Remembering the big celebration in 1918

At 3:40 am on Nov. 11, 1918, the slumbering city of Sault Ste. Marie was stirred by sirens from the Lake Superior Paper Company. The ceasefire was official: the Great War in Europe was finally over.

By 5 a.m., thousands of local residents swarmed the streets, many still wearing pyjamas and nightgowns. A symphony of ringing bells and high-pitched whistles echoed throughout the city, with bonfires burning along Queen Street.

An hour later, a special morning edition of the Sault Daily Star was published. In big bold letters, the front headline declared “WAR ENDS”.

As Sault resident, Edith Corrigan remembered, “When war was declared in 1914, we used to line up each morning in front of the Sault Star office on the north side of Queen Street and read the bulletins before going to Collegiate. Of course, I shall never forget the whistles blowing, bells ringing, and everyone dancing in the streets at midnight when peace was declared.”

To celebrate the momentous victory, all business was suspended in the city except for hardware stores that carried party materials such as flags, cowbells, and whistles. At the corner of Spring Street and Queen Street, Plummer-Ferguson Hardware Co. Ltd immediately sold out of anything that made a noise.

An official afternoon parade that included soldiers, veterans, and floats marched from the Court House as far west as James Street. Crowds packed the roads, cheering particularly loudly for the Great War veterans, known as “the boys who had helped lick the Kaiser”.

Several depictions of the German leader were featured in the parade. The canal guard carried an effigy of the Kaiser on a stretcher. The head of “The Beast of Berlin” was nearly severed from his body where a bayonet was sticking through his heart. The Carpenters’ Union group used a donkey to represent the Kaiser, while another float hung him from a post.

For the first time in the city’s history, a Jewish flag waved in the parade, as Mr. A Portnoy and the members of the Jewish settlement of Sault Ste. Marie marched together in celebration.

Amid the partying, an old abandoned building on the corner of March and Queen was burned to the ground. In the evening, a civic bonfire was ignited at the East Street waterfront, this time watched and controlled by the fire brigade.

By 11 p.m., the celebration crossed international boundaries, as 2000 Michigan Sault residents rolled into the CPR station in railway cars.

The festivities lasted for nearly 24 hours, marking a jubilant end to the First World War.

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.