John C. Mackie (1920-2008) was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, before coming to Detroit with his parents in 1924. He graduated from Detroit’s Southeastern High School in 1938, before attending Lawrence Institute of Technology and later graduating from Michigan State College (now MSU) with a B.S. in Engineering in 1942. Mackie served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

Following the war, Mackie moved to Flint, Michigan, and in 1952 established the Flint Surveying and Engineering Company. Here, he got his first experience in public office as the Genesee County surveyor from 1952 to 1956.

In 1956, John Mackie ran for statewide office for the newly-created State Highway Commissioner elected office. Previously this was an appointed position and Michigan’s shift to an elected highway commissioner made it the first state in the nation to elect such a position. He won the election and took office for a four-year term in 1957 as Michigan’s first elected State Highway Commissioner - this took his work to Lansing.

Upon his election to statewide office, the Mackie family moved to Ingham County and purchased an 80-acre farm in Holt. The Mackie farm - which was named Lomar Farms - was located on East Holt Road at the top of the hill just west of College Road. The farm was previously owned by the Hartig family.

The Mackie family farm grew corn and wheat, and raised registered Quarter Horses. As a surveyor by trade, he surveyed the 80 acres to plan how to best use the land, about 55 acres of corn and 15 acres of wheat (which was federally regulated).

As Highway Commissioner, Mackie was responsible for the vast expansion of the Interstate Highway System. He led the way as Michigan led the nation in freeway construction, including the development of I-94, the first cross-state interstate highway in the U.S. He was reelected to the post in 1960 for a second four-year term. His work also led to the first highway exit numbering system in the country.

As his three daughters attended Holt Schools, Mackie advertised for both his farm and the State Highway Department in the Rampages yearbook in the early 1960s.

He served as president of the American Association of State Highway Officials in 1963. Due to his work in highway development, the Welcome Center and highway rest stop in Clare, Michigan, is named in Mackie’s honor. He was later inducted in the Michigan State Department of Transportation Hall of Fame in 1972, and has been highly awarded in the transportation and highway development field.

In 1964, Mackie ran for United States Representative, and was elected to Congress in a Democratic sweep of Michigan’s Congressional Districts that year. Upon his election, the Mackie family left the Holt farm and moved to a smaller 60-acre horse farm in Warrenton, Virginia. He served one term in Congress, 1965-1966, before being defeated by Donald Riegle in 1966.

Following his tenure in Congress, John founded Mackie Engineering in Lexington, Kentucky, and Charlottesville, Virginia. He continued work as a national leader in freeway engineering. Among his later accomplishments were the design and construction of the Luling Bridge over the Mississippi River, in his capacity as executive vice president of Frankland & Leinhard of New York.

John C. Mackie died in 2008 in Virginia and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His wife Kathleen “Kay” Flood Mackie died in 2017.