Remember This? Queen Street Cemetery

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

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Remember This…Queen Street Cemetery

On Queen Street between Pine and Elizabeth Streets you will find Sault Ste. Marie’s last remaining 19th Century rural municipal cemetery. 

The Queen Street Cemetery, which is also known as the Old Town Cemetery was established in 1879, however some of the burials date back to 1863.  The cemetery was also referred to as the Protestant Cemetery, based on burial records from St. Luke’s Pro-Cathedral and Central United Church.  The Catholic cemetery at the time was located on Queen Street, opposite Precious Blood Cathedral.   

Land Registry records indicate that a Crown Patent for 24 acres of land between Pim and Elizabeth Streets was granted to Jane March in 1857.  On April 28, 1860 she transferred the 24 acres to Joseph Wilson, a Customs Collector for Algoma.  On October 20 1879, Joseph Wilson conveyed a portion of this land to Sault Ste. Marie, which would become known as the Queen Street Cemetery.   

The Queen Street Cemetery’s historical importance is due not only to its age but also because of the individuals that were buried there.  Headstones for many of the key figures that helped shape Sault Ste. Marie can be found here including George Ironside, David and Margaret Pim, Colonel John Savage, Henry Pilgrim, Captain T.A. Tower and Wemyss Simpson.   

However the cemetery soon fell into disrepair and by 1899, the issue was addressed at the June 26 council meeting.  At that time council ordered that a wire fence be placed around the cemetery.  The last burial recorded at this cemetery occurred in 1914.  The condition and abandonment of the cemetery has been an ongoing problem.  In a Sault Star article from May 23, 1936, the matter was again addressed with many local clergy including Rev. C.F. Hives expressing concern about the poor condition of the cemetery.  Plants were overgrown; headstones were neglected and toppled over, with the exception of the gravestone of a child.  This grave showed that it was still being cared for.  Graves from which bodies had been removed were left open and partly filled with water.  Many gravestones had been vandalized and the inscriptions were almost worn away.  

During the 1960s and 1970s the Sault Horticultural Society looked after the maintenance of the cemetery grounds.  By 1972 though, at least half of the tombstones were down and in June of 1973 a request was made to erect a common cairn for the Old Cemetery.   The Historic Sites Board undertook a restoration project in the early 1980s to restore its park-like feeling.  It was decided to erect a sandstone memorial wall and place the damaged headstones that were no longer located in their original locations on this wall.  This memorial wall was completed in 1983.    

The Queen Street Cemetery was officially recognized as a Municipal Heritage Site on June 13, 1994, however the concern over its condition persisted.  An electromagnetic conductivity survey done in 2002 determined that as many as several hundred unmarked graves were located on the Queen Street site.  These graves had likely been marked by wooden crosses which would have vanished over the years.  

In 2004, Municipal Heritage Committee Chair Linda Burtch, estimated that it would cost $30,000 to repair the gravestones in the cemetery.  With about $3,000 from municipal grants and sales from her book Historic Sault Ste. Marie: A Guide to the Historic Plaques and Monuments in Sault Ste. Marie, some repairs were made to the cemetery.  At the time the City had identified work at the cemetery as urgent.  

Although the cemetery may not have weathered the years well, historically it still provides an important link to the pioneering families of Sault Ste. Marie.                

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