2nd Montreal Mayor, Entrepreneur. He served in that position from 1840 to 1842. Born Peter McCutcheon in Creebridge, Wigtownshire (later Dumfries and Galloway), Scotland, he was educated at local grammar schools before immigrating to Canada at the request of his heir and uncle John McGill (a noted Loyalist military officer and public official in Upper Canada, who made his fortune after the American Revolutionary War had ended). Upon his arrival in Canada, he settled in Montreal and took a job as a furrier's assistant at the Parker, Gerrard, Ogilvy & Company. A few years later, he became a junior partner in the franchise and he opened his own store McCutcheon & Dowie in 1820. During this time he also became a founding director of the Bank of Montreal, and would later serve as its vice president and long term president. On March 21, 1821, at the request of his uncle, he changed his last name to McGill. The company also changed its name from McCutcheon & Dowie to Peter McGill & Company in 1823, and by 1825, the company became a powerful timber broker business and it began to import and export anything from food, alcohol to potash. He later became interested in politics and took a seat in the Legislative Council of Lower Canada from 1832 to 1837. In 1834, his uncle died and he decided to invest a large sum of his inheritance in the future of transportation and manufacturing. He amassed a further great fortune by funding the construction of canals, steamships, and railways. He founded the first railway company in Canada and later invested money in the Marmora Ironworks in Marmora, Ontario, but lost a large sum of his money in doing so. His railway company in which he served as its president provided travel to the public throughout Canada as part of the St. Lawrence & Champlain Railway. On opening day, his little Dorchester railway engine ran 14 miles on wooden rails towing four cars. Behind it, a team of horses trudged dragging the other 12 cars which were too heavy for the engine. It was, nonetheless, proclaimed a great success. In 1836, he also became a Member of the Special Court of the Sessions of the Peace, an organization in charge of city businesses. In 1840, he was elected as the second Mayor of the city of Montreal under the new charter incorporating Montreal as a city and he would serve in that role until 1842. As Mayor, he was responsible for the introduction of the first by-laws relating to public markets, the Fire Department and the levying of property taxes. He also served as a Member of the Special Council of Lower Canada from 1838 to 1841, a two-term President of the Saint Andrew's Society of Montreal (a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating Scottish heritage) from 1835 to 1842, and 1844 to 1846, and as President of the Bank of Montreal from 1834 to 1860. He lastly served on a seat in the Legislative Council of the United Provinces from 1841 to 1860. Due to many of his investments in his career, some good and some bad he was heavily in debt by the age of 70. He had lost a lot of money mainly on the catastrophe of the Marmora Ironworks. He owed out a whopping $40, 981 and had to borrow money from the Bank of Montreal to pay off several debtors. Upon his death a year later at the age of 71, he was worth about $80,000. His funeral and burial were paid by his estate. For his contributions to the city of Montreal, the Rue Peter-McGill in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough was named in his honor.