John Shaw (1837 – November 7, 1917) was

Mayor of Toronto The mayor of Toronto is the head of Toronto City Council and chief executive officer of the municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; there are no term limits. While in ...

from August 6, 1897, to January 1, 1899. A lawyer and politician, Shaw was an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

Toronto City Council Toronto City Council is the governing body of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario. Meeting at Toronto City Hall, it comprises 25 city councillors and the mayor of Toronto. The current term began on November 15, 2022. Structure The cur ...

from 1883 until 1895. He ran for mayor in the 1896 Toronto municipal election but was defeated by the incumbent Robert J. Fleming. As alderman again in 1897, he was elected mayor by council, after Mayor Fleming resigned in August 1897. During the summer of 1898, the new City Hall on Queen Street was completed and occupied. Ten years earlier construction had started on the city hall designed by Toronto architect

E. J. Lennox Edward James Lennox (September 12, 1854 – April 15, 1933) was a Toronto-based architect who designed several of the city's most notable landmarks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including Old City Hall and Casa Loma. He ...

. Mayor Shaw and his wife were part of the opening ceremonies and were lifted to the top of the clock tower in a wooden workman's lift. Mayor Shaw believed that the northland's development was very important to Toronto. He presided over the Toronto and Hudson's Bay Railway Commission. The commission was to determine the feasibility of building a railway from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

. Although the project had many supporters, the line was never built. He was also a member of the

Orange Order in Canada The Grand Orange Lodge of British America, more commonly known as the Grand Orange Lodge of Canada or simply Orange Order in Canada, is the Canadian branch of the Orange Order, a Protestant fraternal organization that began in County Armagh in Ire ...

. John Shaw left politics for a time after his mayoral term. He ran for alderman in the 1903 Toronto municipal election but was defeated."Urquhart is Mayor by a Safe Majority: Defeats Mayor Howland In a Closely-fought Contest-- Aid. Lamb a Good Third, With Robinson Nowhere-- Aid. McMurrich, Alex. Stewart and Harvey Hall Were Unsuccessful-- Seven New Men in Council-- Dr. Ogden, the Veteran Trustee, Among the Vanquished", ''The Globe'' (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. oronto, Ontanuary 6, 1903: 12Aldermen and Trustees Nominated: Contests in Every Ward-- Ex-Mayor John Shaw in the Field in the Third Ward-- Municipal Ownership Chief Topic at the Public Meetings --Thirteen School Trustees to be Elected-- Four Aldermen Not Seeking Re-election, ''The Globe'' (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. oronto, Ontecember 30, 1902: 4. He ran for a spot on the

Toronto Board of Control The Board of Control of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was a part of its municipal government until it was abolished in 1969. It served as the executive committee of the Toronto City Council. When it was initially created in 1896 by mandate of the provin ...

in the 1904 Toronto municipal election, the first the body was directly elected, but was again defeated. However, he won a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

to the Board of Control several months later and was re-elected in

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

and

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

. In 1908, he was elected to the provincial legislature as the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MLA for Toronto North Seat B then retired from politics in 1911.

References

* Russell, Victor Loring, ''Mayors of Toronto, Volume 1, 1834-1899'', The Boston Mills Press, 1982

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, John Mayors of Toronto Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs 1837 births 1917 deaths