Remember this? The Rainsmere Hotel

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

A grand hotel, which was once a dominating landmark of Sailors Encampment on St. Joseph Island may now only be a memory, but it once drew in multitudes of adoring tourists from the United States. Guests would come from as far away as Milwaukee, Cleveland, Chicago, and Detroit at a time when travel was not as easy as today.

Now demolished, the Rainsmere Hotel was built between 1892 and 1896 by siblings Walter, Clara, and Owen Rains with the assistance of carpenter Mr. Pontaine.

They were the grandchildren of Major William K. Rains, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars who in 1834 petitioned the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada to colonize St. Joseph Island. Walter and Clara ran the hotel together for two years until Walter made the fateful decision to head for the Klondike in the hopes of striking gold. He never reached his destination, perishing of scurvy in Saskatchewan.

Clara’s brother Owen then entered into the partnership until they sold to a gentleman named B.H. Maloni of Sault, Michigan. After only a few short years, Clara and her brother Harold Rains repossessed the hotel. The hotel was sold again after the Second World War, and ownership permanently left the Rains family.

Clara was ahead of her time in her business pursuits. The Sault Star reported in 1957 that she was “the first woman in this district to own and operate a hotel.” At a time when women were expected to work exclusively in the home, running a hotel was unorthodox. As she told the Sault Star in April 1957, “This was in the days before career women and I needed a lot of courage to venture [into] such a project.”

The hotel prospered at the end of the 1800s due to its great location with a magnificent view of the water. The entire region was gorgeous and Americans flocked to the area to revel in its splendor. Clara’s home cooking was also legendary and added to the appeal. Even the inconvenience of travelling to its somewhat remote location did not dissuade travellers. Steamships would deliver them to docks on Neebish Island and then they would be transported by smaller boats to the Encampment. Guests would often stay for a month or six weeks at a time.

Clara and her brother had to work extremely hard to provide comfortable accommodations for their guests. As Clara related to the Sault Star in 1957, “Modern conveniences mean a great deal to housewives but they mean a great deal more to hotel operators. We had none. No electricity. We washed with a scrubboard. We swept, we dusted, [and] we scrubbed, all by hand. We cooked with a wood stove, all summer. We pumped our water by hand from the lake.”

Guy Rains, a brother to the owners of the hotel, reminisced to the Sault Star in 1963 that he remembered spending entire days making ice cream with his siblings. He also reported that “it was a beautiful spot. There was a garden behind there, a regular Garden of Eden. Harold had a green thumb. In fact, some people used to say he could plant a wooden stake in the ground and it would grow.” Harold no doubt provided Clara with an ample supply of fresh produce.

The hotel was not only a popular summer resort; it was also a gathering place in the off-season for locals. Clara and Harold filled the parlour with guests for card parties in the winter, young people came to dances by sleigh, and the Women’s Institute used it for rehearsals of plays. In its heyday, the hotel boasted 20 bedrooms, a sitting room/parlour, a sizeable dining room, kitchen, and an expansive porch perfect for appreciating the beautiful water views.

Jokingly referred to as “The Painsmere” by locals when part of the letter R fell off the sign, the hotel slowly deteriorated over the years once it left the hands of the Rains family. Attempts were made by the family to buy back the hotel when Mr. Timmins of Montreal owned it in the 1960s, but the attempts were in vain.

The hotel was left unlocked becoming the location for many teenage parties and neighbours soon began to see the structure as a fire hazard. Numerous attempts were made over the years to revive the hotel, but plans never quite came to fruition. In March of 1969, the Sault Star reported that Gerry Maguire who just acquired the hotel was planning a total restoration.

A heavy snow load had led to the front verandah’s roof collapsing under the weight and that, in combination with missing windows, shingles and a dire need of a paint job, the hotel appeared quite rundown. The restoration never fully occurred. Other plans also backfired such as a boy’s camp, a retreat for priests, and council designating the hotel as a heritage building that may have made it eligible for government grants to aid its restoration. In July of 1989, the owner of the Rainsmere was given a deadline of Aug. 15 to schedule its demolition or the municipality would intervene.

Bits and pieces of this iconic hotel may remain, now in the hands of former visitors scattered far and wide. Some of these mementos were acquired through illegitimate means – as Mr. Maguire Jr informed the Sault Star, “everything moveable was taken, and many things that might be considered immovable. Stair posts and railings, even the Bakelite coverings from the electrical outlets are gone.” A lovely print of the hotel by artist Pat Norton may also adorn the walls of many island residents. The sale of the print was a fundraising initiative by the Children’s Library of Richards Landing in 1996 and is proof that though this island landmark may be gone, its memory continues to benefit the community long after its demise.

Each week, the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library and its Archives provide 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.