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 of Toronto, municipal government. The mayor is elected alongside city council every four years on the fourth Monday of October; t ...

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 jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

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 Toronto City Council 2022–2026, current term began on Nove ...

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 d ...

. 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 ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

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

Orange Order in Canada The Loyal Orange Association in Canada, historically the Loyal Orange Association in British America and also known as the Loyal Orange Association of Canada, Grand Orange Lodge of Canada, or simply Orange Order in Canada, is the Canadian branch ...

. 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 provi ...

in the

1904 Toronto municipal election Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 1, 1904. Thomas Urquhart was acclaimed to a second term. 1904 was the first time the Toronto Board of Control, the executive committee of Toronto, was directly elected, after the ...

, 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, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

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 This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January ...

, he was elected to the provincial legislature as the

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

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 19th-century mayors of places in Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs 1837 births 1917 deaths 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario