One of the men on the Committee of Arrangements was John D. McGilvray b. 1847 in Inverarity, Scotland, m. Marion Beaton in Renfrew, Scotland in 1870, migrated to New York, Chigago, Denver, and California. By profession he was a stonecutter as were family members. John became a stone contractor in Denver and organized John D. McGilvray and Company in that city. Later he formed Hayes and McGilvray with his brother-in-law, Thomas Carroll Hayes. They built Denver City Hall as well as other impressive Denver buildings. Eventually McGilvray became an alderman. As a member of the Caledonian society, he was largely responsible for placing a statue of Robert Burns in the city park. He built his very own Scottish castle house in Denver, completed 1893. Later he moved to California and purchased the McLennan Granite Company in 1897, renaming it McGilvray Stone Company. The business was located east of San Francisco in Raymond, Madera County. He was hired in 1898 to build Stanford University and his family moved into the Escondite Cottage on its campus.
