Logan Campbell was termed the father of Auckland within his own lifetime.
A chronology of his life is:
Born Edinburgh 3 November 1817.
Graduated doctor of medicine University of Edinburgh, 1839.
Sailed to Australia, 1839, met business partner William Brown on the ship.
Arrived Herekino, Coromandel Peninsula, 1840.
Moved to Auckland - purchased Motukorea, Browns Island. Set up trading company, 1840.
Acacia Cottage built, 1841.
Partners purchase One Tree Hill estate, 1853.
Elected superintendent of Auckland province, 1855.
Married to Emma Wilson, 1858.
Children born 1859, 1861 and 1864 (twins).
Brown and Campbell partnership dissolved, 1873.
Brown and Campbell merges with Ehrenfried Brothers to become Campbell Ehrenfried, 1897.
Elected Mayor of Auckland, 1901.
Donated Cornwall Park, 1901.
Knighted, 1902
Opens Cornwall Park, 1903.
Dies 22 June 1912. He is buried on the summit of One Tree Hill.

The many roles commercial and civic that Campbell played in the fledgling and growing city settle his reputation as the father of the city. His business here was founded the same year as Auckland and he became central to the commerce and politics of the city. As well as trading in merchandise and farming he was involved in shipping, brewing, timber, export of flax, kauri gum and manganese, newspaper publishing and banking, being a foundation director of the Bank of New Zealand. His public roles were in the government of the province and as a member of the New Zealand parliament, as a captain of the militia and in the foundation of the Mechanics Institute and the Northern Club to name a few.

He lived abroad for much of the period 1855 to 1871. His palatial home Kilbryde, built in 1877 in Parnell, no longer exists. Only one of his children survived him and he has no descendants alive today.

Brochures about Sir John are available at the Visitor Centre. Much of the displays at the Visitor Centre are about him and his commercial and other interests.

He is commemorated in the Park by the statue of him in his Mayoral robes, sited in Campbell Crescent at the city end of the Park.

The two volume biography of Campbell is:
R.C.J. Stone, 1982, Young Logan Campbell, Auckland University Press
R.C.J. Stone, 1987, The Father and His Gift, Auckland University Press.

Sir John's own account of his early life is Poenamo, London 1881. It has been republished many times in different editions.