By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer
Mayor Marshall Murphy Gowland was a man ahead of his time.
A generation before Sarnia Council began debating the wisdom of building a multi-use complex, Mayor Gowland was advocating the establishment of a new civic centre.
Born in Milton in 1913, Gowland studied medicine at Queen’s University. During the Second World War he put his training to good use at the War Emergency Hospital in Warwickshire, England.
After the war, he moved to Sarnia and quickly gained a reputation as an outstanding local surgeon. He was also noted as a man who supported the United Way, the Red Cross and the Cerebral Palsied Society.
Gowland was elected to City Council as an Alderman in 1952 and served in that capacity for more than five years.
When Mayor Bill Nelson died suddenly in August 1957, he was chosen by fellow Councillors to finish the late Mayor’s term.
The new Chief Magistrate was a major backer of a proposed community centre. In fact, under his leadership the City’s Planning Board spent 16 months drawing up plans for its construction.
Unfortunately, the project never got off the drawing board. According to a 1958 report in The Observer, the centre was “unceremoniously thrown out the door when Council rejected it”.
Mayor Gowland had better luck getting a much-needed sewage treatment plant off the ground. Planning for the $3.7 million project was completed before he stepped down at the end of 1958 and the plant was built the following year.
John Matheson, who served on Gowland’s Council, said Mayor Gowland was a strong leader who rallied Council after Mayor Nelson’s unexpected death. “Marsh carried on in a very businesslike fashion. He was very popular. We got along very well under his leadership”.
He added the Mayor “sacrificed a great deal by taking on the Mayor’s job. It affected his practice. He told me that”.
On leaving office Gowland said, “I know I have been autocratic at times, but only in an effort to administer”.
Gowland, who lived at 904 London Road with wife Jean and their two sons, died on September 26, 1966, at age 53.
Marshall Gowland Manor Home for the Aged on London Road is named in his honour.