05/29/2026
Taken in 1903 by Andrew Young, this is one of my favorites from the 2,500+ photos we have scanned and catalogued at the Historical Society. It shows the lovely State Fish Hatchery built on the edge of the mighty Sault Rapids in 1894, north of the two locks that were then in existence. The rapids can be seen beyond the hatchery, and Ontario is beyond the rapids. According to a news article from 1902, "…millions of trout and whitefish are annually propagated here…. during the summer months, it is more a thing of beauty than of use" [since hatching occurred during the fall and winter]. The article stated that each day during the summer, large numbers of people crossed the locks to visit the attractive grounds of the hatchery. Experienced Ojibwe canoemen moored their canoes in the shade of the building awaiting tourists who crossed in order to "shoot the rapids."
The family name "Marks" deserves mention. Harry Marks, along with his father and three of his brothers all came to Michigan from upstate New York, bringing experience with hatcheries. They apparently provided some of the early expertise needed in Michigan to establish hatcheries. Harry supervised this one from its inception until 1911, when it was moved from the edge of the rapids to the east end of Brady Park. It had to be moved because construction of the third lock was about to begin. (Tragically, Mr. Marks was killed in an accident as he supervised the moving.)
The hatchery operated at Brady Park until its closure in 1929. Perhaps you've been in this building without knowing it! The state leased it in 1930 to the American Legion, and the Legion remodeled it for its Ira D. MacLachlan Post. There was a bad fire in the building in January, 1932, and the Sault Fire Department, pumping water from the slip near the building, managed to save the lower level of the structure. It was converted to a one-storey building, which still serves today as the Legion Post.
We posted a different picture of the hatchery in January, 2015. It is one of our posts that we chose to include in our book "SaultVenirs," published in 2023 containing 71 of our Facebook posts. We are currently thinking about publishing another volume of that book.
