Christopher Lyman Magee (April 14, 1848 – March 8, 1901) was a powerful political boss in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

Along with William Flinn (1851–1924), his political partner, the two ran the Republican Party machine that controlled the city for the last twenty years of the 19th century.

In 1879, in the city's Sixth Ward, one of Magee's brothers ran for office against William Flinn, an upstart in local politics.

Finally, the two were successful in placing public monies into banks and financial markets associated with industrial Pittsburgh's phenomenal growth after the American Civil War.

This won them untold favors from big business, especially allowing them to grant jobs to thousands and thus build their political machine.

He began as president of Transverse Railway Company, secured franchises through his political maneuverings, and eventually gained control over competing lines.

Magee's chief business partner was Joshua Rhodes, chairman of the National Tube Company, which later became part of U.S. Steel.

[3] Magee then purchased a trolley barn at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Craig Street in 1895, turned it into a 5,000-seat arena and named it the Duquesne Gardens.

Bigelow's brother Thomas, who had a long grudge against Magee because of "bad" deals involving street car lines, enlisted the help of Matt Quay at the state level.

According to University of Pittsburgh historian, Carolyn Carson, thousands of people lined the streets between Trinity Episcopal Church and Allegheny Cemetery, and women all along the route threw flowers and sometimes themselves onto the coffin.

When Magee took on the costly chore of consolidating the city's trolley lines, Quinon said it was done mainly to benefit everyday workers.

Better trolley service, he wrote, "induced those who dwelt in crowded quarters to find homes for themselves on the outskirts of the city, where there was pure air, a touch of nature and freedom from many temptations for both young and old."

During the Christmas holidays, said another biography located in the archives of Magee-Women's Hospital, "he stood on the steps of the old Fidelity Trust Building and gave silver dollars to young newsboys.

Meanwhile, Edward Muller, a University of Pittsburgh history professor, said Magee was a classic machine boss who not only helped shape the city's growth when its industry and population were increasing rapidly, but also ensured his political future by taking care of the many new immigrants flowing into the region.

Muller stated that, like other machine leaders, Magee figured out 'that by providing minimal services like a turkey in the pot at Thanksgiving or a load of coal when it was freezing or jobs in contracting companies that paved the streets and put in lighting and sewers, he could in turn get the voters' undying political loyalty."

In the end, Muller said, Magee accomplished a tremendous upgrade of the city's infrastructure at the time, with roads, sewers, gas, lighting, the parks system being built.

[7] Magee is honored with several monuments throughout the city of Pittsburgh, including one on Schenley Plaza created by the sculptor Augustus Saint Gaudens.