Sir John Morison Gibson

Sir John Morison Gibson. , Sir John Morison Gibson , 1842-1929, Lawyer, politician, and businessman, John Gibson was a tireless proponent of the economic advancement of Hamilton. Gibson's Hamilton-focused business interests encompassed real estate development, industrial promotion, the provision of internal urban services such as utilities and streetcars, and the organization and operation of interurban electric railways. In 1896, as one of a group of local businessmen known colloquially as the "Five Johns", he helped to found the Cataract Power Company, later renamed Dominion Power and Transmission. By the early 1900's, companies in which he was a principal dominated the hydroelectricity supply system and the radial railway network of the Hamilton-Niagara region. Gibson was instrumental in bringing the Westinghouse Manufacturing Company to Hamilton and in founding the Hamilton Steel and Iron Company, a forerunner of Stelco. He served as first president of National Steel Car. An ardent militia supporter and acclaimed rifleman, Gibson was commanding officer of the Thirteenth Battalion from 1886 to 1895. He served in the Mowat, Hardy, and Ross provincial Liberal governments where he was responsible for the 1893 Act which led to the formation of Children's Aid Societies in Ontario. Gibson was first president of the Canadian Red Cross and served as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1908 to 1914.