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Remember This? A brief history of policing in Sault Ste. Marie

Early duties included reporting burned out street lights, and carting off the drunks in a wheelbarrow
Police history
Sault Ste. Marie Public Library archive photo.

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

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Remember This: The Early Years of Law and Order in Sault Ste. Marie!

While Sault Ste. Marie was still fairly small in the 1850’s, with about 400 people living in the village, the village’s location made it a busy meeting place for fishing, hunting and logging.  

With many people coming in and out of the village, sometimes in large numbers, disruptive behavior often occurred making the need for some form of police service urgent.

The government of Upper Canada sent ex-soldiers to the area in the 1850s to keep order. 

The very first policeman, Francis Jones Hughes and his wife arrived at the Phipps Dock, which later became known as the Government Dock in 1856. 

Francis soon decided to make his home here permanently and by 1858 he was appointed a magistrate and High Constable. 

Their son, Francis was one of the first white children to be born in the area and he carried on the family tradition by becoming a policeman in the 1890s.  

Andrew Hynes, another ex-soldier joined Hughes and would spend the rest of his life here and these two men formed the first police force in Sault Ste. Marie. 

The first court of General Sessions was held on November 20, 1860 and one of the court’s first acts was the appointment of Francis Hughes and Andrew Hynes as constables. 

By this time, Sault Ste. Marie had its own jail, located in an outbuilding at the Ermatinger Stone House. 

In 1870 a second building, located on the opposite side of the Ermatinger Stone House was used as a detention centre for women.   

Many of the early pioneers were strong-willed people and were not always happy to have law and order imposed on them so the police constables were often called upon to settle minor disputes however more serious crimes were still rare.

In 1871, Sault Ste. Marie was incorporated as a municipality and it became the responsibility of the new council to appoint a municipal constable annually. 

In these early days policemen were only paid for actual work making this occupation a part-time position. 

According to a council resolution of April 3, 1873, Constable A. McKay was “to be paid one dollar for his services in attending a meeting called by the sheriff.”  

Additional jobs required by the village were overseen by the police force in the 1870s including the “poundkeeper”, whose duty was to control animals that were roaming the village streets such as cows, horses, dogs and other animals. 

A “pathmaster” was appointed to ensure that the streets were kept passable. 

It was also the responsibility of the town police officers to light the six coal-oil lamps along Queen Street each night and then blow them out each morning.  

The constable had to report weekly to the town clerk on the times that the lights were put out and whether any street lights were left burning. 

In 1888 the steam plant was set up to generate electricity and lights were placed along Queen Street however the police were still responsible for reporting any burned out lights to the town and water department so that they could be replaced the following day.  

In these early days, public drunkenness was one of the biggest problems faced by the police officers. 

However, the town council in an effort to save money did not want to provide any money to hire a wagon for the police to transport drunks to the jail so Alexander B. McLean, an enterprising constable in 1891 used a wheelbarrow to cart the drunks away, clearing the streets and saving the town council any expense.  

By 1896 petitions were being circulated in the town asking for more police to handle the problems caused by the rapid increase in population. 

The industrial development created by Francis H. Clergue as well as the construction of the Algoma Central Railway brought labourers into the community. 

Unfortunately some of these workers spent their nights “drinking and carousing until all the early hours of the morning” so in 1897 the council set a curfew for children under the age of 12. 

It became the job of the police officers to enforce this curfew. 

Frank H. Hughes, son of the town’s first policeman and J.W. Sparling were hired in 1897 at a salary of $400 a year for each of them with the stipulation that they would act as truancy officers as well.  

Not everyone placed a high value on the role of the police in the community. 

In 1898, one of the town councilors put forward a resolution asking that “in view of the fact of the bad state of the sidewalks in the Town that Council dispense with the two policemen and use the money saved to repair the sidewalks.” 

Fortunately this resolution was unsuccessful and the town entered the twentieth century with its police force intact and ready to face the challenges of the growing community.  

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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


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