John Redpath (1796 – March 5, 1869) was a Scots-Quebecer businessman and philanthropist who helped pioneer the industrial movement that made Montreal, Quebec, the largest and most prosperous city in Canada.
Early years
In 1796, John Redpath was born at Earlston, Berwickshire. According to surviving records, he was the son of Peter Redpath, a farm worker, and his second wife Elizabeth Pringle, from neighbouring Gordon, Berwickshire. Redpath was born during the period of the Lowland Clearances that created economic hardship and dislocation for many Scottish families. As such, after gaining valuable experience as a stonemason with George Drummond in Edinburgh, the twenty-year-old Redpath emigrated to Canada.
In 1816, with limited funds for ship passage, the nearly penniless Redpath disembarked at Quebec City before walking barefoot to Montreal, Quebec. Once there, he used the trade he had learnt back in Scotland to gain him employment in the construction industry, working as a stonemason. In November of that year, Redpath witnessed the first installation of oil streetlamps in the city on Rue Saint-Paul.
Business career
A man of integrity with a prodigious work ethic and a keen business sense, within a few years Redpath was running his own sizeable construction business. He was involved in major projects such as the construction of the Lachine Canal and locks that proved key to future commercial development of the city of Montreal. Beginning in 1689, attempts were made by the French Colonial government and several others to build a canal that would allow ships to bypass the treacherous Lachine Rapids. After more than 130 years of failure, with funding from the recently formed Bank of Montreal, the consortium, of which Redpath was a major part, was successful in its construction and the new canal officially opened in 1825.
The Lachine canal substantially increased shipping, turning Montreal into one of the largest ports in North America. Because the land along the canal belonged to the Roman Catholic Sulpician Order it remained unused for another twenty years until Redpath and other businessmen were finally able to purchase plots along the canal. As a result of the land being opened to development, on the canal's banks came the construction of large new manufacturing plants, drawn there because of the ready source of water from the canal that could be used in the production process and provide the steam power to drive machinery. It was these industries, including Redpath's construction of the first sugar refinery in Canada, that made Montreal the industrial metropolis of Canada and by the time of his death, John Redpath witnessed traffic go from 600 small vessels passing through the canal each year to more than 13,000 large ships.
John Redpath's success in building the Lachine Canal led to further major projects including his partnering with Thomas McKay, to construct the locks at Jones Falls, Ontario, on the giant Rideau Canal project between 1827 and 1828. In addition, Redpath built the Notre-Dame Basilica and some of the first buildings at McGill University.
The Redpath Sugar refinery proved to be a major Montreal employer, within a few years annually processing approximately 7,000 tons of raw sugar imported from the West Indies aboard Redpath-owned ships. Originally called the Canada Sugar Refining Co., after his son Peter (1821–1894) joined the business the company's name was changed to John Redpath & Son. Four years later in 1861, Redpath's son-in-law George Alexander Drummond (1829–1910) also joined the company.
In addition to his own industrial enterprises, Redpath invested in numerous businesses that greatly benefited the Montreal economy. In addition to his own cargo vessels to serve his sugar refinery, he had investments in the Montreal Towboat Company. He also helped finance the Montreal Telegraph Company and the Montreal Fire Assurance Company, serving as a director of both companies. He also committed substantial funds to develop the economies of Quebec's Eastern Townships, including investments in the Capel Copper operations, the Belvedere Mining and Smelting Company, Rockland Slate Company, Bear Creek Coal, and Melbourne Slate Co.