JOSEPH A. GABOURY, Civil Engineer and railroad contractor of Jacksonville, Ala., was born near Montreal, Can., in 1851. He was a son of Francis and Catharine (Lavigne) Gaboury, both of whom were natives of Canada. Joseph A. Gaboury was reared and educated in Canada until he was eighteen years of age, having attended by this time the university, and taken a classical course and a course in civil engineering. Graduating at the age of eighteen, he remained a short time in Canada, and was soon engaged as civil engineer on The Cincinnati Southern Railway. He afteward served in the same capacity on The Big Sandy Railroad; The Fort Worth & Denver City Railroad; The Knoxville & Ohio Railroad; The Western North Carolina Railroad; The Tidesville and Lake Harney Railroad; The Georgia division of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad; The Blue Mountain Mineral Railroad; The Arcadia, Gulf Coast & Lakeland Railroad; the Columbus, Georgia street railroad, and on The Capital City Street Railroad, Montgomery, Ala.; on all these railroads working as contractor as well as engineer, except The Fort Worth & Denver City Railroad. The steet railways in Columbus, Ga., and Montgomery, Ala., he built and owned. With his partner Mr. Charles Vanderpoel of Detroit, Michigan, Gaboury made Montgomery, Alabama, the first city in America to build a
practical electric trolley car passenger system thereby proving that the electric tram was viable as a means of public transportation. After their success at Montgomery,
the city of Columbus, Muscogee county, Georgia, copied the
model created in Montgomery. After these initial city systems were proven reliable, sound, profitable, etc., electric transit was adopted in myriad other places.

In 1883, he adapted electricity as a motive power and
was the first in the United States to successfully and practically apply electricity as a motive power, and that in Montgomery, Ala. He was a large real estate owner and developer, one of the largest in Alabama. He was the sole owner of The Blue Mountain Railroad, in connection with iron, basic steel and pig iron production.

JOSEPH A. GABOURY, Civil Engineer and railroad contractor of Jacksonville, Ala., was born near Montreal, Can., in 1851. He was a son of Francis and Catharine (Lavigne) Gaboury, both of whom were natives of Canada. Joseph A. Gaboury was reared and educated in Canada until he was eighteen years of age, having attended by this time the university, and taken a classical course and a course in civil engineering. Graduating at the age of eighteen, he remained a short time in Canada, and was soon engaged as civil engineer on The Cincinnati Southern Railway. He afteward served in the same capacity on The Big Sandy Railroad; The Fort Worth & Denver City Railroad; The Knoxville & Ohio Railroad; The Western North Carolina Railroad; The Tidesville and Lake Harney Railroad; The Georgia division of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad; The Blue Mountain Mineral Railroad; The Arcadia, Gulf Coast & Lakeland Railroad; the Columbus, Georgia street railroad, and on The Capital City Street Railroad, Montgomery, Ala.; on all these railroads working as contractor as well as engineer, except The Fort Worth & Denver City Railroad. The steet railways in Columbus, Ga., and Montgomery, Ala., he built and owned. With his partner Mr. Charles Vanderpoel of Detroit, Michigan, Gaboury made Montgomery, Alabama, the first city in America to build a
practical electric trolley car passenger system thereby proving that the electric tram was viable as a means of public transportation. After their success at Montgomery,
the city of Columbus, Muscogee county, Georgia, copied the
model created in Montgomery. After these initial city systems were proven reliable, sound, profitable, etc., electric transit was adopted in myriad other places.

In 1883, he adapted electricity as a motive power and
was the first in the United States to successfully and practically apply electricity as a motive power, and that in Montgomery, Ala. He was a large real estate owner and developer, one of the largest in Alabama. He was the sole owner of The Blue Mountain Railroad, in connection with iron, basic steel and pig iron production.