George Roby Dempster
| George Roby Dempster | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 16, 1887 Knoxville, Tennessee, United States |
| Died | September 18, 1964 (aged 77) Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Resting place | Greenwood Cemetery Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Occupation | Businessman, inventor, politician |
| Political party | Democratic Party |
| Spouse(s) | Mildred Frances Seymour |
| Children | George S. Dempster Josephine Dempster (Epperson) Ann Dempster (Smallman) |
| Parent(s) | John Dempster and Ann Doherty |
George Roby Dempster (September 16, 1887 – September 18, 1964) was an American businessman, inventor, and politician, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the first half of the twentieth century. Dempster is best known for the invention of the Dempster-Dumpster, a now-commonly-used trash receptacle that can be mechanically emptied into garbage trucks. During the 1910s and 1920s, the Dempster Brothers Construction Company, operated by Dempster and his brothers, built a number of roads and railroads across the Southern Appalachian region. Dempster also served as a city manager and mayor of Knoxville, where he became legendary for his political battles with eccentric Knoxville businessman Cas Walker and Knoxville Journal editor Guy Smith, Jr.
Dempster was born in 1887, the ninth child of Scottish immigrant John Dempster and Irish immigrant Ann Doherty. John Dempster co-managed Scott, Dempster and Company, a gristmilling firm that operated a mill along First Creek. As a teenager, George Dempster travelled around the country working odd jobs for various companies, including the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad, and the Ward Line shipping company. A railroad strike in 1903 left him briefly stranded in a hobo colony in Iowa. Dempster graduated from the Girls High School in Knoxville in 1906, having served as the school's class president.
After high school, Dempster worked as a steam shovel operator on the Panama Canal project, helping to excavate the canal's Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks. During the project, Dempster nearly lost his life on several occasions when rock slides caused his steam shovel to flip over. He also contracted typhoid fever, and bickered with famed physician William C. Gorgas over the most effective treatment. One of Dempster's earliest innovations was a device that allowed his shovel's dipper to mechanically empty its load.
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