John Coleman Calhoun (March 1871 – September 28, 1950) was a politician in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada and a municipal councillor in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

in 1906. He was an Edmonton businessman, operating Edmonton's leading hotel at the time.

Biography

Calhoun was born in 1871 in

Albert County, New Brunswick Albert County (2021 population 30,749) is New Brunswick's third-youngest List of counties of New Brunswick, county, located on the Western side of the Petitcodiac River on the Chignecto Bay in the Bay of Fundy; the County seat, shire town is H ...

, where he remained until he moved to

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

in 1885. He stayed there for ten years before moving to Alberta to engage in ranching and fur trading. He moved to Edmonton in 1895 where he worked in real estate and

horse trading Horse trading, in its literal sense, is the buying and selling of horses, also called "horse dealing". Due to the difficulties in evaluating the merits of a horse offered for sale, the sale of horses offered great opportunities for dishonesty, l ...

. In 1906, he built the King Edward Hotel, which would become Edmonton's leading hotel after a 1910 expansion. Calhoun made his first bid for elected office in the 1905 election, when finished ninth out of ten candidates for alderman, thus missing out on any of the four seats available. However, on May 7, 1906, John R. Boyle resigned from

Edmonton City Council The Edmonton City Council is the governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Edmonton currently has one mayor and twelve city councillors. Elections are held every four years. The most recent was held in 2021, and the next is in 20 ...

, and Calhoun was elected to finish his term (which ran until December of that year). He did not seek re-election, but did run in the 1907 election, once he was a year removed from office. He was a part of a group of city businessmen that acquired the first

gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

franchise for the city. He finished ninth of twelve, and did not try to re-enter politics again. Calhoun sold the King Edward Hotel in 1940, and retired, splitting his time between a home in

and his home in Edmonton. Calhoun died in an Edmonton hospital on September 28, 1950. He was survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters and was cremated shortly after his funeral service. John Calhoun was a long-time member of the

Independent Order of Foresters The Independent Order of Foresters, operating as Foresters Financial, is a fraternal benefit society headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that provides life insurance and other financial solutions in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Uni ...

References

Edmonton Public Library biography of John CalhounCity of Edmonton biography of John Calhoun
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calhoun, John 1871 births 1950 deaths People from Albert County, New Brunswick Businesspeople from Edmonton Canadian ranchers Canadian fur traders Edmonton city councillors Canadian hoteliers