 With the rise of the railroad, Thaw divested the canal business and invested in the new Pennsylvania Company, which managed interests of the Pennsylvania Railroad, in which he was a large shareholder.Thaw endowed science fellowships at Harvard University and Princeton University and bestowed lavish gifts on art and education.He underwrote the building of the Allegheny Observatory for John Brashear, considered at the time one of the ten best in the world.