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Thomas MckayThomas McKay (September 1, 1792 - October 8, 1855) was a prosperous Canadian businessman who was one of the founders of the city of Ottawa, Ontario. He was born in Perth, Scotland and became a skilled mason, he immigrated to Canada in 1817 where he settled in Montreal, Quebec. He became partners with John Redpath and their firms did the masonry work on the Lachine Canal, they then went on to build the locks for the Rideau Canal. McKay was one of the few business leaders to remained in Bytown after the canal project was finished. He bought a number of acres at the intersection of the Rideau River and Ottawa River and laid out a town, which he named New Edinburgh. He encouraged Scottish immigrants to come to the area and it became a prosperous industrial centre. Thomas McKay became quite wealthy and in 1837 he bought 1100 acres east of the village. On the western edge of this new land he built a mansion for himself, which he named Rideau Hall, which is today home to the Governor General of Canada. He also built Earnscliffe to house his daughter and son-in-law. The remainder of McKay's lands would later become the village of Rockcliffe Park. McKay also brought the first railroad to the Ottawa area with the Prescott and Bytown Railway that had its terminus at a station on Sussex Drive on the northern edge of New Edinburgh. McKay entered politics serving on Bytown's city council and then the legislature of Upper Canada from 1834 to 1841. From 1841 to 1855 he served in the legislature of the united Canadas. On his passing, Thomas McKay was interred in the Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa. McKay, Thomas McKay, Thomas McKay, Thomas
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