James McMILLAN, Congress, MI (1838-1902)

McMILLAN, James, a Senator from Michigan; born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, May 12, 1838; educated in the public schools of Hamilton; moved to Detroit, Mich., in 1855, where he entered upon a business career; purchasing agent of the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad; an organizer of the Michigan Car Co. in 1863; built and became president of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railroad; largely interested in shipbuilding and lake transportation companies; for three years was president of the Detroit Board of Park Commissioners and for four years a member of the Detroit Board of Estimates; presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1884; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1889; reelected in 1895 and 1901 and served from March 3, 1889, until his death; chairman, Committee on Manufactures (Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses), Committee on the District of Columbia (Fifty-fourth through Fifty-seventh Congresses); died in Manchester, Essex County, Mass., August 10, 1902; interment in Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Mich.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Drutchas, Geoffrey G. “Gray Eminence in a Gilded Age: The Forgotten Career of Senator James McMillan of Michigan.” Michigan Historical Review 28 (Fall 2002): 78-113; Heyda, Marie. “Senator James McMillan and the Flowering of the Spoils System.” Michigan History 54 (Fall 1970): 183-200.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present