Margaret( Russell ) McIver was born in Ayrshire, or Glasgow, depending on what source you read on Ma

Margaret( Russell ) McIver was born in Ayrshire, or Glasgow, depending on what source you read on May 9th 1879 to a French polisher and policeman. “Maggie” went on to found the famous Barras in Glasgow.Maggie eventually moved to the Bridgeton area of Glasgow as as a young girl, during the time of the industrial expansion of the city. Mass immigration from the likes of the Scottish Highlands and Ireland created a population of lower working class who needed ways to make a living.The Bridgegate or Briggait was synonymous with the rag and second-hand clothes trade at that time. The Glaswegian word ‘barras’ describes the handcarts which the traders used to hawk their wares.By the age of 12, Maggie had her first taste of business looking after a family friend’s fruit barrow in Parkhead, from there, she was inspired to open a small fruit shop in Bridgeton and met her future husband and business partner, James McIver, at the local fruit market.With the beginning of World War One, there was an increase in the volume of traffic on the city thoroughfares and renewed attempts to discourage street trading. After witnessing barrow traders being booked by police, Maggie decided to provide a place for trading to continue.The McIvers organised a Saturday market on their land, now known as the Barras, and before long were attracting 300 barrows. Maggie rented out many of her stalls to women.The original market was sheltered in 1926 because Maggie was concerned for the welfare of the hawkers in bad weather.James McIver died of malaria, which he had contracted during the war, leaving Maggie to raise nine children and run the business on her own at the age of 49.As legend has it, the businesswoman decided to open the Barrowland Ballroom after the usual venue for her hawkers Christmas dance and meal was fully booked. The ballroom opened on Christmas Eve, 1934, capitalising on the dancing craze of the 1930s and allowing Maggie to provide for her family.Having come from humble beginnings, Maggie was a multi-millionaire by the time she died in 1958.The ballroom was burned down in a massive fire shortly after Maggie’s death, but reopened in 1960, with the famous neon signage erected around 1982.The first pic is of Margaret, second a plaque on The Barrowland, and third is at Glasgow Green gate dedicated to Maggie McIver. -- source link

More pics about