As contractor, he was an associate in Peterson & Sons with his father,
Gilbert Peterson and brother,
Jesse Peterson. The company executed such contracts as the waterworks of
Toledo, Ohio and
Grand Rapids, Michigan along with a reservoir in
Washington, D.C. He was Mayor of Lockport in 1896 and 1897. Peterson along with Sterling H. Bunnell, held a patent on the Furnace Charging Apparatus. == Personal life ==