The name "Sault Ste. Marie" comes from the St. Mary's River, which connects Lakes Superior and Huron, and is an important transportation artery in the region, and the word "Sault", which is a French word that refers to the rapids or small waterfalls on the St. Mary's River, which is named for the mother of Jesus Christ. SSM is the oldest city in Michigan. The Indians had no formal name for this place--to them it simply was the rapids.
The French established many early missions at SSM, in large part because so many different Indians, from many nations, assembled here each year to fish in the rapids. From the French missionaries' point of view, this site therefore represented a fantastic place at which to reach and convert these people to Christianity.
Source: Atlas of Michigan, ed. Lawrence M. Sommers, 1977.
Source: Unknown
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