George Stewart Johnson
George Stewart Johnson, one of the distinguished business men of Grand Rapids, is a native of Michigan and a son of G. K. Johnson, a leading physician of the city, an appropriate mention of whom will be found elsewhere in these pages. He was born in the city of Pontiac, December 8, 1850, and obtained his early education in the schools of Grand Rapids, which was supplemented by attendance at an institution of a higher grade in Philadelphia, Pa., where he made substantial progress in the more advanced branches of learning.
Having early manifested decided abilities in the line of mathematics, Mr. Johnson devoted much of his time to the study of the same while attending school in Philadelphia, and in 1869 entered upon a thorough course of civil engineering in the university of Michigan, which institution he attended for a period of four years, graduating in the profession in 1873.
The most important heritage that came to young Stewart was a sound constitution, as an active mind, a genuine brand of true American grit and an intelligent comprehension of the way in which to put these to the best use. While in school his progress was marked, in both literary and professional courses he distinguished himself far beyond the success usually attained by the ordinary student. After graduated he at once engaged in the active practice of his profession at Ludington, Mich., where for a period of two years he was employed in laying out streets, establishing a sewage system, superintending the construction of the water-works, and looking after the paving of streets and side-walks. The work in Ludington was the beginning of the career of Mr. Johnson as a civil engineer, and so satisfactory did it prove that it soon earned him much more than a local reputation as a thorough master of the profession . He next entered the service of the English government, and for about two and a half years assisted in the government survey in the province of Ontario, returning to Michigan at the end of this time and accepting the position of assistant engineer on the G. R. & I. R. R., the duties of which he discharged in a manner highly creditable to himself and satisfactory to the company for the period of five years. During the succeeding ten years he filled the responsible position of chief engineer for the above corporation, his long continuance therein attesting the high esteem in which he was held personally, as well as his superior professional qualifications.
Mr. Johnson severed his connection with the above road in 1894 to accept the management of the Consolidated Street railway company of Grand Rapids, in which capacity he continued until elected to the presidency of the same two years later. In the management of this company, Mr. Johnson has displayed executive abilities of a very high order, and since assuming control the system has been greatly enlarged and the lines extended to all the parks and resorts contiguous to the city. The corporation is one of the most extensive business enterprises of Grand Rapids, representing a capital in excess of $1,500,000 and giving employment to 400 men. It owns North park and Reed’s Lake lines, and plans are now being matured to extend its lines to other and more remote points beyond the confines of the city.
The busy life Mr. Johnson has led and his long connection with railroading and other large interests have brought him prominently to the notice of the public as one of the representative men of the city and state. He has always read and studied extensively along the line of his chosen calling, and his thorough knowledge of every detail pertaining thereto, and its practical reduction to the various works over which he has had supervision, have won for him the reputation of being one of the ablest civil engineers of the northwest. It might be well in this connection to state that, prior to his entering the university, Mr. Johnson had two years’ practical experience on the construction of the railroad from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo, now the Lake Shore, and was also employed for a considerable period on what is now the Chicago & West Michigan, between Muskegon and Big Rapids. From the first his career has been characterized by a series of continued successes, and being still in the prime of vigorous manhood, his many friends have every reason to predict for him a long and still more prosperous future.
Mr. Johnson was happily united in marriage September 2, 1873, at Grand Rapids, to Miss Anna E. Sinclair, a native of the city, and daughter of Thompson Sinclair, a prominent citizen of the place. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have had two children, George K., and Adaline, the latter deceased.
In politics, as in business, Mr. Johnson has ever taken an active interest, but not as a partisan or seeker after honors or emoluments of office in the former. He is a close student of political movements and a firm believer in that wing of the democracy which stood for sound money in the last national contest—in other words, he is a gold democrat. His close connection with vast business interest has not prevented him from mingling with his fellowmen socially, and today he is a leading spirit in, and one of the founders of, the Lake Side club, of which he is treasurer, and he also belongs to the Peninsula and Country clubs. Fraternally he is a Mason of high degree, belonging to De Molai commandery and the Mystic Shrine. The Episcopal church represents his religious creed, to which body his wife also belongs.
Although engrossed in business and social affairs, Mr. Johnson never carries them into the quite atmosphere of home. As soon as he leaves his office, by a wonderful power of self-control he shakes off all care and business worry and goes happily to a domestic circle, comfortable in all its appointments and restful in its luxury. There, environs by the tenderness of family ties, and surrounded by many evidence of culture and refinement, he welcomes his friends to a generous, hospitable and enjoyed entertainment.