Hobson, Joseph

HOBSON, Joseph (1834-1917) is best known for his role as Chief Engineer of the Grand Trunk Railway in eastern Canada from 1882 until after 1907. It can be added that he also pursued a brief career as an architect in Guelph, Ont. in the late 1860's. He styled himself as a 'Civil Engineer, Provincial Land Surveyor and Architect' beginning in January of 1868, and prepared designs for the Poor House, WATERLOO, ONT. (Guelph Daily Mercury, 29 Feb. 1868, 1; 2 March 1868, 1, descrip.). Later that year he was commissioned to modify the plans for Knox Presbyterian Church, Quebec Street, GUELPH, ONT., a design originally prepared by James Smith, the prolific church architect of Toronto (Guelph Evening Mercury, 20 Oct. 1868, 1, descrip.; Guelph Advertiser, 13 Jan. 1870, 2, descrip.; A. Byerly, One Hundred Years at Knox Presbyterian Church 1844-1944, 16, illus.). Born at Guelph on 4 March 1834 he was educated there and came to Toronto where he served an apprenticeship as surveyor with Kivas Tully. He then joined the firm of Gzowski & McPherson, Civil Engineers in Toronto and assisted with the building of the Grand Trunk line between Toronto and Guelph. Appointed resident engineer of the G.T.R. in 1870 he supervised the erection of Niagara River Bridge and three years later was appointed Chief Engineer for the Great Western Railway. His previous architectural training and practise proved useful in this new role for he is credited with the Gothic design for the Great Western Railway Station at CHATHAM, ONT. (Daily Advertiser [London], 29 Sept. 1879, 2, descrip.), a structure said to be modelled after the G.W.R. Station at HAMILTON, ONT., which presumably he had designed earlier that same year. He furnished the plans for the G.W.R. Depot and Station at CLIFTON, ONT., 1880; demol. 1937, near Niagara Falls, in a 'semi-Gothic style' (Spectator [Hamilton], 12 Jan. 1880, 4, descrip.; E. Julian et al, St. Catharines: Our Built Heritage, 2005, 25, illus.), and it is likely that many of the drawings for his designs for G.T.R. Stations which bear his signature and which survive in the National Archives of Canada were conceived by him during his tenure as Chief Engineer (NAC, RG30M, 78903/42). He wa appointed Chief Engineer of the entire G.T.R. system in 1882, and was the designer and builder of the St. Clair River railway tunnel at Sarnia, Ont., completed in 1891. Hobson also supervised the erection of the new double track Victoria Bridge spanning the St. Lawrence River at Montreal, Que. in 1896. He died at Hamilton on 19 December 1917 and is buried in Hamilton Cemetery (obituary in Spectator [Hamilton] 19 Dec. 1917, 21; OA, Wills, Wentworth Co., 10186)