THE HEART OF THE CITY

LLOYD DOUGLAS JACKSON

Lloyd Douglas Jackson was born on April 22, 1888 on a clay farm near Sarnia, Ont. He attended country school which was 18 miles away from his house. In 1904 he entered McMaster University in Toronto but later took 18 month off to work his passage to England on a cattle boat to sell stereoscopic viewers in English Midlands. With $200 profit he was able to finish a B.A. course in chemistry. After three years of lecturing on food chemistry he moved to Winnepeg as a chemist for Western Flour Mill. There he met and married his wife, Susan Watson, in 1913.

In 1922 he moved to Hamilton and borrowed $3,000 to purchase Sykes Bakery Company transforming the 18 employee company with $41,000 income into a 600 employee company with an income of one million dollars. He agitated for the re-establishment of a university in Hamilton.

In 1940 he entered civic life as a member of the Board of Education and Board of Health. Nine years later he challenged Sam Lawrence for Mayor’s Office and became the longest serving mayor in Hamilton to that date, leading the city for 13 years. He promoted low-rental housing, beautification of the City and urban renewal. The city gained the Burlington Skyway, the Wentworth county court house, the Chedoke Expressway, the Art Gallery, the Royal Botanical Garden tea house, and Confederation park. He also introduced the one way street system and pushed for the restoration of Dundurn Castle.

His wife followed him everywhere, supporting his decisions and she received the honours for her husband at Jackson Square opening while he was sick. Jackson often commented when people tried to thank him to thank his wife instead. He was defeated in 1962 by Victor Kennedy Copps but continued to take part in the community until he died on September 11, 1973.

REFERENCES:
Clipping File - Shopping Centres - Lloyd D. Jackson Square.  Special Collections, HPL.
Lloyd D. Jackson Square Scrapbook.  Special Collections, HPL.