40) Armour Livingstone McCrae: Elected mayor for the City of Welland in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956 & 1957

Vital statistics

Birth: June 28, 1917 at Govan, Scotland

Death: November 3, 2007 at Toronto, Ontario, Canada (age 90)

Burial place: Westminster Cemetery

Parents: Nichol / Emily

Spouses: Jessie King (née Mains) / Heather (née Montgomery)

Children: Armour / James / Wendy / Donna / Nichol M.

Occupations: Labourer / Clerk / Merchant

Religion: Presbyterian

Profile

Armour Livingstone McCrae was born on June 28, 1917 at Govan in Scotland to Nicholas and Emily McCrae. When he was not yet a year old his parents immigrated the family to Canada. He was around ten years old when they finally settled in Welland, and Armour once publicly recollected his earliest days here when trodding the dusty streets of Welland as a barefoot boy. He attended Welland High, and then Welland Business College for a year. He then worked at the Electro-Metallurgical Company for six years until 1943, when he enlisted with Canada’s Armed Forces as a Private. In 1945 when he returned home safely, he began a new venture with his brother Alex (also a returning veteran) called McCrae Bros. Sporting Goods at 285 East Main St. Welland councillor Sandy O’Dell remembered Armour the store owner in 2007 from when he was himself a young boy: “He was the kind of person where if you came from a family without means he would lower his prices so kids could play sports.”

It was around the time he was setting up his business that he decided to get into municipal politics. He was elected as a councillor for the first time for the year of 1945. He was elected two more times, then in 1948 decided to run for mayor, in which he came second place to Harry Wallace Diffin. He took the next year off, and then returned as councillor for the years 1950, 1951 and 1952. His reputation had grown by this time to such an extent that his first election as mayor in 1953 was an acclamation. In fact all five of his elections were acclamations; he never had an opponent to contest the mayoralty, which shows how happy council and the public were with his leadership. He was ultimately the mayor for six years, as the last election he won in 1957 was a two-year term. Municipal elections in Ontario cities like Welland had occurred annually, until in 1957 it was changed to a two-year term cycle (then in 1983 it was changed to three years, and finally in 2006 it became the current four-year term). At the time the benefits of the change was that it assured more continuity with regard to planning and policies resulting in more constructive work, and with a two-year term elected members have more opportunity to become familiar with the work and to prove their ability.

To say that Armour ably filled the mayor’s chair would be understating it. At the end of his last year as mayor in 1958 multiple outlets were saying he was the best mayor Welland ever had. Bob Chambers, photographer for the Tribune at the time, later said “It was a time when things were bustling, things were happening and Welland was just in the process of building an incredible new hospital.” At the end of 1958 Armour had to move to Toronto as he took a position with the Ontario Municipal Board (today known as the Ontario Land Tribunal), where he would be a member and vice-chairman, and he worked there from 1958-1983.

On December 4, 1958, 300 representatives from all walks of life gathered at the Rose Villa Inn to say goodbye and pay homage to Armour, in a testimonial dinner sponsored by the Greater Welland Chamber of Commerce. Incoming mayor Gabriel Johnston Macoomb said in a speech that “With all respect to former mayors… all would agree that Armour McCrae had been the most colorful, the most active and the most successful in the history of the city. His work in the municipal field extended across the province and the dominion… The resonant, full-throated golden voice of Armour McCrae was heard many, many times throughout Ontario, across Canada, in the U.S.A., in Great Britain and other countries.” Indeed he was a well-known after dinner and convention speaker and represented Welland and Canada in many international events. Armour said in his own speech at the testimonial dinner: “In Britain I said that Welland was the future Ruhr Valley. I never lost an opportunity to extol the virtues of the stainless steel of Atlas, of the Big Inch Mill, and the E.M. There were no boundaries in my thinking. It didn’t matter if it was Welland, Crowland or the paper mills in Thorold.” He also attested that “Welland was a great city because it had learned well the awful lesson of bigotry and intolerance. People of many diverse origins and religions had come to respect one another here and had learned to live together.” Armour was also known for promoting a better understanding between English and French-speaking Canada, and played a large role in twinning the city of Welland with the Quebec city of Sorel.

1958 was also the year Welland held its extensive Centennial celebrations, it being 100 years since it was incorporated as a village. Armour played a large role in the planning of the events and also in the celebrations themselves. Incoming mayor Gabriel Macoomb said he helped end an era in Welland’s history with a flourish and a new era to commence, which was a striking coincidence as Armour was also personally going through a radical change with his career and by moving to Toronto.

The six years he spent as mayor of Welland turned out to be the favourite thing he ever did, he loved it, according to his widow Heather. “He loved Welland. He was a man of the people and he loved to work for the people at the grassroots level.” He visited Welland almost every weekend according to Heather. Former mayor Allan Pietz said Armour was mayor during some difficult times and a time of expansion. Allan also credited him as beginning the idea of Welland annexing Crowland, which ultimately occurred on January 1, 1961, changing the population of Welland from 17,433 residents to over 36,000. Allan recalled Crowland’s council being strongly opposed but in the end he believed it turned out to be the right thing to do.

“Prince of a man” printed in large text was the front page of the Tribune on November 6, 2007, succinctly summing up Armour after his death (which occurred on November 3, 2007 in Toronto). His widow Heather stated how disappointed he was to see over the ensuing decades that Welland lost its viability as an industrial centre. In the last ten years of his life he lost his sight as a result of diabetes, and his overall health making life difficult for him the final couple years, but not losing his zest for life. “He had such a wonderful spirit and always a happy smile. He was always happy to talk to people. He was a real people person and loved to converse.” In 1962 the city of Welland renamed Maple Drive to McCrae Drive in his honour.

Sources

“Armour L. McCrae.” Welland-Port Colborne Evening Tribune, June 7, 1943.
“Armour McCrae Remembered At Council.” The Tribune, November 8, 2007.
“Community Pays Glowing Tribute To Armour McCrae.” Evening Tribune, December 5, 1958.
“McCrae, Armour Livingstone.” The Tribune, November 5, 2007.
“Municipalities Adopting Two-Year Term Should Find Experience Satisfactory.” Evening Tribune, October 5, 1956.
“Prince of a man.” The Tribune, November 5, 2007.
“Well Earned Tribute.” Evening Tribune, December 6, 1958.