Best Web Design in Sault Ste. Marie, MI (2026)

Web Design for Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Sault Ste. Marie, universally called 'the Soo,' is Michigan's oldest city and one of the oldest European settlements in North America, founded as a Jesuit mission in 1668 on an Ojibwe gathering place the Anishinaabe called Bawating, 'the place of the rapids.' Straddling the St. Marys River across from its twin city in Ontario, it is home to the Soo Locks, one of the world's busiest lock systems, and it endures roughly 120 inches of snow a year.

AppWT serves Sault Ste. Marie and the surrounding Michigan area from Livonia, Michigan.

About Sault Ste. Marie

Also known as. The Soo. The Sault. Michigan's oldest city. Gateway to Lake Superior.

History. Long before European contact, the rapids were an Ojibwe/Anishinaabe gathering place called Bawating (Bahweting), meaning 'the gathering place' or place of the rapids, where many tribes came seasonally to fish. In 1668 French Jesuit missionaries Claude Dablon and Jacques Marquette founded a mission here, making it the oldest city in Michigan and the oldest permanent European settlement in the state. In 1671 Simon-Francois Daumont de Saint-Lusson claimed the territory for France and King Louis XIV. John Johnston, a Scots-Irish fur trader from Belfast, became the first documented European settler around 1790, and U.S. Fort Brady brought Anglo-American settlers after the War of 1812. The name comes from the French 'Les Saults de Sainte Marie,' the rapids of the St. Marys River, where the water drops about 21 feet; the locks bypassing the rapids were turned over to the state as the State Lock on May 31, 1855.

Local economy. Shipping through the Soo Locks is the economic backbone, with roughly 10,000 vessels passing yearly; the locks close from January to March for maintenance. The fur trade was the historic economic driver, later joined by the Northwestern Leather Company tannery, which processed fine leather from 1900 to 1958. Lake Superior State University, founded in 1946 on the former Fort Brady site, is Michigan's smallest public university with about 1,500 students and a major local employer. The Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians operates the Kewadin Casino, Hotel and Convention Center on Shunk Road, and tribal government and enterprises are among the largest area employers. Border-crossing traffic and tourism are significant, with the International Bridge to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and the northern terminus of Interstate 75 both located here.

Culture and community. The International 500 (I-500) snowmobile race, first run in 1969 and inspired by the Indianapolis 500, is a marquee winter event. Sault Tribe members continue centuries-old traditions with powwows held along the riverbanks around the Bawating Drum. Lake Superior State University's hockey team, the Lakers, won three NCAA Division I national championships in 1988, 1992 and 1994. Since 1976, LSSU has published its tongue-in-cheek annual 'List of Words Banished from the Queen's English,' now a globally covered New Year's tradition that reached its 50th edition for 2026.

What makes Sault Ste. Marie distinct. The city's downtown sits on an island formed by the power canal and the river. It is one of the snowiest places in Michigan, averaging around 120 inches a year, with lake-effect snow concentrating on the city itself. Only two other U.S. Catholic parishes, in St. Augustine, Florida and Santa Fe, New Mexico, predate its 1668 mission. Interstate 75, which runs all the way to Florida, has its northern terminus here. It shares its name and 'the Soo' nickname with its twin city directly across the river in Ontario, Canada. Notable natives and residents include actor Terry O'Quinn (John Locke on 'Lost'), Chase Osborn (the only Michigan governor from the Upper Peninsula), early hockey star Taffy Abel, and Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, regarded as the first known Native American literary writer.

Sault Ste. Marie Landmarks and Local Life

• The Soo Locks - which lift and lower ships between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes past the St. Marys rapids
• The Tower of History - a 210-foot observation tower completed in 1968
• The International Bridge spanning the St. Marys River to Sault Ste. Marie - Ontario
• The Saint Marys Falls hydropower plant - completed in 1902, whose powerhouse is about a quarter-mile long, one of the longest horizontal-shaft hydroelectric plants in the world
• Holy Name of Mary Pro-Cathedral - on a parish begun by the Jesuits in 1668
• Lake Superior State University - built on the grounds of the historic Fort Brady

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