John Bachop Gilfillan (February 11, 1835 – August 19, 1924), known as J.B., was a Minnesota politician and lawyer active in the late 19th century.

[2] In 1855, he traveled to St. Anthony, Hennepin County, Minnesota to visit his sister, Mrs. John Martin, and decided to stay.

[3] Long a proponent of education, Gilfillan drafted legislation that organized the grade school system in Minneapolis.

[1] Voters placed Gilfillan in his first statewide office in a special election for state senate in 1875.

[6] [7] He left the senate in 1884 to pursue national office and was elected to the United States Congress to represent Minnesota's 4th congressional district.

[10] Gilfillan was Republican and a member of the Minneapolis Club, the Minnesota State Bar Association, and the Westminster Presbyterian Church until his death in 1924.