Sir John Alexander Macdonald 1815-1891
Text from the plaque
First elected from Kingston to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada in 1844, he was for forty-seven years a leading figure in the public life of his country. One of the Fathers of Confederation, he became the first prime minister of Canada and held the office 1867-73; 1878-91. Under his leadership the new Dominion was extended from sea to sea by incorporation of the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, and linked together by construction of the Intercolonial and Canadian Pacific Railways.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The County of Frontenac
The City of Kingston
In a park on the northwest corner of
King Street East and West Street
N 44 13.499 W 76 29.206
Recorded July 2009. Check current access before visiting.
More information
Visitors' notes
January 17, 2015
This week marks the bicentennial of John Macdonald's birth, commemorated with a postage stamp and coin, both issued in his hometown of Kingston on his birthday, January 11, 2015. The city continues celebrating, this year, including at Bellevue House National Historic Site, Macdonald's home in 1848-49. Few figures in history attain the larger-than-life stature which is his; a mind which filled a nascent nation with dreams of the continental empire it would become. -Wayne