Thomas Underwood (May 6, 1863 – May 10, 1948) was a building developer and the 13th mayor of Calgary,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. Born in

Asfordby Asfordby is a village and civil parish in the Melton district of Leicestershire, to the west of Melton Mowbray on the A6006 road. The village is north-east of Leicester. The village's name means 'farm/settlement of Asfrothr'. The parish cons ...

, Leicestershire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1863, Underwood emigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

when he was 20. A carpenter by trade, he arrived in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

in 1883. At first, he worked as a farm hand. Two years later, he joined a Canadian Pacific Railway construction gang and was working in

Craigellachie, British Columbia Craigellachie (pronounced ) is a locality in British Columbia, located several kilometres to the west of the Eagle Pass summit between Sicamous and Revelstoke. Craigellachie is the site of a tourist stop on the Trans-Canada Highway between Sal ...

at the time of the last spike was driven to complete the

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

. After the railroad was completed, he settled in Calgary. Underwood spent the first two and a half years working for Jarrett- Cushing Lumber Company. Then he went into business for himself as a builder and contractor. Underwood was involved in the construction of many of the larger buildings in early Calgary. This includes the Bank of Montreal building and

Burns Manor Burns Manor was the Calgary residence of Senator Patrick Burns (businessman), Pat Burns, a successful businessman who founded Burns Meat. It was located at 510 13th Avenue S.W. in the Beltline, Calgary, Beltline District of Calgary, Alberta. Cons ...

for Senator

Pat Burns Patrick John Joseph Burns (April 4, 1952 – November 19, 2010) was a National Hockey League head coach. Over 14 seasons between 1988 and 2004, he coached in 1,019 games with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, and New Jer ...

. Underwood was elected to the

Calgary City Council The Calgary City Council is the legislative governing body that represents the citizens of Calgary. The council consists of 15 members: the chief elected official, titled the mayor, and 14 councillors. Jyoti Gondek was elected mayor in October 202 ...

in 1894. He spent eight years on City Council including two years as mayor from 1902-1904. In 1887, Underwood married Catherine Graves. Together they had nine children, three of whom died in infancy. He was deacon of First Baptist Church for over 30 years, director of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

for 25 years, and a member of the board of directors of Brandon College for ten years. His wife died in 1934 and he died on May 10, 1948, both in Calgary.

References

External links

1937 newspaper clipping
about Underwood from the Calgary Herald {{DEFAULTSORT:Underwood, Thomas 1863 births 1948 deaths Mayors of Calgary People from the Borough of Melton English emigrants to Canada Calgary city councillors YMCA leaders 19th-century Canadian politicians 20th-century Canadian politicians