Worthy Stevens Streator (October 16, 1816 – March 6, 1902) was an American physician, railroad developer, industrialist and entrepreneur after whom the city of Streator, Illinois is named. He was instrumental in the creation of the Atlantic and Great Western Railway in Ohio, was president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), and financed the first large-scale coal mine operation in Northern Illinois in 1866. He served as an Ohio State Senator in 1869, and was the first mayor of East Cleveland, Ohio. He was an influential in the development of many civic institutions in his home city of Cleveland, Ohio. He co-founded the Christian Standard magazine, he was an original endower of Case School of Applied Science and was a principal in the creation of the James A. Garfield Monument; the first true mausoleum created in the United States in honor of President James A. Garfield. He was a pallbearer at President Garfield's funeral in 1881. Background Born in Hamilton, Madison County, New York, on October 16, 1816, Streator was a descendant of Stephen Streeter, who emigrated to Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1642, whose lineage traces back to the 15th century in Kent, England. His great-grandfather, John Streator, served in the American Revolutionary War as a private in the Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Militia. At age eighteen he entered medical school and upon graduation moved to Aurora, Ohio, in 1838. In 1839 he married Sarah Wakeley Sterling, of Lyman, New York. They had five children; Helen Gertrude (born May 20, 1842), Sterling Rush (born December 31, 1845), Henry Doolittle (born August 26, 1851), Edward H. (born August 20, 1855) and Harold Arthur (born August 5, 1861). By 1850, Streator moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and retired from medicine. Railroads Once in Cleveland and removed from the practice of medicine, Streator embarked on his second career in developing railroads. With his partner, Henry Doolittle, their firm built the Greenville and Medina Railroad. In 1853 they contracted for the construction of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad in Ohio. Work continued on this and other ancillary lines of the railroad until completion in 1861, when he sold his unfinished contracts upon the death of Doolittle. In 1862 he began plans for the Oil Creek Railroad, which would bring newly discovered oil from the Oil Creek fields in western Pennsylvania to the town of Corry, Pennsylvania. This highly coveted railroad was a great financial success