Joseph Henry Morris (July 12, 1867 – April 19, 1939) was a politician and 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 ...

, Alberta.

Biography

Morris was born in

Blenheim, Ontario Blenheim is a community in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada. History The Chatham-Kent region was settled as a British colony following Alexander McKee's acquisition of land under Treaty #2 ( McKee's Purchase) in 1790. Treaty #2 negotiations t ...

on July 12, 1868. He attended public schools in Ontario, and moved to

Medicine Hat, Alberta Medicine Hat is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff to the northwest are within ...

upon graduating. He relocated to

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 106,550 in the 2023 Alberta municipal censuses, 2023 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

shortly thereafter. In Lethbridge, he was manager for general merchant J. H. Cavanagh until 1895 and also served on the

Lethbridge City Council The Lethbridge City Council is the legislative governing body that represents the citizens of Lethbridge, Alberta. The council is composed of the mayor and eight councillors. The mayor is the city's chief elected official and the city manager is ...

as an alderman and as president of the Lethbridge Board of Trade. He married Margaret Drummond Jardine in June 1895; the pair had four children. He came to Edmonton in 1897 to open J. H. Morris & Company. The following year he also established a wholesale grocery. He ran for

Edmonton Town 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 ...

in the 1900 municipal election, and finished second of eight candidates, making him one of three people elected to two year terms as aldermen. He completed his term, but did not seek re-election at its expiration. Morris served as president of the Edmonton Board of Trade (now the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce) and the Edmonton Exhibition Association. He was also active in the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, the

Masonic Order Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

, and 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 ...

. Joseph Morris was the owner of Edmonton's first automobile, a 1903 Ford Model A that he brought to town on May 25, 1904. Accordingly, he was granted license place number one. According to legend, until 1905 motorists in what later became

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 ...

were responsible for making their own license plates, and Morris elected to use a broomstick. He was brought into court for having an unsatisfactory license plate, but was able to convince the judge that displaying the broomstick vertically at the back of the car satisfied the requirement that his license number be displayed. Whether the legend is true or not, in 1905 Morris was issued with a leather license plate with the number one. Joseph Morris died in 1939.

References

Edmonton Public Library biography of Joseph MorrisCity of Edmonton biography of Joseph MorrisRemarks of Alain Batty at the Ford centennial celebrations in Edmonton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Joseph 1860s births 1937 deaths Politicians from Chatham-Kent Edmonton city councillors Lethbridge city councillors Canadian Anglicans