Michael Copps Costello

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Dr. Michael Copps Costello (August 2, 1875 – March 22, 1936) was a printer, a medical graduate (who never practiced his profession) and the 22nd mayor of Calgary, Alberta.

Michael William Costello was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1875 to John William Costello and Elizabeth Copps. As a child, he became known as Copps Costello, the name by which he is described in the 1891 census for Calgary, having been enumerated as Michael William Costello in the 1881 census for Renfrew Village, Ontario. In adult life, he changed his middle name to his mother's maiden name, Copps, the name by which he was generally known.

Copps arrived in Calgary on the historic first train to the city in 1883. His early education was in Calgary and he became an apprentice printer. After completing his apprenticeship, he began working for the Calgary Herald. He went on to study medicine at Queen's University in Kingston in 1904. He then went to London, England for a year's post-graduate education and continued with further medical studies at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. While in Ireland, he visited his father's birthplace at Trienearagh, County Kerry. He married Pearl Corrigan in Kingston in 1910.

On his return to Calgary, Copps Costello entered municipal politics. In 1913 and 1914, he was an alderman on Calgary City Council. In the latter year, he was chosen to carry the responsibilities of acting mayor, during Mayor Sinnott's absence of three months. In the election for the following year, he was elected Mayor of Calgary. He spent four years as mayor - from January 2, 1915 to January 2, 1919. He ran unsuccessfully as a Conservative MLA candidate in the Calgary electoral riding in the 1921 and 1926 Alberta general elections.

Following his retirement from the mayoralty, Copps Costello became connected with the Calgary Iron Works, where he worked in an executive capacity for many years before retiring for reasons of indifferent health.

Costello was a founding member of the Southern Alberta Pioneer and Old Timers' Association and served as Grand Knight on the Calgary Council of the Knights of Columbus. He died in 1936.