Business & brands / Politics
James McMillan
1838–1902 · industrialist, U.S. senator
Canadian-born Detroit railcar and shipping magnate who led Michigan's Republican machine as a U.S. senator (1889–1902) and chaired the McMillan Commission that reshaped Washington's National Mall.
- Born
Hamilton, Upper Canada- Died
Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
aged 64- Detroit years
- 1855–1902
- Field
- Business & brands, Politics
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
James McMillan, born to Scottish parents in Hamilton, Upper Canada, moved to Detroit in 1855 at seventeen and clerked at the hardware firm of Buhl, Ducharme & Co. before becoming purchasing agent for the Detroit & Milwaukee Railway. In 1863, with John S. Newberry, he organized the Michigan Car Company to build freight cars; within a decade it was one of the largest in the country, spawning the Detroit Car Wheel Company, Baugh Steam Forge and iron furnaces. He was a major shareholder of the Detroit City Railway, built the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway and invested heavily in Great Lakes shipbuilding and shipping. He served as president of the Detroit Board of Park Commissioners and on the Board of Estimates, and clashed with Mayor Hazen Pingree over streetcar franchises. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1889, he became the boss of the Michigan Republican Party and chaired the 1901–02 McMillan Commission, whose plan shaped the National Mall. He is buried at Elmwood.
Highlights
- U.S. senator from Michigan, 1889–1902
- Co-founder of the Michigan Car Company (1863)
- Chair of the McMillan Commission that redesigned the National Mall
- President of the Detroit Board of Park Commissioners
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Buried here · 1902
Elmwood Cemetery
He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery.