Creelman MacArthur built a vacation home in 1933, on the land where our house is located, when he was a member of the Canadian Senate. Before his time in Ottawa, he was a prominent Summerside businessman and a member of the provincial government.
In May of 1924, MLA MacArthur left on what seems to have been a business trip to Ottawa and then on to Europe.
Of note is the flight he took from London to Paris. Commercial passenger air service between London and Paris started in 1919, according to a couple of sources I found. I’m fairly certain that there was no commercial passenger aviation in our part of the world at that time, so could old Creel have been the first Prince Edward Islander to take a commercial passenger flight? I’ll claim that for him and look forward to being proven wrong.
The image of him puffing away in a pokey plane cabin listening to a tinny BBC radio broadcast while looking down as the Dover cliffs give way to the English Channel is clear in my imagination. What a trip!
—RETURNS HOME— Mr. Creelman MacArthur, M. L. A. returned home to Summerside last week from a visit to the Old Country and the Wembley Exhibition. During the trip he toured England. Scotland, France and other parts of Europe. In London he met quite a lot of Canadian friends, some visiting and others located there. He reports having had an enoyable time. Amongst one of his interesting experiences was a flight from London to Paris by the regular express air route which is not only a saving of time but a most comfortable mode of travel. Mr. MacArthur was allowed to smoke his cigar whilst travelling several thousand feet up in the air and to listen in at a radio concert picked up in transit.
