- Thomas McQuesten
Thomas McQuesten (
June 30 ,1882 -January 13 ,1948 ) was an athlete, militiaman, lawyer, politician and government appointee who lived inHamilton, Ontario ,Canada .cite book|title=Dictionary of Hamilton Biography (Vol III, 1925-1939)|first=Thomas Melville |last=Bailey|publisher=W.L. Griffin Ltd|pg=143|year=1992]Although he once played football for the "Hamilton Tigers", now part of the
Hamilton Tiger-Cats of theCanadian Football League , he is best known for his work in elected and appointed offices. Neither he nor his brothers and sisters married, so his legacies are the parks, roads and monuments in Hamilton and throughout Ontario that he was instrumental in creating.Early life
Thomas Baker McQuesten was born in Hespeler (now
Cambridge, Ontario ) in nearby Waterloo County onJune 30 ,1882 , the youngest son of Calvin McQuesten Sr., and Mary Baker McQuesten. His father died almost bankrupt when he was six years old, and the family homestead narrowly avoided being sold to cover these debts. His family remained staunch Presbyterians, except one (Rev. Calvin,Chaplain of the Hamilton Sanitarium) and rejected joining theUnited Church of Canada in 1925.He received his primary and secondary education in Hamilton at Ryerson Central School, Queen Victoria Schools and the Hamilton Collegiate Institute. In his graduating year of 1900, the HCI football team won the Ontario Championship.
Since there was no university in Hamilton at the time, McQuesten had to leave the city for his post-secondary education. He earned a
B.A. in English, history, and classics at theUniversity of Toronto . Extracurricular activity included rowing for theToronto Argonauts (which was also a football team), president ofZeta Psi fraternity and editor of "The Varsity " newspaper.Although a fellow U of T student beat his application for a
Rhodes scholar ship, McQuesten continued his education atOsgoode Hall , also in Toronto. He received hisLL.B. law degree and was admitted to the bar in 1907. He began practicing law as a prelude to a planned political career, serving in firms in Toronto, Elk Lake and Hamilton.During his early adulthood, McQuesten served part-time in the
militia . In 1902, he was in theRoyal Canadian Artillery and in 1904 he was a military surveyor. When theFirst World War began, he wanted to enlist but his family pressured him not to.Electoral politics
McQuesten served as an alderman between 1913 and 1920, and tirelessly promoted
park s as chairman of the Works Committee. In 1917, he and others presented a well-written but ultimately unadopted report on town planning with emphasis on railway lands.Since his electoral ambitions reached higher, he began his climb in the
Liberal Party of Ontario . In the early 1920s, he was an executive of the Hamilton Liberal Association and by the early 1930s he rose to provincial president. Finally, in 1934, he was elected as an MLA (later styled MPP) for Hamilton (the Legislative Assembly site says the riding was Hamilton Wentworth, but other sources sayHamilton West ).The newly elected MLA entered the provincial cabinet, serving concurrently as minister of highways (a position he held until 1943) and minister of public works. Among the many construction projects he spearheaded across Ontario were:
* theQueen Elizabeth Way and the Burlington Bay Skyway Bridge linkingToronto, Ontario with Fort Erie
* theNiagara Parkway along theNiagara River and the Rainbow Bridge over it in Niagara Falls
* the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia
* the Highway 20 link to theNiagara Escarpment in Stoney Creek.
* the Highway 2A throughOshawa, Ontario , now Highway 401.Due in part to the start
Second World War , Liberal PremierMitchell Hepburn decided to keep the legislature and its second term government going longer than was popular. McQuesten participated in this strategy, adding a shifting number of portfolios to highways: mines (1940, 1942-43), municipal affairs (1940-43), and public works again (1942-43).McQuesten did not stand for re-election in 1943 and the Liberal Party was defeated by the Conservatives, banished from government until
David Peterson became premier in 1985. His government appointments, however, continued after he left elected office.Appointed politics
Throughout his life, McQuesten was able to parlay electoral success into permanent appointments to non-partisan agencies. This suited his technocratic (and sometimes autocratic) nature, allowing him to focus on necessary and useful but rarely politically interesting or rewarding activities.
For instance, his advocacy for parks on
Hamilton City Council earned him an appointment to the permanent position on the Board of Parks Management in 1922, where he remained until his death in 1948. In this position, he supported the construction of the Rock Gardens at the Royal Botanical Gardens in the 1920s and 1930s. After his retirement from electoral politics, McQuesten resumed his interest in the RBG and became and executive member of that organization, active there until almost before he died.Among the many Hamilton civic leaders and boosters, McQuesten helped encourage
McMaster University to relocate from downtown Toronto to the west Hamilton in 1930. His motivations may have included the fact he had to move himself to attend university and that while there he lost the Rhodes Scholarship to a fulltime Toronto resident in what was regarded as a slight against Hamilton.After being elected an MLA in 1934, he served for a decade as the appointed chairman of the
Niagara Parks Commission .Fort George at Niagara-on-the-Lake was rebuilt during his tenure.He used his role as transportation minister to secure appointment as chairman of the "Canada-U.S. Niagara Falls Bridge Commission" in 1939. In addition to the more usual transportation aspects of the job, he used his position to engage in petty rivalry with wartime
Prime Minister of Canada and fellow Liberal Mackenzie King over an inscription oncarillon bells.Death and tributes
In his last year of life, McQuesten suffered from intestinal cancer which had metastasized to his throat and he died on
January 13 ,1948 . Shortly before dying, he was named Hamilton's Citizen of the Year.After his death, the Hamilton High Level Bridge on York Boulevard was renamed Thomas B. McQuesten High Level Bridge. The structure was planned and built in the 1920s and '30s by the parks board when he was most active on it. It spans the channel linking
Cootes Paradise and theDesjardins Canal to Hamilton Harbour.His historic downtown family home was willed to the City of Hamilton after the death of the last of his five unmarried siblings in 1968. After its restoration was complete in 1971,
Whitehern has been open as a civicmuseum and has occasionally served as a period film location.The McQuesten neighbourhood in Hamilton is named after him. It is bounded by Barton Street East (north), Queenston Road (south), Parkdale Avenue North (west) and the
Red Hill Valley Trail . Landmarks in this neighbourhood include theRed Hill Valley Parkway , "Red Hill Valley Trail" and Hillcrest Park.External links
(some revision required!)
* [http://www.hpl.ca/Collections/landmark/Mcques.shtml Hamilton Public Library] Special Collections biographical entry
* [http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/culture-and-rec/MUSEUMS/whitehern/default.asp Whitehern] family homestead and museum
* [http://collections.ic.gc.ca/hamilton/whiteher.htm Whitehern] historical
* [http://www.whitehern.ca/index.php Whitehern] archives
* [http://www.rbg.ca Royal Botanical Gardens] contemporary
* [http://www.hpl.ca/Collections/landmark/Rbg1.shtml Royal Botanical Gardens] historical
* [http://www.hpl.ca/Collections/landmark/Bridge.shtml Thomas B. McQuesten High Livel Bridge] historical
* [http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_all_detail.do?locale=en&ID=1574 Legislative Assembly of Ontario] parliamentary service entryReferences
* MapArt
Golden Horseshoe Atlas - Page 648 - Grids G19, G20, H19, H20
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