrate their support while Councillor R. H. Brookes led the protest against amalgamation citing that the city had not been willing to step up and help Steelton in the early years when they needed it.

He also questioned the argument that amalgamation would lower their taxes. He encouraged Steelton residents to defeat the vote by saying, “I ask you all to vote and to give Steelton a ten to one majority against amalgamation.”

When voting day arrived large crowds gathered at the polling stations, in the streets, bands played to persuade voters to make the “right choice” and there were also a few fights but when the votes were counted, the vote was in favour of amalgamation by 53 per cent in Steelton and 95 per cent in Sault Ste. Marie!

It was felt the voting results were due to the efforts of both former Steelton mayor, James Lyons and Councillor Shaw having the vision and foresight and putting the welfare of their town above their own political interests.

On Jan. 1, 1918, after “13 years of stormy independence, Steelton had become an integral part of the city.”

On Jan. 4, 1918, Mayor Walter Stringer and half of the remaining Steelton councillors met in the Steelton Town Hall.

The only item on the agenda was a motion moved by Councillor James Lyons and seconded by W.W. Baldwin that read, “That we now adjourn forever.”

With the support of Councillor J. Muncaster, the vote was carried unanimously. One of the conditions of amalgamation involved Steelton’s infamous water supply.

It was agreed that Steelton residents would continue to get their water from their own spring exclusively. A proposal to establish uniform water and light rates resulted in savings for Steelton residents since their electricity rates were considerably higher than those in Sault Ste. Marie.

On January 7, 1918, a municipal election was held and some of the former Steelton councillors were elected to the Sault city council.

Most of the Steelton civic employees were absorbed into the city government including W.H. Philips, former Steelton fire chief who joined the Sault fire department and later became the chief, Sandy McLean, the tax collector replaced the Sault’s tax collector who had retired that year and J. Robinson, the town clerk became assistant to the Sault Ste. Marie City Clerk.

There were still some growing pains in subsequent years but overall, most people realized that they had made the right decision when they voted to join Sault Ste. Marie.

The former Steelton Town Hall became home to the West End (Steelton) Public Library.

In 1961, renovations were undertaken to enlarge the space of the West End Public Library (later Steelton Public Library). Building crews broke through a wall and came upon a sealed-off vault from the days of the old Steelton Town Hall. This vault contained old records from the town of Steelton including tax records, land transactions and issues of the newspaper, Steelton News from 1917 with some of the records dating back to the township tax records from 1879.

Taxes on one of the lots was 42 cents for one year! The City Finance Commissioner at this time, W.J. McMeeken asked that the ledgers and correspondence be included with the records of the city at City Hall while the issues of the Steelton News were given to Miss Kay Climie, Director of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library.

While Steelton had a short history officially as a town, the neighbourhood continued to retain its distinctive character and residents were proud to claim Steelton as their home.

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