John Houston (newspaperman)

John Houston (November 1850–March 8, 1910) was a newspaper publisher and politician in British Columbia.

Born in Alton, Canada West (now Ontario), Houston's career as a newspaper publisher in British Columbia spanned twenty-two years, beginning in 1888 in the town of Donald. Later he would publish newspapers in New Westminster, Nelson, Rossland and Prince Rupert. His last paper would be printed in 1910 at South Fort George. John was married, though his wife, Edith May Keeley, didn't follow him on his constant ramblings throughout the province and stayed at their mansion in Nelson.

John Houston was the first mayor of Nelson, British Columbia and served from 1897 to 1905.

John Houston was a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for West Kootenay-Nelson from 1900 to 1903 and Nelson City from 1903 until 1907. During this time, he became well known for being a working-man's advocate and he often spoke against the policies of the Canadian Pacific Railway and supported a motion to stop provincial aid to railways.

Houston moved to Prince Rupert in summer 1907 to start the Prince Rupert Empire newspaper. In this paper he planned to continue his vocal opposition to the policies of the railroad, this time the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The GTP knew full well of John's reputation and did not appreciate his presence in Prince Rupert—their terminus, and a town they had grand designs for. Before John could print a single edition, the GTP harbor engineer impounded his printing press in a small shed on the wharf. Undeterred, John decided to have his paper published in Victoria and when the first edition got to Prince Rupert, it carried the headline that the GTP discourages newcomers to town. Other editions followed, and for two months, the Victoria-based Prince Rupert Empire blazed with editorials, prose and often poetry, describing the railway managers as "tin-gods" and accusing them of "a thousand blunders". After only two months of editions, the Empire had sold 10,000 copies of a paper originally meant for a population of 500. Then, with the assistance of a local constable, John liberated his press and continued publishing. Charles Melville Hays, who was then the president of the Grand Trunk Pacific, arrived in Prince Rupert later that year and offered John a permit to put his building wherever he liked. But, by then, John didn't need a lot in Prince Rupert. He had filed on a mineral claim near the wharf and had built the Empire Newspaper Office. If Charles Hays had hoped that his intended cooperation with John would gain the railroad favor with the Empire, he must've been sorely disappointed. John began encouraging other people to squat on the mineral claims by the wharf, instead of buying lots in the new GTP townsite, thus creating the community of Knoxville. The Grand Trunk Pacific had had enough. When the lots at Prince Rupert went up for sale in 1909, the land John Houston's Empire was on was quietly bought by the railway themselves. John sold his newspaper for $10,000 and left for Fort George.

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