Henry C. Macaulay (1874 - 1944)

Henry Macaulay was in the Yukon in 1898.1) In 1901, Commissioner Ross and the Yukon Council passed a bill on December 16th to enable the incorporation of municipalities. It allowed for a plebiscite to determine the nature of the city government. By this time Dawson was a stable community with more Canadian residents than American. The small property owners and tenants preferred a mayor and council, while the “business community” preferred an appointed commission. Both sides held mass meetings but the side for the mayor won the day. Rival committees in the campaign selected candidates and the Citizens Committee had their choice for mayor and six seats on the council elected. Macaulay, a wholesale importer and liquor dealer, was elected as Dawson’s first mayor. The council included a pharmacist, a butcher, a saloonkeeper, a company department manager, a grocer, and a partner in a hardware business. Civic officials were prominent Liberals, and members of the NWMP were given a supplement to act as city police.2)

Macaulay and four aldermen had campaigned on a platform of no pay for their positions, but the council meeting in April 1902 voted for salaries of $4,000 for the mayor and $2,000 for the councillors. In May, the council voted to improve Third Avenue into a trunk road. Macaulay had a fine house on the street and three aldermen had business that abutted the street. Macaulay did not run for re-election.3)

Macaulay ran and was elected to represent North Dawson in a 1905 Yukon territorial election. He was a member of the “Tabs,” the Yukon Territorial Liberal Association that supported the otherwise unpopular former Commissioner Congdon. Macaulay was the only candidate to not support a federal miner's lien statute.4)

Macaulay had four sons and three daughters. The family left Dawson in 1908.5) Macaulay’s 1901 house was the first pre-fabricated home to be erected in Dawson. It was shipped from Victoria.6) In 2024, Macaulay’s Residence in Dawson was owned by the Government of Canada, managed by Parks Canada, and used by the Yukon School of Visual Arts (SOVA) to house visiting art instructors teaching at the college.

1) , 5)
“First Mayor of Dawson Dies in Hospital.” Vancouver Sun (Vancouver), 24 April 1944.
2)
Hal J. Guest, “A History of the City of Dawson, Yukon Territory, 1896 – 1920.” Parks Canada Microfiche Report Series 7, 1980s: 76, 80-81.
3)
Hal J. Guest, “A History of the City of Dawson, Yukon Territory, 1896 – 1920.” Parks Canada Microfiche Report Series 7, 1980s: 81, 83.
4)
David Morrison, The Politics of The Yukon Territory, 1898-1909. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968: 69-70.
6)
“Macaulay’s Residence.” Interpretive panel erected by Parks Canada.