James McMillan

James McMillan

James McMillan (born May 12, 1838 in Hamilton , Upper Canada , †  August 10, 1902 in Manchester , Massachusetts ) was an American politician of Canadian origin who represented the state of Michigan in the US Senate .

Life

James McMillan was born in what is now the Canadian province of Ontario ; his parents were from Scotland . He went to school in Hamilton before moving to Detroit , Michigan in 1855 to pursue a career as a businessman. There he initially worked as an office worker for a hardware wholesaler. When he was 20 years old, he got a job as a buyer for the Detroit & Milwaukee Railway . In 1863 he worked together with John Stoughton Newberry , a future Congressman from Michigan, to build the Michigan Car Company . Eventually he became president of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway , which he founded; in addition, he was involved in numerous other businesses, primarily in shipping. In Detroit, he also served for three years as President of the Board of Park Commissioners and a member of the local Board of Estimates .

politics

As a politician, McMillan joined the Republicans . In 1879, 1886 and 1890 he was elected party chairman in Michigan. He also sat in the presidential election in 1884 as the elector of James G. Blaine in the Electoral College ; However, Democrat Grover Cleveland became president .

In 1889 he was elected to the US Senate, in which McMillan remained after several re-elections until his death on August 10, 1902. During this time he was chairman of the Committee on Manufactures and the Committee on the District of Columbia . He was also the Senate Park Improvement Commission known as the McMillan Commission , which was responsible for the creation of the National Mall .

Web links

• James McMillan in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• James McMillan in the database of Find a Grave (English)