User:Julius177/kirkwood

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Matthew Kirkwood (8 June 1876 – July 1951) was a railway worker and manager who was instrumental in the construction and management of a succession of Ontario electric railways which culminated in the Grand River Railway and the Canadian Pacific Electric Lines (CPEL). He is notable for being instrumental in the advent of electric railways in the Grand River region, his longstanding management of these railways, and his impact on the local communities through the rail transportation industry. He was inducted into the Cambridge Hall of Fame in 2017.

Early life
Matthew Kirkwood was born in Cheltenham, Ontario on 8 June 1876 to David Kirkwood and Sarah Jane Wilkinson. David Kirkwood operated a mill in Cheltenham until his death in 1891, just before his thirtieth birthday. After David's death, Sarah and her children moved to Preston, Ontario, which at the time was a growing industrial centre.

At the age of 18, Kirkwood began his railway career as an electrician and mechanic working in the powerhouse of the newly-operating Galt and Preston Street Railway (G&P, later GP&H), where he was paid a wage of 60 cents per day. The powerhouse, then under construction, was located in a former stone stable near Lowther Street in Preston, and required labourers to retrofit it. Afterward, Kirkwood continued to work in the powerhouse as an electrician, and by 1900 he was providing professional expertise to the Preston and Berlin Street Railway outside of his work in the powerhouse. On 2 September 1902, after eight years at the powerhouse, he was promoted to Powerhouse Superintendent. Starting in 1903, he became involved in the GP&H's freight expansion plans, with the purchase of a new electric freight motor from Baldwin-Westinghouse