John Alexander McDougall was born May 20, 1854 in Oakwood, Canada West to Alexander J. McDougall and Janet Cummings. His father died in 1867 when John was thirteen. He left school and worked to support his family. In 1873, he moved to Fort Garry where he worked as a fur trader and completed his education at Manitoba College. In 1877 this work brought him to Edmonton, where he decided to settle, but not before returning to Ontario in 1878 to marry his high school sweetheart, Lovisa Jane Amey, with whom he would have three sons and three daughters. The pair settled in Edmonton in 1879, where McDougall commenced trading furs in competition with the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1881, he was one of ten Edmontonians to guarantee the five hundred dollar annual salary of the settlement's first schoolteacher. He became a justice of the peace in 1885.
Business career
McDougall traded furs until 1896, when he and partner Richard Secord founded McDougall & Secord, which advertised itself as "general merchants, wholesale and retail; buyers and exporters of raw furs; dealers in land scrip and north west lands; outfitters for survey parties, traders, trappers, miners and others for the north, and suppliers for country stores." The two ran the company until 1907, when they sold it and went into business as a financial house and mortgage corporation called McDougall & Secord, Limited. McDougall operated this company until his death, when its leadership was taken over by his son John Charles McDougall. John McDougall was the first President of the Edmonton Board of Trade.
Political career
In 1892, McDougall ran for alderman of Edmonton's first town council. He was narrowly defeated, finishing seventh place out of fourteen candidates in an election in which the top six candidates were elected. When he made his second attempt in 1893, he finished first of nine candidates and was elected. He was re-elected in 1894 and was elected to the publicschool board the same year. In 1895 McDougall ran for mayor against Herbert Charles Wilson, but was defeated by a margin of 129 votes to 91. He would make another attempt in 1896, and would be acclaimed mayor. He did not seek re-election in 1897, and stayed out of politics for the next decade. In 1907 McDougall was again elected mayor, defeating Joseph Henri Picard 1217 votes to 437. During his second term as mayor, he installed an automatic telephone system in the city and oversaw the establishment of a street railway as a municipal operation. He did not seek re-election in 1908. In 1909 he was elected as a LiberalMember of the Legislative Assembly for the riding of Edmonton. He served his term, but did not seek re-election in 1913.
Last years and legacy
McDougall spent many of his last years traveling the world with his wife. He died in Edmonton on December 17, 1928. He had been active with the Presbyterian Church, the Masonic Order and the Edmonton Club. McDougall was one of the founders of St. John Ambulance in Alberta. John A. McDougall School is named in his honour. McDougall & Secord, Limited exists in Edmonton to this day, believed to be the oldest surviving company in Alberta. Its precursors—McDougall's General Store and Secord's Fur Store and Warehouse—are reproduced on 1885 Street in Fort Edmonton Park.
