by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer
If you live downtown and are bothered at night by the sound of trains along the waterfront, you can blame Mayor Robert Mackenzie.
That’s because the community’s sixth Chief Magistrate presided over the Council that agreed to allow tracks to be laid along the St. Clair River from Sarnia to Point Edward.
Mackenzie, who was born around 1820 in the Scottish Highlands, emigrated to Canada as a young man, settling first in Kingston before moving to Sarnia.
He came from a family noted for successful politicians. Indeed, his brother, Alexander, became the second Prime Minister of Canada. Another brother, Hope, had been Sarnia’s second Mayor.
At first, however, Robert made his name in the business world. The Observer described him as being “reserved in manner and unambitious of public honours, yet of high intelligence and good business capacity”. He was also, 19th century readers were told, a man who was “public-spirited in a high degree”.
Mackenzie was elected Mayor in 1864, knocking off incumbent Joshua Adams.
During his second year in office, Council decided to allow tracks to be built along the riverfront. Several Councillors wanted the tracks directed away from the water but Council agreed to the scheme at the insistence of railway men. In the end, the move proved to be beneficial to downtown businesses.
As controversial as the decision may have been, it didn’t get Mayor Mackenzie into nearly as much hot water as that became known as “the goose question”.
According to newspaper accounts of the year Sarnia was being besieged by “flocks of geese which are continually infesting the public streets and sidewalks”.
To tackle the problem, a bylaw was passed requiring goose owners to confine their animals to their premises.
The edict was so unpopular that several incumbent Councillors were defeated in the next election.
Whether Mayor Mackenzie could have withstood the anger of miffed goose keepers isn’t known, because he didn’t seek a third term.
He died in March, 1897.