Description
Matthew McCauley (1850-1930), a pioneer liveryman and stagecoach operator, was the Town of Edmonton’s first mayor. He
was born in Ontario and came to Fort Saskatchewan in 1879. Two years later he moved to Edmonton where he established a
livery stable and butcher shop. McCauley organized Edmonton’s first public school in 1881 and was a founding member (and
served for 18 years) of Edmonton’s school board.
It was not until 1882 that a system of land titles and homestead grants was introduced in western Canada. Prior to this,in the absence of legal title, local residents led by McCauley protected their claims by force. McCauley was captain of what was known as “McCauley’s Vigilantes,” a group of local men who forcibly removed the property of newcomers who
attempted to squat on land cleared by the area’s first settlers. On at least two occasions, the shack of a claim-jumper who failed to heed warnings from the vigilantes was pushed over the banks of the North Saskatchewan River and the newcomer was driven out. In 1892, when the federal government sought to transfer the Land Titles Office from Edmonton to Strathcona, McCauley used his hastily gathered volunteers to stop the planned move.
When Edmonton was incorporated as a town in 1892, McCauley became mayor by acclamation and was re-elected in 1893 and
1894. In 1905, the year that Alberta became a province, he was elected to the first provincial legislature, representing
Vegreville. He resigned after only a year to become warden of Edmonton’s first federal prison, working there from 1906
to 1911. McCauley School (on McCauley Street, present-day 107A Avenue) was opened in this neighbourhood in 1912.
McCauley lived in British Columbia from 1912 to 1925 and then moved to Sexsmith, Alberta. McCauley, the father of 12
children, lived to the age of 80 and died on his farm is the Peace Country.
Feature Type
Neighbourhood
Designation Year
CU