Malcolm Alexander MacLean
Malcolm Alexander MacLean (born August 14, 1842 in Tiree , Scotland , † April 4, 1895 in Vancouver ) was a Canadian teacher, businessman and politician. He was the first mayor of the city of Vancouver in 1886 and 1887.
When MacLean was four years old, his family immigrated to Ontario . After earning a living as a teacher for a few years, he worked for the Cunard Line in New York City and then opened small retail stores in Oshawa and Dundas in the late 1860s . In 1878 MacLean went to Winnipeg and worked in real estate there. Due to an economic crisis he lost almost all of his fortune and wanted to move to Hawaii in 1885 to plant sugar beet there .
MacLean learned from his brother-in-law, an assistant to William Cornelius Van Horne , manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway , that a place called Granville had been designated as the western terminus of the transcontinental railroad under construction. He arrived there in January 1886 and immediately got involved in local politics and organized a petition to the provincial government. Granville was then renamed Vancouver and was formally incorporated on April 6, 1886. MacLean was elected the new city's first mayor on May 3, receiving 242 of 469 votes.
After the great fire of June 13, 1886, in which the entire city was destroyed in flames, MacLean organized the immediate reconstruction. Under his leadership, the police and fire brigade were founded, roads and bridges were built, a water supply and sewage system was built, and electric light and gas were introduced. In December he was re-elected for another year and officially received the first train on the Canadian Pacific Railway on May 23, 1887.
After his resignation as mayor in late 1887, MacLean was Justice of the Peace, Vancouver Police Department and Special Commissioner for Immigration in the service of the Canadian government.
Web links
- Malcolm Alexander MacLean . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | MacLean, Malcolm Alexander |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 14, 1842 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tiree , Scotland |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 4, 1895 |
| Place of death | Vancouver |