James Playfair (businessman), Date of Birth, Date of Death

    

James Playfair (businessman)

Canadian businessman

Date of Birth: 08-Jul-1860

Date of Death: 25-May-1937

Profession: businessperson

Zodiac Sign: Cancer


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About James Playfair (businessman)

  • James Playfair (8 July 1860 – 25 May 1937) was noted for his entrepreneurship in the Great Lakes shipping, lumbering, grain handling, and industrial manufacturing businesses.
  • He was a central figure in the establishment of Midland, Ontario, Canada.
  • The son of John Speirs Playfair (26 June 1826, Glasgow – 2 June 1913, Toronto) and Georgina Hall of Montreal, in 1889 Playfair married Sarah Charlotte Ogilvie (1858-1945), youngest daughter of Senator A.W.
  • Ogilvie of Montreal, former president of Ogilvie Flour Mills. He began working for the Toronto Lumber Company of Simcoe County when he was a teenager, and moved to Midland in 1883.
  • In 1888 he formed a lumber partnership with D.
  • L.
  • White, Jr., of Midland.
  • In 1896 Playfair bought a small wooden freight steamer, which he put to work to hauling grain between Fort William and Goderich.
  • The ship sunk in 1900.
  • Playfair regrouped in 1901, creating Midland Navigation Company.
  • The company was merged with Inland Navigation Company Ltd in 1910, becoming Inland Lines Ltd.
  • Around 1912, Playfair formed two steamship lines: Great Lakes Transportation Company (canal and coastwide trade) and Glen Line (upper lake trade), total of 38 ships.
  • In 1926 633’ foot Glenmohr, launched at Midland, was the largest bulk carrier on the Great Lakes.Playfair was involved in numerous other activities, among them Toronto Elevators.The Playfairs donated their residence, Edgehill, overlooking Midland Harbour on Georgian Bay.
  • The residence was the first home of the Huronia museum.
  • Today it is the site of Edgehill Park (formerly known as Huronia Park).
  • The Playfairs also saved Little Lake Park from being cut down in 1906.
  • The Playfairs donated property for St Andrews Hospital, a predecessor of today's Georgian Bay General Hospital.
  • The site of Presbyterian church camp Glen Mohr near Beaverton was donated by the Playfairs in 1930.
  • The Georgian Bay Cup was won in 1888 by James Playfair as a prize for the inaugural Georgian Bay Cup Regatta.A mural in Midland commemorates Playfair.The first cargo ship of the season to arrive in Midland is presented with Playfair's top hat.

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