Kenneth Archibald McLeod (September 7, 1858 – July 27, 1940), 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 ...

. He was also the builder of the McLeod Building, Edmonton's first skyscraper.

Early life and career

McLeod was born September 7, 1858, in Port Elgin,

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

. His family moved to

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

in 1870 and homesteaded near

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

three years before moving to

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...

. McLeod worked with his father in the lumber and construction businesses. In 1879, he moved to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, where he stayed for two years before setting out for Edmonton August 5, 1881. His journey was on foot, in the company of two other men with three oxen, three Red River carts, a

buckboard A buckboard is a four-wheeled wagon of simple construction meant to be drawn by a horse or other large animal. A distinctly American utility vehicle, the buckboard has no springs between the body and the axles. The suspension is provided by th ...

, and a pony. After ninety-one days of travel, he arrived in Edmonton November 3. In Edmonton, he worked as a carpenter and builder until 1888. In 1893, he opened the first sash and door factory and

planing mill A planing mill is a facility that takes cut and Wood drying, seasoned Wood, wooden boards from a sawmill and turns them into finished dimensional lumber. Machines used in the mill include the Thickness planer, planer and matcher, the Moulding plan ...

in the city, which he operated for seven years before selling it in 1900. Also in 1893, he built Fire Hall No. 1, which served as home to the city's fire brigade, police department, town offices, and court house.

Municipal politics

McLeod entered municipal politics in

1893 Events January * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * January 6 – The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress; th ...

by running for alderman on the

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 ...

. He was elected, finishing second of nine candidates in a race in which the top six were elected. He did not seek re-election in

1894 Events January * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United States. * Ja ...

, but returned to council in

1896 Events January * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports Wilhelm Röntgen's dis ...

, when he placed first of nine candidates for alderman. He was re-elected in

1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...

(again placing first of nine candidates) and

1898 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queen ...

, when he was one of three candidates elected to a two-year term as part of Edmonton's plans to stagger aldermanic terms. He did not seek re-election when this term expired in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

, but returned to municipal politics as part of Edmonton's first

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

by running in the 1904 election. He finished third of seventeen candidates in this election and was elected to a two-year term, but resigned in 1905. He did not return to political life thereafter. In addition to his municipal activities, McLeod sat on the public school board from 1901 until 1905.

The McLeod Building

In 1912, McLeod announced the construction of the nine storey McLeod building, planned to be the tallest in the city. Modeled after

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

's Polson Building, it was completed in 1915 at a cost of six hundred thousand dollars. It required twelve hundred tons of steel, primarily because McLeod insisted on building it with footings large enough for a fifty-storey building. It was the first building in Edmonton to be wired with conduits, and remains standing to this day.

Family life and other interests

In 1894, McLeod married Anne Logar Lauder; the couple had nine children before she died in 1927. McLeod was active with the

Freemasons 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 ...

, the Edmonton Board of Trade, the Presbyterian Church, and the

Liberal Party of Alberta The Alberta Liberal Party () is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election, with the first three provincial ...

. In 1930 McLeod retired to

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, where he remarried (to Mary Belle McKinnon). He died July 27, 1940.

References

External links

Edmonton Public Library biography of Kenneth McLeodCity of Edmonton biography of Kenneth McLeod
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLeod, Kenneth 1858 births 1940 deaths Edmonton city councillors Canadian people of Scottish descent People from Bruce County People from Solomon, Kansas Canadian expatriates in the United States