John Hotaling

John Ritter Hotaling (March 3, 1824 – October 12, 1886) was an American soldier, engineer, and businessman. He served as a dragoon in the Mexican–American War and as a cavalry officer and senior staff member of General John Logan's during the American Civil War. After the war, Hotaling was elected postmaster of Rochelle, Illinois; a position he occupied for 15 years, after which he retired and moved his family to Huron. He died there in 1886 of a heart attack.
Early life and career.
Hotaling was born in Sharon, New York, the eldest of ten children. His father, Robert (1796–1886), was a farmer and at the age of 15, the younger Hotaling began training in printing. After completing 18 months of his apprenticeship, Hotaling's father allowed his son to move to New York City, where he began working in a printing office. After a year of employment, Hotaling traveled to Europe; visiting Antwerp, Rotterdam, and other European cities, possibly while doing genealogy research. Upon returning to New York, he took work in a wire factory for several years.
On March 20, 1847, Hotaling enlisted in the NY militia as a dragoon, with the intention of serving in the Mexican–American War. Hotaling landed in Veracruz as part of the army that was under the command of General Winfield Scott, and fought his way inland toward Mexico City. During guerrilla action in the Battle for Mexico City, he was severely wounded by a slash to the throat and would have died, were it not for the medical attention of a fellow soldier. On July 21, 1848, Hotaling was discharged due to the end of the war.
In 1849, at the height of the California Gold Rush, Hotaling, now a civilian and veteran, accompanied 60 other men on a trip to California by sea. Their ship proved to be very cumbersome, and they were forced to dock for a period in Brazil, where they were invited guests at the birthday celebration of Brazilian Emperor Pedro II. Eight months after initially setting sail, the group finally arrived in California. Hotaling lived for two years in California, but then returned to New York.
He married Sophia Waterhouse of Brooklyn, and the newlywed couple moved West, settling in Lindenwood, Illinois, where they lived as farmers. In 1852, Hotaling was contracted to build a two-mile stretch of track through Ogle County. In 1855, Hotaling built what was said to be the first brick building in Lane, Illinois (now Rochelle): a three-story office building which also included an elevator.
Civil War.
In 1861, at the start of the American Civil War, Hotaling helped raise a company of Union cavalrymen that was recognized by the Army as Co. A, 2nd Illinois Cavalry Regiment. His brother Nick, who had also moved to Ogle County from New York, enlisted and served along with him. Three of Hotaling's other brothers served in Eastern Regiments. Hotaling, newly commissioned as a captain, was one of the commanding officers of Company A. He would also command company B of the same regiment at various times.
Union General Grant made frequent use of both companies in battle, considering them very mobile and efficient. Hotaling's skill later caught the eye of Union General Edward Ord, who appointed Hotaling and his men as his personal escort group. Hotaling commanded both companies A & B at the Battle of Fort Donelson. Hotaling and Capt. Larison commanded 126 men in the Battle of Shiloh. On November 19, 1863, Hotaling was promoted to the rank of major. After Ord was wounded, Hotaling and his men served as escort to Union General John A. Logan, who later appointed Hotaling as his personal chief of staff. In the summer of 1864, Major Hotaling served under Logan in the ranks of the XV Corps in the Battle of Atlanta. As a part of the Atlanta force, Hotaling may have taken part in Sherman's march to the sea; though, since General Logan had temporarily passed command of the XVth to General Oliver Otis Howard after Atlanta, it is not certain. Major Hotaling did serve under General Logan once more in the Carolinas Campaign.
Those who served with and under Hotaling regarded him as a born leader; charismatic, intelligent, and friendly. There soon began talk within the higher ranks of promoting Hotaling to the rank of colonel and a command of his own, but Logan so well-liked his adjutant that he would hear nothing of it. Hotaling was repeatedly passed over for promotions, and would stay at his rank of major until the end of the war. After the war, during Army reunions, Logan was regularly heard praising Hotaling's bravery and resourcefulness. In 1868, General Charles C. Walcott said of Hotaling: "Our forces owed their success before Atlanta more to him than any other man."
In February 1863, Hotaling received word that his wife Sophia had died in Illinois of tuberculosis.
Postbellum career.
Hotaling retired from service after the war and returned to Illinois, where he married a 39-year-old widow named Carrie Cass on December 9, 1868. In the fall of 1869, Hotaling was elected postmaster of Rochelle, a position he occupied until 1884. In 1871, Hotaling appointed his wife postmistress pro tempore and ventured to Central America, lured by an opportunity in the railroad business. However, the tropical environment proved too harsh for Hotaling, and he returned to the States after six months. In February 1874, perhaps nostalgic about his earlier experiences in Brazil & California, Hotaling traveled to South America with an interest in gold mining. The climate and complex obstacles involved in the trade took their toll once more, and Hotaling returned home after a mere two months. It would be his last known expedition outside the United States.
In the 1880s, after purchasing some land in the Dakota Territory, Hotaling moved to Huron but died of a heart attack in 1886, at the age of 62. His body was returned to Rochelle, where it is buried in the Lawnridge Cemetery.
His grave, to this day, is routinely decorated on Memorial Day. A 2004 article in the Rochelle News-Leader suggested Hotaling may have played a part in the holiday's creation, due to his close work relationship with General Logan (Logan is regarded as a "founding father" of Memorial Day); however, evidence of this claim is scant.
Hotaling had two children with his first wife Sophia, and one son with his second wife Carrie.


John D. Spreckels

John Diedrich Spreckels (August 16, 1853 – June 7, 1926), the son of German-American industrialist Claus Spreckels, founded a transportation and real estate empire in San Diego, California, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The entrepreneur's many business ventures included the Hotel del Coronado and the San Diego and Arizona Railway, both of which are credited with helping San Diego develop into a major commercial center.
Upon his death he was eulogized as "One of America's few great Empire Builders who invested millions to turn a struggling, bankrupt village into the beautiful and cosmopolitan city San Diego is today."
Early years.
The oldest of five children, Spreckels was born in Charleston, South Carolina, though the family soon moved to New York City. Spreckels attended Oakland College and then the Polytechnic College in Hannover, Germany, where he studied chemistry and mechanical engineering until 1872. He returned to California and began working for his father, Claus Spreckels, who had grown extremely wealthy in the sugar business. In 1876 he went to the Hawaiian Islands, where he worked for his father's sugar business, Spreckels Sugar Company.
Entrepreneur beginnings.
In 1880, with $2 million in capital, he organized J. D. Spreckels and Brothers, a company to establish a trade between the mainland United States and the Hawaiian Islands. The company began with one sailing vessel, the "Rosario", and later controlled two large fleets of sail and steam ships. The firm also engaged extensively in sugar refining, and became agents for leading sugarcane plantations in Hawaii. Much of the development of commercial interests between the United States and Hawaii is due to this firm.
The shipping and passenger line of this enterprise was the Oceanic Steamship Company, which was founded by J.D. Spreckels in 1881. Its inaugural service was between California and Hawaii and, later, also from California to Australia, New Zealand, Samoa and Tahiti. The various of the lines’ ships transported passengers, sugar and/or other food cargoes and provided mail service. For decades, the company provided the only mail service between the U.S. and Australia and New Zealand. The Oceanic ships that transported mail to Australia and New Zealand were the "Alameda" (3000 horsepower plant), "Mariposa" (3000 horsepower plant), the steamer "Zealandia", the "Sierra", the "Sonoma" and the "Ventura". The "Australia" provided a 33-day direct mail service to Tahiti. In 1926 Oceanic became a subsidiary of Matson Navigation Company, a company which J.D.’s father—Claus Spreckels—had early financed.
Prior to its becoming associated with Matson, Oceanic had under J.D.’s control owned a total 17 ships, which were the iron ship "Alameda" (1883), the wood schooner "Anna" (1881), the iron steamer "Australia" (1875), the wood brigantine "Claus Spreckels" (1879), the wood brigantine "Consuelo" (1880), the wood brigantine "Emma Augusta" (1867), the wood brigantine "John D. Spreckels" (1880), the iron ship "Mariposa" (1883), the two mast schooner "Rosario" (1879), the wood brigantine "Salina", the passenger ship "Sierra" (1900), the passenger liner "Sonoma" (1900), the "Suez" (1876), the "Ventura" (1900), the wood brigantine "W.H. Dimond" (1881), the wood brigantine "William G. Irwin" (1881), and the "Zealandia" (1875).
In October 1877, John Diedrich Spreckels married Lillie Siebein in Hoboken, New Jersey, and together they had four children: Grace (born September 1878), Lillie (born November 1879), John (born April 1883), and Claus (born March 1888). They first lived in the Kingdom of Hawaii and then in San Francisco. In 1887, Spreckels visited San Diego on his yacht "Lurline" to stock up on supplies. Impressed by the real estate boom then taking place, he invested in the construction of a wharf and coal bunkers at the foot of Broadway (then called "D" Street). That boom ended soon but Spreckels' interest in San Diego would last for the rest of his life.
He acquired control of the Coronado Beach Company, the Hotel del Coronado and Coronado Tent City; he bought the San Diego street railway system, changing it from horse power to electricity, in 1892. The Hotel del Coronado was owned by the Coronado Beach Company which was originally capitalized with US$3 million. At the time of capitalization the original company directors were E.S. Babcock, John D. Spreckels, Captain Charles T. Hinde, H.W. Mallett, and Giles Kellogg. The Coronado Beach Company was responsible for numerous other investments in the Coronado, California, area. Before investing in the Coronado Beach Company, Spreckels waited for his close friend—Captain Charles T. Hinde—to join him. They jointly invested and managed new businesses.
For a time, Spreckels was owner of the "San Francisco Call", then a morning newspaper. While still living in San Francisco, he continued investing in San Diego newspapers, buying "The San Diego Union" in 1890 and the "San Diego Evening Tribune" in 1901. He moved his family permanently to San Diego immediately after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Relocation to San Diego.
In the next decades, Spreckels became a millionaire many times over, and the wealthiest man in San Diego. At various times he owned all of Coronado Island, the San Diego-Coronado Ferry System, the Union-Tribune Publishing Co., the San Diego Electric Railway, the San Diego & Arizona Railway, and Belmont Park in Mission Beach. He built several downtown buildings, including the Union Building in 1908, the Spreckels Theater Building in 1912, the Hotel San Diego, and the Golden West Hotel. He employed thousands of people and at one time he paid 10% of all the property taxes in San Diego County.
Spreckels was president of several companies, including the Oceanic Steamship Company, operating a mail and passenger line to Hawaii and Australia, the Western Sugar Refining Company, the Coronado Water Company, the San Diego and Coronado Ferry Company, the San Diego and Coronado Transfer Company, the Pajaro Valley Consolidated Railroad Company, the San Diego Electric Railway, and the San Diego & Arizona Railway Company.
Spreckels Mansion.
Spreckels' first permanent residence in the San Diego area was the Spreckels Mansion, 1630 Glorietta Boulevard. The Mansion sat on five acres of land overlooking Glorietta Bay across from the Hotel del Coronado. In 1906, Spreckels, 53, contracted Architect Harrison Albright to design and build the Mansion. The building, designed with the simple, classic lines of Italian Renaissance, was complete in 1908 with six bedrooms, three baths, a parlor, dining room and library at the cost of $35,000. At that time, Spreckels' Mansion featured a brass cage elevator, a marble staircase with leather-padded handrails, skylights, marble floors and some of the Island's most spectacular gardens. The home was built with reinforced steel and concrete, an earthquake precaution Spreckels insisted upon after living through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Spreckels lived in the Glorietta Boulevard mansion until his death in 1926. It is now a popular boutique hotel, the Glorietta Bay Inn.
John D. Spreckels built the beach house, located at 1043 Ocean Boulevard in Coronado, designed by architect Harrison Albright (1866-1932). John D. Spreckels built the Ocean Boulevard beach house for his son Claus as a wedding present in 1910 and Claus's widow, Ellis, lived there until her death in 1967. The beach house mansion is the location of the 2011 accidental death of 6-year-old Max Shacknai, son of Jonah Shacknai, former CEO of Medicis Pharmaceutical, and the contested suicide of Jonah Shacknai's girlfriend, Rebecca Zahau.
Transportation and infrastructure.
San Diego Electric Railway.
The San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy) was a San Diego-based, light rail mass transit system founded by Spreckels in 1892. Spreckels' strategy involved buying up several failed downtown horse- and cable-drawn trolley routes, consolidating and standardizing the trackage, and electrifying resulting unified street railway system.
Over the years, the SDERy constructed new lines to connect San Diego's burgeoning downtown with the region's up-and-coming outlying communities, including Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, and Normal Heights (developments where Spreckels owned the bulk of the land). Spreckels' underlying philosophy in this regard can best be summed up as follows:
At its peak, the SDERy's routes would operate throughout greater San Diego over some 165 miles (266 kilometers) of track. And though the system had operated continuously for more than half a century, steadily declining ridership (due in large part to the phenomenal rise in popularity of the automobile) ultimately led the company to discontinue all streetcar service in favor of bus routes in 1949.
San Diego Class 1 Streetcars.
One of Spreckels' major contributions to the city of San Diego was his commitment to the construction of Balboa Park in preparation of the Panama-California Exposition. As the owner of the San Diego Electric Railway Company, he also developed a unique fleet of special streetcars that could handle the large crowds attending this event. Following the Exposition, the Class 1 streetcars would go on to provide a continuing public transportation service for the city of San Diego over the next 27 years.
An evolution from previous streetcar models, the Class 1s were designed with artistry, state-of-the-art technology and San Diego's unique climate in mind. Under Spreckels' guise, the engineers of SDERy drafted up plans that took elements from both the "California Car" and the "Closed Car" designs and refashioned them into a new, modern transit fleet. Their plans were sent to the Saint Louis Car Company (SLCCo) where these beautiful, Arts & Crafts-style streetcars were built and shipped out to San Diego. Ultimately, the Class 1 streetcars ran all over San Diego, from Coronado through Downtown, Mission Hills, Ocean Beach, North Park, Golden Hill, and Kensington. They even briefly served as a link to the U.S.-Mexico Border.
These streetcars were "retired" in 1939 to give way to the cheaper, Depression-era Presidents’ Conference Committee (PCC) streetcars. Today, only three of the original twenty-four Class 1 streetcars remain in existence.
San Diego and Arizona Railway.
In 1919, Spreckels completed the San Diego and Arizona Railway, a short line American railroad, dubbed "The Impossible Railroad" by many engineers of its day due to the immense logistical challenges involved. Established in 1906 to provide San Diego with a direct rail link to the east by connecting with the Southern Pacific Railroad (which secretly provided the funding for the endeavor) lines in El Centro, California, the 148-mile (238-kilometer) route of the SD&A originated in San Diego and terminated in the Imperial County town of Calexico.
The total construction cost was approximately $18 million, or some $123,000 per mile; the original estimate was $6 million. Construction delays, attacks by Mexican revolutionaries, and government intervention during World War I all served to push the construction completion to November 15, 1919, when the "golden spike" was finally driven by none other than Spreckels himself. Completing the SD&A was a monumental task that seriously affected Spreckels' health, almost costing him his life.
In subsequent years, damage to the lines from heavy rainstorms, landslides, and fires took a financial toll on the railroad, as did border closings with Mexico. In 1932, financial difficulties forced Spreckels' heirs to sell their interests in the firm for $2.8 million to the Southern Pacific, which renamed the railroad the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway (SD&AE).
Southern California Mountain Water Company.
Spreckels organized the Southern California Mountain Water Company, which in turn built the Morena and the Upper and Lower Otay Reservoir dams, the Dulzura conduit and the necessary pipeline to the city. The company was acquired by the City of San Diego.
Early automobile enthusiast.
Speckels was noted as one of the West Coast's "most prominent and enthusiastic automobilists." When California began requiring license plates in 1905, Spreckels acquired the first five plates for himself and his family.
Legacy.
Spreckels contributed to the cultural life of the city by building the Spreckels Theatre, the first modern commercial playhouse west of the Mississippi. He gave generously to the fund to build the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and, together with his brother Adolph B. Spreckels, donated the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park to the people of San Diego just before the opening of the Exposition. Spreckels paid the salaries of a resident organ tuner and of the organist for many years, providing free daily organ concerts. Both Spreckels Elementary School in San Diego and Spreckels Park in Coronado, CA, are named for him.
Spreckels died in San Diego on June 7, 1926. His biographer, Austin Adams, called him "one of America's few great Empire Builders who invested millions to turn a struggling, bankrupt village into the beautiful and cosmopolitan city San Diego is today."


Cass River Railroad

The Cass River Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in Michigan during the early 1870s. The company was chartered on December 12, 1871. In 1872 it completed a line from East Saginaw to Vassar. The line was intended to exploit the timber resources in the Cass River area. On June 4, 1872, the company was bought by the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad (F&PM).


Tuskegee Railroad

The Tuskegee Railroad was a 5 and 1/2 mile long railroad that connected Tuskegee, Alabama to the Montgomery and West Point Railroad at the nearby village of Chehaw. First constructed in 1860 by the Tuskegee Rail Road Company, it was subsequently destroyed in the American Civil War and then sold to E. T. Varner & Company, which rebuilt it and reincorporated it as the Tuskegee Railroad Company in 1872. Again incorporated in 1902 as the Tuskegee Railroad, one of the railroad's primary purposes in the early 20th century was to connect the Tuskegee Institute to other railroad lines.
History.
1860 Founding.
On February 20, 1860, the State of Alabama granted a charter to incorporate the Tuskegee Railroad. The Railroad owners were David Clopton, William Foster, Cullen A. Battle, Robert F. Ligon, J.W. Echols, S. B. Baine, G.W. Campbell, A. B. Fanin, John C. H. Reid, W. G. Swanson and A. D. Edwards. In 1860, 500 enslaved Africans worked building the railroad under lease agreements with plantation owners who collected pay for the slave's labor.
Civil War - Rail Destroyed.
U.S. General Sherman sent U.S. General Lovell Rousseau on a raid of the Montgomery and West Point Railroad where he destroyed rail to the Chehaw Station of the Tuskegee Railroad, cutting of connections to the Tuskegee Railroad from all points. The Tuskegee Railroad was melted down by Confederates for armaments for the American Civil War.
1872 Reconstruction.
William G. Swanson and others bought the defunct railroad in 1869 and signed an agreement with E. T. Varner & Company, which rebuilt the railroad by 1872. It was run by E. T. Varner & Company as the Tuskegee Railroad until 1902 when it was incorporated under the same name and owned by E. T. Varner, L. V. Alexander and Campbell & Wright. Rates were 10 cents per mile in 1882.
1943 Tuskegee Airman.
Benjamin O. Davis Jr. of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen remembered the 99 Squadron of bombers riding on the Tuskegee Railroad in 1943. He mentions segregation in his autobiography, unfair treatment of black people and the 19 pullman drawing room where the railroad put black politicians so they would not see worse effects of segregation.
Sale of Railroad in 1963.
When Interstate 85 was built through Alabama and Alabama State Route 81 was widened connecting the Tuskegee Institute to the Interstate in 1963, the need for the railroad was gone and the railroad received permission from the Interstate Commerce Commission to no longer operate. Trains were salvaged and warehouses were built where the depot was demolished after some of the property was sold.
1978 Literature.
Ralph Ellison wrote "The Little Man at Chehaw Station: The American Artist and His Audience" about a jazz musician playing a street performance in the Great Depression. The setting used was the Chehaw Station of the Tuskegee Railroad.
Line.
Stations.
The train made three round trips, one at night. It took about 1 hour and thirty minutes to go one way.
Rolling stock.
In 1876 the railway had one 10-ton-locomotive, 1 passenger car and 3 freight cars of all classes.
Between 1888 through 1916 the Tuskegee Railroad Company had two locomotives, one to two passenger car and a baggage and mail car. The only surviving locomotive, 101, a 2-6-2, was donated to the Illinois Railway Museum where it would serve as the museum's mainline locomotive until 1989.


Orville Hungerford

Orville Hungerford (October 29, 1790 – April 6, 1851) was a two-term United States Representative for the 19th District in New York. He was also a prominent merchant, banker, industrialist, freemason, philanthropist, and railroad president in Watertown, New York.
Early years.
The youngest of seven children, Orville Hungerford was born in Farmington, Connecticut (now Bristol) on October 29, 1790. His family claims descent from Thomas Hungerford of Hartford, Connecticut, who arrived in the New World some time prior to 1640. Orville's father, Timothy Hungerford, moved his family to Watertown Center in western New York, now part of Watertown (town), New York, in the spring of 1801.
An entry in a 1905 genealogical publication by the local historical society described the education of Orville Hungerford as follows:
Merchant.
As a pioneer, needing help with his farm, Timothy Hungerford was only able to send his son to "winter schools", effectively precluding him from going to college. Not enamored with eking out a living from the land, at age fourteen Orville began working as a clerk in his brother-in-law Jabez Foster's general store in the frontier village of Burrs Mills (also known as Burrville), New York. Orville's initial job duties consisted of "sweeper, duster, office-boy and caretaker." This business was a partnership between Foster and Thomas M. Converse. While Orville watched over the store, Foster would head to Albany in mud wagons and sleighs and then make the arduous week-long trek to Manhattan via sloop to purchase supplies before returning to Watertown. Creating such a supply line between Watertown and New York would be critical in later years as well as impress upon Orville the need for solid transportation lines.
In 1807 or 1808, Jabez Foster along with Orville Hungerford moved the store to Watertown, a busier location. Orville's diligence paid off and he became Foster's partner in the firm known as Foster & Hungerford, which profited handsomely from selling supplies to U.S Army stationed at Sackets Harbor during the War of 1812.
Foster & Hungerford developed its own transportation network contracting with others to deliver its war supplies during the 2nd major conflict with the British. For example, in September 1812, Jabez Foster hired Eber Hubbard to move supplies that he and Orville Hungerford had procured on behalf of the U.S. government using Hubbard's boat to journey from "Sackett's Harbor" down the St. Lawrence River to the U.S. troops stationed in Ogdensburg, New York. British forces ended up capturing Hubbard's boat. In late 1820, Hubbard petitioned Congress to cover the loss of his boat valued between $650–800. Hubbard argued that the government agreed to reimburse Foster for any losses, which should also cover him. Unfortunately, on December 22, 1820, the Committee of Claims in the House of Representatives disagreed that any contractual protections for Foster would implicitly extend to Hubbard.
In 1813, Foster became a judge in the Court of Common Pleas for Jefferson County, while Hungerford decided to focus on expanding his commercial interests rather than reading law. He set up his own store, eventually partnering with Foster's son-in-law Adriel Ely, only withdrawing his interest upon entering Congress.
Orville had his children work in the family store. For example, his son Richard Esselstyne Hungerford served as a clerk in the store before heading off to Hamilton College in Clinton, New York (Class of 1844). There Richard joined his cousin, John N. Hungerford, who also worked in his older brother's store, Hungerford & Miner, before going to Hamilton College and then becoming a banker and finally a U.S. Congressman.
Hungerford made frequent trips to New York City to sell potash from his ashery in Watertown and purchase wares to bring back to his store. On October 6, 1840, the New York Herald newspaper announced that Orville Hungerford arrived the previous day at the Franklin House hotel, located at the northwest corner of Broadway and Dey Street in New York City.
Orville Hungerford endorsed modern conveniences. For example, he helped fellow merchants promote the "Air-Tight Rotary Cook Stove", which used one third less wood, as advertised in local newspapers such as the Northern State Journal.
On May 13, 1849 a great fire swept through Watertown, N.Y., burning down 100 buildings valued at $125,000. A large portion of the downtown business district was destroyed. Only four dry goods stores survived including one owned by Orville Hungerford and another by his former business partner Adriel Ely.
Family.
On October 13, 1813, Orville Hungerford married Elizabeth Porter Stanley, known as Betsey or sometimes spelled Betsy, whose family was originally from Wethersfield, Connecticut. Betsey was the daughter of George and Hannah (Porter) Stanley. She was 5 years older than her husband when they met in the midst of the War of 1812.
The couple had the following children: Mary Stanley (May 6, 1815 – Mar. 13, 1893), Marcus (Aug. 30, 1817 – Sep. 3, 1863), Martha B. (Nov. 30, 1819 – Sep. 21, 1896), Richard Esselstyne (Mar. 28, 1824 – Jan. 5, 1896), Frances Elizabeth (Feb. 8, 1827 – Nov. 25, 1902), Grace, and Orville F. (Feb. 25, 1830 – Nov. 26, 1902.)
Betsey also raised her nephew Moses Hopkins Stanley, who was born in Great Barrington, Massachusettes (Nov. 1807 – April or May 1856).
Orville Hungerford's success was a direct result of the support given by his wife Betsey: "She was a woman of beautiful character and disposition, and an efficient colaborer with her revered husband in all his benevolent works."
Banker.
Because Jefferson County, New York was expanding in the early nineteenth century due in part to the development of the Eire Canal from 1817 to 1825, farmers and businessmen there needed greater access to capital. In 1816, Jabez Foster, who was Orville's brother-in-law and mercantile business partner, along with others successfully petitioned the legislature to establish the Jefferson County Bank. Foster was chosen to help apportion stock and choose the building location, which was a contentious matter because each community in the area wanted the bank to be located there. As a compromise, the bank ended up being housed in a brick Georgian colonial mansion on Church Street in the village of Adams, New York. The bank was initially capitalized with $50,000.00, of which half the amount was paid in. However, the bank did not fare financially well in Adams. Pursuant to an act passed on November 19, 1824, the bank relocated to Watertown and the capital fund was increased to $80,000.00.
Jabez Foster served as the second president of the Jefferson County Bank (1817–1819) and later resumed the office for a short period (1825-1826) after Bank President Ethel Bronson died. Orville served as bank cashier (1820–1833) and later as bank president (1834–1845). In turn, Orville hired his nephew Orville V. Brainard first as a bank teller and then as his replacement as cashier, a position Brainard held for 33 years.
As cashier of the Jefferson County Bank, Orville Hungerford and bank president Jabez Foster presented to the New York State Assembly the following fiscal report dated March 3, 1821: $98,833.03 owed to the bank, $57,870 of capital stock paid in, $4,096.84 owed by the bank, and $34,185.35 of bank notes in circulation.
Dr. Isaac Bronson, an early investor in the Jefferson County Bank, served as a surgeon on George Washington's staff during the Revolutionary War before turning to a career in finance that made him a fortune estimated at his death in 1838 to be $1,500,000 of monied securities. One of his chief investments was the Bridgeport Bank in Connecticut, where he served on the Board of Directors from 1806 to 1832. Because of competition in Manhattan driving down interest rates there, Dr. Bronson began loaning money in more rural places such as Jefferson County, New York, where he could get a higher rate of return.
Dr. Bronson engaged his brother Ethel Bronson to sell his investment lands in Jefferson County. Ethel Bronson served as President of the Jefferson County Bank from 1820 through his death in 1825, appointing Orville Hungerford as cashier of the bank beginning in 1820. As a physician turned banker, Dr. Isaac Bronson instructed Hungerford in his capacity as cashier to adhere to stringent banking standards such as "make the bills of the bank always at par in New York [City] by redeeming [there]; another, never to renew a note for a customer, until the original was paid up; and a third, to refuse to discount paper having over ninety days to run." By adhering to this sound money lending regime, at least for a while, Hungerford was able to maintain the bank's high profits, which made it one of the best bank investments in the state. Isaac Bronson ended up making a large profit on his sale of stock in the Jefferson County Bank. In 1824, the Wall Street investment bank Prime, Ward & King, which was headed by Nathaniel Prime, purchased from Bronson half the capital in the Jefferson County Bank.
As a financial institution, the Jefferson County Bank accepted promissory notes, a common form of debt that could be passed on to another person or entity for collection. On May 14, 1825, a man by the name of Heath made a promissory note for $150 with interest, which James Wood from Brownville, New York indorsed. In June 1826, the Bank took the matter to court and ended up getting a judgment against Wood in his capacity as a surety. On appeal, Wood argued that Jefferson County Bank was not a proper corporate body and that its cashier Orville Hungerford reached an agreement with Heath to collect security from him if Wood failed to pay. Hungerford made this deal on his own and then went to the Bank's Board of Directors for approval, but they failed to formally adopt a resolution on the matter. The appeal court found that that the Bank was properly established and that Hungerford's deal was not a defense to being on the hook for guaranteeing payment, i.e., Wood had to pay up. Hungerford continued on as cashier for the bank.
In February 1837, an aggrieved director of the Jefferson County Bank filed a complaint with the New York Assembly that other bank directors showed favoritism by "knowingly, indirectly, [giving] more than 250 shares to one person in violation of the law increasing said capital of bank." In their defense, the accused bank directors claimed that the legislative committee running the investigation had familial connections to those making accusations and that the committee was holding secret sessions in which biased witnesses were examined. As bank president, Orville Hungerford stayed behind the scenes while others were the public face of the counterattack. It was a wise decision because Orville was subpoenaed to testify about the stock distribution. According to one contemporary source, this complaint to the Assembly was really a power play to oust him from his position. In the end, Hungerford subtly beat back his opponents by having his allies present letters as part of the record that focused on the unfairness of the proceedings. Hungerford continued on as bank president.
The Watertown Directory for 1840 lists only two banks, both located along Washington Street: The Jefferson County Bank capitalized at $200,000 and the Bank of Watertown capitalized at $100,000. The Watertown Directory for 1840 also showed Orville Hungerford as president of the Jefferson County Bank along with his nephew Orville Velora Brainard as his cashier and his other nephew Solon Dexter Hungerford as his teller. Interestingly, the individual page for Orville Hungerford in the Watertown Directory for 1840 lists his occupation as "merchant".
On December 19, 1845, Orville Hungerford testified as a witness in the federal criminal case "United States vs. Caleb J. McNulty", stating the following: "I was president of Jefferson county Bank when elected to Congress, and resigned before I came here."
In late 1847, Orville Hungerford, who resumed his presidency of the Jefferson County Bank after his political career ended, initiated a lawsuit against the powerful Wall Street financial firm Prime, Ward & Co. for squandering the bank's money by speculating in the flour market. The New York trial court had granted Hungerford a judgment of $70,000. The Jefferson County Bank, which was later joined by other creditors, asked the court to issue Stillwell warrants, which caused the sheriff to arrest Edward Prime, Samuel Ward (lobbyist), and John Ward based on the legal theory that they were about to remove their assets in the United States to pay creditors in England. The defendants attempted to quash the warrants based on lack of jurisdiction and insufficient affidavits, but were unsuccessful. The Jefferson County Bank's attorney in the lawsuit, George C. Sherman, who was also a director of the Bank, mercilessly questioned one of the defendants, resulting in the recovery of some bank funds.
Throughout the entire nineteenth century, the Jefferson County Bank, nationally chartered in 1865, never defaulted on its obligations and from 1824 paid its shareholders regular dividends. To put its growth in perspective: in 1821 it had resources of $91,000.00; by January 1, 1916, it had resources of $3,000,000.00. In 1916, Orville's grandson, Orville E. Hungerford, was vice-president of the bank.
Orville Hungerford was also one of the founders of the Bank of Watertown, which was capitalized at $100,000, and began operations on January 26, 1839.
Investor.
Orville Hungerford played an important role in the industrialization of the Watertown, New York area. For example, Hungerford helped establish the Sterling Iron Company, Black River Woolen Company, and the Jefferson County Mutual Insurance Company.
In 1824, Orville Hungerford purchased the Oakland House, a hotel in Watertown, New York, which he then sold to Lewis Rich in 1847.
On Monday, January 9, 1839, the New York Assembly read a petition from Orville Hungerford and ninety others, seeking to extend the Black River Canal, a feeder for the Erie Canal, all the way up to Lake Ontario or the St. Lawrence River.
Beginning in the 1840s, building a plank road became a popular way to facilitate transportation routes, and several were planned to be built in Watertown and its environs. Orville Hungerford and his nephew Orville Velora Brainard were instrumental in funding and incorporating the Watertown and Sackets Harbor Plank Road Company.
Homestead.
Orville Hungerford's first home was framed out of wood with a piazza in front and on the side on Washington Street, near what is now Clinton Street in Watertown, New York. The original owner, Pedi Wells, built this dwelling next to the house of Orville's sister Hannah Hungerford Foster and her husband Jabez Foster.
In 1823, Orville Hungerford began to construct the largest house in Watertown on a piece of property that he purchased in 1816 for $500.00 from Olney and Eliza Pearce. In front was a "glorious" English garden laid out to Orville's specifications. The outer walls of the home were made out of native limestone. The inside had 10 fireplaces to keep the occupants warm. An ox team hauled the "black Italian marble mantel" from Albany. A large carriage house was built out back. Construction on the main house continued through 1824. On November 11, 1825, Orville opened the six-paneled door with a brass eagle-knocker at 336 Washington Street and moved into his mansion.
The John Losee House, built circa 1828, located at the 2020 address of 17100 County Route 155 in Watertown, New York, is very similar in design and construction to Orville Hungerford's dwelling. The National Park Service entered the John Losee House in the National Register on February 1, 2014. In support of its requested designation, the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form filed in December 2013 stated the following:
Similarly, in 2016, the National Park Service entered the Norton-Burnham House in Henderson N.Y. into the National Register of Historic Places by relying on the cited architectural reference points of both the Orville Hungerford Homestead and the John Losee House.
The English ivy-covered Hungerford residence eventually passed to Orville's daughter, Frances E., a spinster, whose estate conveyed it to her niece Helen Hungerford (Mrs. Leland G. Woolworth). After Helen died, ownership of the house transferred to her sister Harriet Hungerford, another spinster. Harriet had been living next door in her father Marcus Hungerford's house at 330 Washington Street. She moved into the Orville Hungerford mansion in 1946 and lived there until her death on October 26, 1956. By this time most of the family had moved out of the Watertown area and no one wanted to return. The Watertown National Bank bought the property from Harriet's estate and sold it to Joseph Capone, a developer. In turn, John R. Burns, purchased the structure and reassembled the house minus the left-wing several blocks away on Flower Avenue West, where it still stands.
As of 2020, the house is in remarkably good shape due to the loving care and modernization efforts of its recent owners, including Ann E. Philipps, Esq. At present, the old Hungerford homestead on Washington Avenue is the site of a Best Western Carriage House Inn, attached out back to the original carriage house.
Military service.
During the War of 1812, Orville Hungerford and his brother-in-law Jabez Foster supplied the U.S. Army in Sackets Harbor, N.Y. as well as surrounding military posts. In 1817, Orville was appointed as a second lieutenant in the Fourteenth regiment of cavalry in the militia of Jefferson County. In 1821, Orville succeeded Captain Jason Fairbanks and was also on the staff of Major General Clark Allen. In 1822, Orville was appointed the Quartermaster of the Twelfth Division of infantry for Jefferson County.
Freemason.
As early as 1818, Orville Hungerford was a member of the Freemasons at Watertown Lodge No. 289 in Watertown, New York. In 1826, Hungerford along with his business partner, Adriel Ely, and others applied for a dispensation to establish a local Encampment of Knights Templar. On February 22, 1826, the Deputy Grand Commander of the Grand Encampment, Oliver W. Lownds, granted the dispensation. Hungerford presided as Grand Commander from March 24, 1826, until April 17, 1829, during which time twenty-nine men had the Order of the Temple conferred upon them.
However, the 1826 disappearance of William Morgan (anti-Mason), who threatened to publicize the secrets of Freemasonry, caused the public to lash out at the secretive organization. In 1829, a Boston Masonic newspaper, citing the Watertown Freeman publication, reported that a mere 69 people marched through the city to protest the abduction of Morgan when hundreds were expected.
Hungerford began working his way up the New York chapter of the Royal Arch Masons. This chapter was organized March 14, 1798 with future New York governor DeWitt Clinton elected as its first Grand High Priest. In 1826, 1827, and 1828, Hungerford was elected to the office of "The Grand King" in the Royal Arch Masons. On September 14, 1826, Hungerford attended the 6th meeting of the General Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the United States in New York City as a representative of the New York State Grand Chapter.
In 1830, a number of prominent masons such as Orville Hungerford and his political mentor Perley Keyes signed the following public defense of their fraternal organization:
Due to continued public condemnation of freemasonry, however, Sir Orville Hungerford's encampment would go dark in 1831. In February 1850, after the furor abated, Hungerford and others successfully petitioned the Grand Encampment of New York to reissue their former warrant, thereby establishing Watertown Commandery No. 11.
On January 16, 1826, Hungerford bought from Hart Masey a three-story brick building on Washington Street in Watertown, which housed the Eastern Light Lodge No. 289. The deed to the building had a covenant to secure the use of a 40 by 42.5 room on the third floor for the Masons. During the height of the Morgan affair uproar, the Lodge operated in secret, communicating to members by placing a lighted candle in certain windows. In 1834–35 the Lodge failed to hold annual elections; the concomitant failure to collect dues resulted in forfeiture of the charter, which was reinstated in 1835 upon a successful petition to the Grand Lodge. The Washington Street building was destroyed in a fire on January 27, 1851, and the Lodge moved temporarily to an Odd Fellows Hall and then to several other locations.
Orville Hungerford continued his involvement with freemasonry while serving in Congress. Diarist Benjamin B. French stated: "As a Freemason, [Hungerford] was a constant visitor to our Chapters and Lodges in the District, and never declined any duty that he was asked [to] perform." In 1850, Hungerford was elected to the position of Deputy Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter State of New York, Royal Arch Masons. In 1851, Hungerford became the 15th Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter State of New York, Royal Arch Masons. Marcus Hungerford, the son of Orville, would join Watertown Lodge, No. 49.
Community service.
Fire was always a threat in frontier communities. In 1816, Orville Hungerford's brother-in-law Jabez Foster was elected as one of the fire wardens in the Village of Watertown. When Orville was younger he often followed Foster's lead, especially since the two became partners running a store. The Village of Watertown trustees passed a resolution on May 28, 1817, proposed in part by Orville Hungerford, to form a fire company. What became known as the Cataract Fire Company then paid $400 for a fire engine, half of which the Village covered with the other half contributed by businesses and professionals.
Orville was actively involved in his community, making a point to give back and help those less fortunate. One of the big problems then and now was poverty. As a result, Jefferson County established a poor house system paid for by appropriations from each town. In 1826, Hungerford was appointed as one of the first superintendents of the poor house located on the 150-acre Dudley Farm in Le Ray, New York. People sent to the poor house would have a place to live and would be provided with food and rudimentary medical care in exchange for some work, usually tied in with farming, e.g., picking oakum.
His concerns also focused on local infrastructure, which would benefit the entire community. For example, Orville played a key role in incorporating the Watertown Water Company to supply fresh water "by means of aqueducts" to the village of Watertown.
Not all of Orville's aid was limited to Jefferson County in New York. During the Greek War of Independence from 1821 to 1830 the Ottoman government massacred Greek civilians. The English poet Lord Byron joined in the quest to liberate Greece from Ottoman rule with tragic results. In the United States, the Executive Greek Committee of New York formed to provide relief to Greek civilians affected by the conflict. In 1827, Orville approached some of his compatriots in Jefferson County and raised $135.55 on behalf of the Executive Greek Committee of New-York, which helped fund the cost of shipping supplies to the distressed Greek inhabitants.
Orville Hungerford had a reputation for giving back to society as well as doing the right thing. On August 1, 1828, a man by the name of Barney Griffin, who had travelled from Syracuse to the Village of Sackets Harbor several days earlier, ended up dying in the Jefferson County Poor House. Orville went over to investigate. Upon searching Griffin's clothes, he found the cash sum of two hundred and twenty-two dollars and fifteen cents – more than enough money for Griffin to pay for a hotel. Hungerford put an advertisement in a paper to see if a relative would claim the money. No one did. He then turned the money over to the County Treasurer for use of the Poor House, deducting a dollar for the advertisement money that came out of his own pocket. Understanding the nature of greed, he asked the County Board of Supervisors to indemnify him for his actions, which it agreed to do.
Even though Orville only had a rudimentary education, he strongly believed that an industrializing society needed more advanced schooling for its youth. Orville contributed towards the education of the young women of the Jefferson County, New York area by working with Dr. John Safford to promote the Watertown Female Academy in 1823. Dr. Safford and Orville's own daughters were the beneficiaries of this effort as both Susan M. Safford and Martha P. Hungerford were early students of the school taught by Gen. "Fighting Joe" Hooker's sister Sarah R. Hooker. The Watertown Female Academy "had a high reputation, and did much toward encouraging similar enterprises throughout the country", but ended up closing in 1837.
On March 28, 1828, Orville and his political mentor, Perley Keyes, as well as several others, successfully prompted the legislature to pass an act to incorporate the Jefferson County Agricultural Society, which was established at a meeting in Watertown, New York in 1817. Keyes was appointed a vice-president of the Society and Hungerford, due to his financial skills, became the treasurer. In 1841 Hungerford became president. His nephew and understudy, Solon Dexter Hungerford, also served as president of the Society in 1854 and 1877. As of 2020, the Jefferson County Agricultural Society, based in Watertown, N.Y., is still in existence and claims to be the "oldest continuous operating fair in America."
Prior to 1832 the only school for boys in Watertown, New York stopped at the district level, i.e., middle school. There was no academic high school in the area. As a result, Orville Hungerford and other prominent figures such as Jason Fairbanks and Loveland Paddock established the "Watertown Academy," which opened its doors on September 19, 1832. The two-story stone schoolhouse with basement was located on Academy Street in Watertown.
In 1833, Hungerford's brother-in-law and former business partner, Jabez Foster, sold the County some land near Watertown for $1,500.00 on which to build a new poor house. Hungerford and two others were tasked with setting up the new establishment.
On September 16, 1839, at the Agricultural Show and Fair of Jefferson County "[a]n able and admirable address was delivered by the [Society] President, O. Hungerford, Esq. It abounded with plain, practical remarks, and was listened to with interest by a crowded auditory."
The Northern State Journal reported that the State Agricultural Society appointed Hungerford as one of the judges for "domestic manufactures" at the New York State Fair, which would take place in Saratoga Springs, New York on September 14–16, 1847.
Politician.
 Orville's friendship with local politician, fellow mason, and judge, Perley Keyes, piqued his interest in politics. Keyes was a stalwart of the Democratic party and led its political machine in Jefferson County, New York. Orville looked upon Keyes as his mentor and would take over the reigns of power. One of Keyes's primary lessons was that a successful candidate needed to be supported by a newspaper. In 1824 until his death in 1833, Keyes supplied the financial backing to publish the Watertown Freeman. That newspaper evolved into the Eagle and Standard, whose editor Alvin Hunt, enthusiastically endorsed the political ambitions of Orville Hungerford and his Democratic ticket throughout northern New York.
Orville Hungerford started his political career at the local level and worked his way up the governmental ladder. In the first Village of Watertown, New York election in May 1816, Hungerford, 26 years old, was elected as one of three assessors. By 1823, Hungerford was elected President of the Village of Watertown Trustees. He continued to be elected President of the Village of Watertown Trustees in 1824, 1833, 1834, and 1835 as well as serve as one of the five Village of Watertown Trustees in 1840 and 1841. In 1850, Marcus Hungerford, the son of Orville, served a single term as one of the Village of Watertown Trustees.
In the summer of 1832, "Asiatic cholera" spread throughout the country, including the North Country of New York, terrifying the inhabitants. As a result, numerous meetings were held in the Village of Watertown as well as surrounding towns and villages to institute sanitary measures. On June 25, 1832, Orville Hungerford was appointed with others to the newly established board of health to oversee local measures to quash the invisible killer.
Orville Hungerford served on the Board of Supervisors for the Town of Watertown, New York (later becoming the City of Watertown by legislative act on May 8, 1869) for the following terms: 1835–37, 1841–42, and 1851 until his death.
On November 8, 1836, Hungerford was appointed by his district as a presidential elector.
In September 1839, U.S. President Martin Van Buren visited Jefferson County, riding in a carriage with Orville Hungerford and his brother-in-law and former business partner Jabez Foster, followed by a procession almost a mile long, from Madison Barracks in Sackets Harbor to Watertown.
In 1842, as a Democrat, Hungerford was elected to the 28th and two years later to the 29th U.S. Congress. In his second term he served on the powerful Committee on Ways and Means. He supported a tariff on imported goods, which earned him the enmity of Southern Democrats, who were in favor of free trade. His fellow party members offered to nominate him as Vice President of the United States if he would switch his vote on protectionism. However, Hungerford could not be swayed because he wanted to shelter the emerging manufacturing sector from the cheaper wares of Great Britain and other more industrialized European countries.
Orville Hungerford often followed the political lead of his mentor, Judge Perley Keyes, a "dextrous lieutenant[]" of one of the founders of the Democratic Party, Martin Van Buren. In 1814–1815 and 1816–1817, Keyes and Van Buren served together in the New York State Senate. Keyes died in 1834, leaving his political connections and loyalties to his protege. In September 1843, Orville Hungerford attended the Democratic Party's New York State Convention, which gathered at Syracuse, New York, to choose delegates for its National Convention that would be held the following year in Baltimore, Maryland. Hungerford was appointed as a delegate who would endorse former U.S. President Martin Van Buren as the presidential candidate in the election of 1844. Van Buren, known as the "Little Magician" and "Sly Fox" as well as "Martin Van Ruin", failed to gain the nomination.
On March 27, 1844, Orville Hungerford voted in favor of House of Representatives Bill No. 265, which would allow freemasons to incorporate a Grand Lodge in the District of Columbia.
In a letter dated December 30, 1844, Orville Hungerford, who often clashed with Southern politicians, wrote to Watertown, N.Y. lawyer and N.Y. State Senator George C. Sherman, stating "The Rabid Texians started fiercely to drive annexation through without consulting the North, expecting us to swallow the doctrine avowed in the correspondence, that Slavery is right in the abstract. They however begin to discover that the whole nation is not disposed to swallow that doctrine, and again that all are not disposed to assume all the debts of that Territory."
When Congress was in session in 1845, Hungerford boarded at Mrs. Hamilton's house off of Pennsylvania Avenue between 4½ and 6th Streets in Washington. By February 11, 1846, Hungerford moved his Congressional residence in the capitol to Mrs. Cudlipp's boarding house off of Pennsylvania Avenue between 3rd and 4½ West Streets.
Hungerford was unafraid of voicing his opinion even if unpopular with his fellow politicians from the same party. Throughout his life, Orville believed in finishing the task at hand before taking a break. When the U.S. House of Representatives conducted business Orville sat in his assigned seat towards the back of the chamber. Representative William Lowndes Yancey, the Southern secessionist and duelist, sat several seats over to the rear. Yancy was not to be trifled with.
The Congressional Globe, which covered proceedings of the 29th Congress, noted on page 413 of Volume 15 the following relevant entry for February 21, 1846:
Hungerford's clash with Congressman Yancey received regional newspaper coverage. For example, the Richmond Enquirer, a Virginia newspaper, published a summary of the incident on the front page, center column, of its February 27, 1846 morning issue.
In 1846, Hungerford lost his Congressional seat to a Whig party candidate.
Before the 29th Congress ended on March 3, 1847, Hungerford was able to manifest his disdain for slavery, which was dividing the nation. Crossing party lines Hungerford voted with the Whigs on February 16, 1847 and on March 3, 1847 to endorse the Wilmot Proviso, which added to the "$3,000,000 bill" a provision excluding slavery from territories newly acquired by treaty.
Yet Hungerford still yearned for political power. In 1846, the amended New York Constitution allowed the New York State Comptroller, who was responsible for auditing the state books, to be elected by the citizenry as opposed to being appointed by the legislature. Hungerford saw this office as a stepping stone to either the governorship or the U.S. Senate before seeking even higher office. In October 1847, the bitterly divided delegates known as Barnburners and Hunkers gathered at the Democratic State Convention in Syracuse and nominated Orville as the "Hunker" candidate for the state office of comptroller. His defeated barnburner opponent was Azariah C. Flagg, the current New York State Comptroller. The split in the Democratic party resulted in such bitterness that the barnburners resorted to calling the victor "Awful Hunkerford." Such factionalism tremendously weakened the Democrats.
At the next general election in 1847, Millard Fillmore received 174,756 votes for the office of N.Y. Comptroller while Orville Hungerford obtained 136,027 and Lewis Tappan 10,408. Ironically, Millard Fillmore used to work for Orville's first cousin Benjamin Hungerford. Benjamin had a wool-carding and cloth-dressing mill in West Sparta, New York and had convinced Millard's father to have the fifteen-year-old boy learn the trade under his tutelage as an apprentice. According to Millard, Benjamin had him chop wood for a coal pit instead of working in the shop. The two got into an argument about job duties. Benjamin approached the boy, asking if he felt abused because he had to chop wood. Millard, who was standing on a log with an ax raised, uttered: "If you approach me I will split you down." Benjamin Hungerford relented and let Millard work in the shop for the agreed-upon three-month term before walking home alone. The bitter experience of working for Benjamin Hungerford made Fillmore's victory over Orville for comptroller thirty-four years later extra sweet. In 1850, Millard Fillmore became the 13th President of the United States.
After the comptroller election defeat, Hungerford grew tired of the partisanship in Washington, D.C. and the stress from being away from his family and business interests. He decided to return to Watertown, New York to complete his railroad project, which he started in 1832. Hungerford, drawn to the challenge of expanding economic opportunity, likely would have re-entered politics after the rails were laid that brought prosperity to Jefferson County. But his unexpected death at age 61 precluded this outcome. A late 19th-century historian stated the following:
Railroad President.
After his shot at higher political office ended, Orville Hungerford began to refocus his energies on establishing the Watertown & Rome Railroad. The Erie Canal was opened in 1825 and many in the North County thought it unnecessary to develop a new mode of transportation to move goods and people. In the early 1830s, Clarke Rice thought otherwise and built a miniature model train, which he and William Smith displayed in the upper floor of a house on Factory Street in Watertown, New York. Clarke believed that steam power on rail would supersede steam power dependent on a waterway. Clarke convinced his fellow masonic brother and the area's premier business person, Orville Hungerford, that Watertown was doomed as a backwater without a more modern connection to the commercial hub of the country, New York City. After all, the roads out of Watertown were slow and even slower in the rain and snow.
On April 17, 1832, the New York legislature incorporated the Watertown & Rome Railroad, naming Hungerford as one of its commissioners charged with promoting the line. Although, the initial act called for track to be laid within three years and the line to be completed within five years, a shortage of capital forced the promoters to seek extensions of the charter in 1837, 1845, and 1847 at which point Orville was elected its first president.
Hungerford played a key role in raising the necessary capital to complete the railroad. A notice in a Watertown newspaper dated May 5, 1847 stated the following:
In the summer of 1847, the Board of Directors voted to allocate $500 so that Hungerford and three other railroad directors could travel to Boston and New York City to meet investors and solicit stock subscriptions.
In 1848, Orville Hungerford and Major Edmund Kirby from Brownville, N.Y. managed to raise enough capital via subscriptions to complete the railroad, which cost $15,000 a mile to build. As a result, actual work on the railroad began on the Rome, N.Y. end of the line in November 1848. Orville then acted as the first superintendent for the railroad overseeing the construction.
Unfortunately, Hungerford never got to see a train complete a journey because he died shortly before the inaugural run on May 29, 1851, covering the 53-mile stretch between Rome to the hamlet of Pierrepont Manor (originally called Bear Creak). The Hon. William C. Pierrepont, who owned the property where the railroad initially ended, followed Orville as president. At 11:00 p.m. on September 5, 1851, the first train steamed into the temporary passenger station on Stone Street in Watertown.
The railroad named its fifth engine, the Orville Hungerford, in his honor. Delivered to the railroad, on September 19, 1851, this engine, built by William Fairbanks in Taunton, Massachusetts, was twenty-one and a half tons in weight.
Furthermore, the board of the railroad, ever appreciative of Orville Hungerford's efforts, provided free annual train passes to his widow Betsy Hungerford and their daughters.
By December 1856, the railroad stretched 97 miles, "terminating at Rome upon the Erie Canal and N.Y. Central R.R., and at Cape Vincent upon the St. Lawrence River, in good order, with ample accommodations at each end, in the way of storage ground, docks, warehouses, elevator, and with sufficient equipment for a large and profitable traffic." For the year ending 1856 the Railroad earned $440,290.63 and dispersed $219,218.34.
Interests.
Hungerford's primary interests consisted of making money so that he could support his political aspirations as well as fund his many philanthropic endeavors. Along with his Watertown, N.Y. business partners Adriel Ely and Orville V. Brainard, Hungerford was a member of the American Art Union, which established an admission-free art gallery at 497 Broadway in New York. Among other benefits, the annual dues of $5 entitled subscribers to receive a copy of an engraving of an American painting. Hungerford's nephew and business understudy, Solon Dexter Hungerford, was an honorary secretary of the organization.
Death.
After a 12-day illness starting out as "bilious cholic", which then affected his brain in the form of paralysis, Orville Hungerford died on Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. on April 6, 1851. Such illness was said to run in the family. The "Otsego Democrat" newspaper in Cooperstown, N.Y. stated that the cause of his death was "apoplexy", i.e., the archaic term for stroke.
The "Reformer" newspaper of Watertown, New York, reported the following:
Hungerford's death was reported throughout the state of New York as well as nationally. The most widely circulated newspaper in New York City, The New York Herald, published by James Gordon Bennett Sr., reported under its "Deaths of Distinguished Persons" entry that Orville Hungerford's "loss will be seriously felt."
Jefferson County, New York, especially the business interests, mourned the passing of Hungerford. The Board of Directors of the Watertown and Rome Railroad Company held a special meeting on April 8, 1851 to discuss the untimely death of Hungerford, resolving "[t]hat the members of this Board attend the funeral in a body, and wear crape on the left arm thirty days, as further testimony of respect for the memory of their deceased President." Similarly, on the morning of April 9, 1851, the Merchants of the Village of Watertown gathered at Paddock Arcade, the second oldest indoor shopping mall in the country, resolving to "close our stores from 10 to 2 o'clock, and attend the funeral of our deceased brother and friend, in a body."
Hungerford had a Christian burial, which was in keeping with his position for many years as President of the Jefferson County Bible Society. His funeral service was held in the First Presbyterian Church, which he helped fund and rebuild, across the street from his house on Washington Avenue in what is now the City of Watertown, New York.
The pastor at the funeral service gave a sermon that touched upon the difference Orville made in his community:
Orville was then buried several miles away in a humble grave near his parents and siblings in the "Old Grounds" on the former Sawyer Farm in what is now the Town of Watertown, New York. In 1854, his son Richard Esselstyne Hungerford spent $256 to purchase a lot in the contiguous and recently established Brookside Cemetery, so that the family could erect a mausoleum. At the time, the price of a wooded lot in the Brookside Cemetery was set at eight cents per square foot. Orville's body would be reinterred there on the south side of the crypt in 1860. The gothic structure, made from bird eye limestone and brownish cast stone, is supported by twelve pier buttresses, punctured by trefoil windows on each side, and graced with an octagonal spire sheathed in slate.
In the coming years, more than eighty family members would be buried in this beautiful cemetery, which was being increasingly graced with ever more elaborate monuments. Trying to be like his father, who served on numerous committees, but not nearly as ambitious, Richard Esselstyne Hungerford became vice-president of the prestigious Brookside Cemetery Association. His son, Richard Ely Hungerford, served as a trustee of the Brookside Cemetery Association at the end of the nineteenth century.
Orville's wife, Betsey, the matriarch of the family, died on September 17, 1861. Betsey was interred alongside her husband in the Hungerford mausoleum in Brookside Cemetery. A woman of faith, Betsey was a member for life of the American Bible Society. A Watertown Village newspaper stated the following in her obituary: "In her death the church has lost one of its brightest ornaments, one whose piety was never doubted, whose zeal knew no abatement, whose contributions in all the departments of Christian benevolence were as constant an unremitting as they were noble and generous.".
Retrospect.
In many respects, Orville Hungerford, known for his honesty and industriousness, epitomized the self-made man of the nineteenth century. The New York Herald, a newspaper with one of the largest readerships in the country, ended up publishing a full obituary for Orville Hungerford, concluding that "[h]is public reputation, doubtless, rests mainly on his talents as a financier." Decades after his death, a journalist recalled that "[Orville] had rare financial talents, and was a first-class business man."
In July 1908, Jeannette Huntington Riley noted in a letter written for a history of the Adriel Ely family that "Orville Hungerford was a dignified and some might have said a cold, stern man; but to me, only a young girl, he was always exceedingly kind. I am always proud to say I had an uncle who went to Congress when it meant something!" She also noted that his wife, her "aunt Betsey, [was] the sweetest--no other word would express her character."
Most of Hungerford's descendants moved away from Watertown in the twentieth century when industrial malaise struck the region. His memory, however, is still kept alive by some of his scattered family members. Through his granddaughter's progeny - Helen Mary Hungerford Mann - he is honored by having his name bestowed on four generations of males, including eminent attorney, Orville Hungerford Mann Sr., from Nyack, New York.
In 2008, Eleanor Ebbighausen formed the Whitney-Hungerford chapter of the National Society United States Daughters of 1812 in Watertown, N.Y., in part honoring Orville Hungerford because "[h]e was in the mercantile business and gave money, food, dry goods, clothing, guns and gunpowder to support the local militia."
A January 2019 article in the Watertown Daily Times newspaper and its website nny360.com, described a water leak in the roof of the Jefferson County Historical Society in Watertown, N.Y., which damaged a portrait of Orville Hungerford. The article went on to report the following: "Christine E. Godfrey, curator of collections for the society, said she will find out how much repairing the Orville Hungerford painting will cost. She hopes to talk to the Hungerford family to see if they would be willing to help."


Railway Age

Railway Age is an American trade journal for the rail transport industry. It was founded in 1856 in Chicago and is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation.
History.
The magazine's original title was the "Western Railroad Gazette," and was renamed the "Railroad Gazette" in 1870. In June 1908, after purchasing its chief rival, "The Railway Age" (founded in 1876 in Chicago), it changed its title to "Railroad Age Gazette", then in January 1910, to "Railway Age Gazette". In 1918 it shortened its name to the current title.
"Railway Review" (originally the "Chicago Railway Review") was merged into "Railway Age" in 1927.
Publications that have been merged into "Railway Age" include "American Railroad Journal", founded 1832, renamed "The Railroad and Engineering Journal" in 1887 by its then new owner/editor, Matthias N. Forney. It became "American Engineer & Railroad Journal" in 1883, then "Railway Age Gazette, Mechanical Edition" in June 1913 after its acquisition by Simmons-Boardman Publishing. It was renamed "Railway Mechanical Engineer" in 1916, and then "Railway Locomotives & Cars". It was finally folded into "Railway Age" in 1975.
In 1992, "Railway Age" acquired a competing trade publication, "Modern Railroads" ().


Pennypack Trail

The Pennypack Trail is a rail trail located in eastern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The trail runs from Rockledge north to the County Line Road border with Bucks County in Huntingdon Valley (an extension completed in May 2021) along the former alignment of SEPTA's Fox Chase-Newtown Line. The trail is maintained by the Montgomery County Division of Parks, Trails, & Historic Sites.
Route.
Montgomery County's Pennypack Trail begins in the borough of Rockledge near Rockledge Borough Park at the intersection of Robbins and Rockledge avenues near the Philadelphia border. This trailhead is less than a mile from the northern terminus of Philadelphia County's Pennypack Trail, which runs north from the Delaware River at Holmesburg.
After beginning, the trail passes over Shady Lane before heading over a stream valley on a long, high bridge. From here, the Pennypack Trail continues north into Abington Township and forms the western border of Lorimer Park, which has a trail network along with parking, picnic areas, restrooms, and water fountains. Here, the trail crosses Moredon Road and begins to run parallel to Pennypack Creek on the west bank. Past here, the trail heads north and crosses the creek before passing under Pennsylvania Route 232 (Huntingdon Pike).
The trail enters Lower Moreland Township and heads across the Pennypack Creek again before coming to a grade crossing with SEPTA's West Trenton Line. The trail heads across the Bethayres Swamp before it reaches Pennsylvania Route 63 (Welsh Road). The trail crosses Terwood Road before it heads across the Pennypack Creek on a long bridge and then enters Bryn Athyn. The Pennypack Trail crosses Fetters Mill Road near the former Bryn Athyn station (which now serves as a post office) then north through the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust. Near Creek Road, the trail passes the site of a train wreck in 1921 where two trains collided head-on.
The trail previously terminated at Byberry Road in Bryn Athyn. On May 11, 2021, an extension north to County Line Road at the Bucks County border opened, which crosses under both a Norfolk Southern Railway bridge and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. A connection at County Line Road will link the Pennypack Trail to the under-construction Newtown Rail Trail which will eventually extend to Newtown, Bucks County.
History.
What is now the Pennypack Trail was originally part of the Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad, a railroad line that ran from Philadelphia north to Newtown. The line was part of the Reading Railroad system and was electrified between Center City Philadelphia and Fox Chase, with service between Fox Chase and Newtown powered by diesel trains. Passengers traveling from north of Fox Chase had to transfer from diesel to electric trans in Fox Chase, and vice versa. In 1976, the Reading Railroad became a part of Conrail. SEPTA acquired operation of the line in 1981, which became its Fox Chase-Newtown Line. In January 1983, SEPTA suspended service between Fox Chase and Newtown because of low ridership, a labor dispute, and failing diesel equipment on this section of line, which lacked electrification.
In 2009, Montgomery County leased the line from SEPTA for $1 and the rails were removed and sold. SEPTA retains complete ownership of the corridor for future passenger rail service. The rail trail was extended north from Welsh Road to Byberry Road on September 18, 2015.


Allen Wardner

Allen Wardner (December 13, 1786 – August 29, 1877) was a Vermont banker, businessman and politician who served as State Treasurer. He was also the father-in-law of Attorney General, Secretary of State and United States Senator William M. Evarts.
Early life.
Allen Wardner was born in Alstead, New Hampshire on December 13, 1786. His family moved to Windsor, Vermont in 1800 and Wardner was trained as a store clerk and merchant. He is presumed to have attended the United States Military Academy in 1809, but there is no record at the school of Wardner having attended. One possible explanation is that he attended sessions with a tutor in preparation for taking the entrance exam, but did not take the exam. Whether he attended West Point or was educated elsewhere, he returned to Vermont in 1809 or 1810 to begin a business career.
Military service.
In 1810 Wardner joined the Jefferson Artillery, a Windsor militia unit made up of Democratic-Republicans, in anticipation of the War of 1812. In 1825 the Jefferson Artillery took part in the parade and reception for Lafayette during the stop he made in Woodstock, Vermont as part of his tour of the United States. Wardner served in the unit for several years, and attained the rank of Captain. Afterwards, he was frequently referred to as “Captain Wardner.”
Business career.
Wardner operated a successful store, first as the junior partner of Dr. Isaac Green, and later as the senior partner of his brother, Shubael Wardner. He also became involved in banking, including serving on the board of directors of the Windsor Bank, and President of the Ascutney Bank.
In addition to his mercantile and banking interests, Wardner was involved in several other ventures, including constructing the Ascutney Mill Dam to supply water power to mills and factories in Windsor, woolen mills, and construction and operation of the Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge between Windsor and Cornish, New Hampshire.
Start of political career.
By now an Anti-Mason, Wardner served in the Vermont House of Representatives in 1831 and 1834.
In 1832 he was appointed to the committee which oversaw construction of the second Vermont State House.
In the 1830s he was also a member of the committee which oversaw operations at the Vermont State Prison in Windsor, and served as one of the state's Commissioners of the Deaf & Dumb, responsible to ensure that those with physical and mental disabilities who required assistance at state expense received it.
From 1834 to 1835 Wardner served on the Vermont Governor's Council.
In 1835 Wardner was an original incorporator of the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad.
State Treasurer.
In the 1837 election the incumbent State Treasurer, Augustine Clarke, received the most votes, but fell short of the majority required by the Vermont Constitution. Clarke was an Anti-Mason and his party's popularity was on the wane. In cases where no candidate receives a majority, the Vermont General Assembly is empowered to elect a candidate.
The legislature was split between Democrats, Whigs and Anti-Masons, and failed to choose a winner. Governor Silas H. Jennison, an Anti-Mason who had run with Whig support, then appointed Wardner, who served from October, 1837 until October, 1838. He was succeeded by Henry Fisk Janes.
Later life.
Wardner remained active in business and banking, and also served in government positions including a term in the Vermont House in 1842 and a position on the board of directors of the Vermont State Prison.
In 1848 Wardner was an incorporator of the New Hampshire Central Railroad.
Following the death of his wife he began to withdraw from active management of his business ventures, turned over their management to one of his sons and retired in the late 1840s. He became a Whig after the Anti-Masonic Party dissolved, and joined the Republicans when that party was founded in the 1850s.
In the 1850s Wardner was active in the American Colonization Society, which opposed slavery and advocated having African-Americans relocate to communities in Africa and South and Central America.
Death and burial.
Wardner died in Windsor on August 29, 1877. He was buried in Windsor's Old South Church Cemetery.
Family.
In 1814 Wardner married Minerva Bingham, who died in 1841. They had 12 children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. They included: George, Edward, Henry, Helen, Charlotte, Elizabeth, and Martha.
Helen Wardner was the wife of William M. Evarts.
Several descendants named their sons after Allen Wardner. These namesakes include Allen Wardner Evarts (1848-1920), a New York attorney. He was the son of William M. Evarts and Helen Wardner.
Allen Wardner's descendants also included another son of William M. Evarts, Maxwell Evarts. Maxwell Evarts (1862–1913), was a New York City and Vermont attorney, banker and business executive.


CenterPoint Intermodal Center

CenterPoint Intermodal Center is an intermodal freight terminal located in Elwood, Illinois. It is considered the largest inland port in North America.
The Intermodal Center includes a 785-acre Union Pacific Railroad complex just south of Joliet and a 770-acre BNSF Railway complex further to the southwest. The facility's location was formerly part of the Joliet Army Ammunition Plant. Construction of the Intermodal Center began as part of the Joliet Arsenal redevelopment effort after 2000. The village of Elwood supported this with $150 million of TIF funding.
Local concerns.
As the freight traffic from Centerpoint grew, neighboring communities began to complain of safety, traffic and noise impacts. In 2014 the Village of Elwood attempted to enforce designated truck routes, but Centerpoint fought this in court.
Elwood has also sued Centerpoint regarding the use of their TIF funds, claiming that the project has generated less revenue and fewer jobs than promised. Mayor Bill Offerman explained, "Instead of a vibrant retail base, good-paying jobs and needed tax dollars that it promised, CenterPoint has given us a barrage of heavy truck traffic that puts residents in harm's way, low-paying warehouse jobs that make it impossible for middle-class families to live on and a mere fraction of the revenue it touted (the village) would receive in return."


Denali. A division of Nuvision Credit Union

Denali. A division of Nuvision Credit Union is a credit union based in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. The credit union serves communities throughout Alaska, and Washington. It is the third largest credit union in Alaska. Denali has grown to add Denali Home Loans, Denali Investment Services and Denali Business Lending and Business Service to its list of services.
History.
The City of Anchorage Employees Federal Credit Union was chartered on December 6, 1948. Charter 5912 was issued by the Bureau of Federal Credit Unions, which was part of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, within the Social Security Administration. The Credit Union began with eight members and $40 in assets. The Alaska Railroad Federal Credit Union (Charter 6244), another predecessor to Denali, was chartered in July, 1949, and brought under charter member 5912.
Over the years a number of credit unions were chartered, or merged with existing Alaska credit unions, to create what became Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union in 1997:
NCUA insurance of member accounts.
As of October 3, 2008, National Credit Union Administration increased member account insurance from the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund to $250,000 (from $100,000). In May 2009, the member account insurance amount of $250,000 was extended to 2013. On September 27, 2010 the NCUA made permanent the $250,000 limit.


Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad

The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad that operated from 1836 to 1881. Formed as a result of the merger of four small lines dating from the earliest days of American railroading in the late 1820s and early 1830s, it was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1881, becoming part of their main line in 1902.
History.
Founded in 1831 as the Philadelphia and Delaware County Rail-Road Company, the PW&B had within six years changed its name and merged with three other state-chartered railroads in three Middle Atlantic states to create a single line between Philadelphia and Baltimore. In 1881, the PW&B came under the control of the PRR, the largest railroad in the Northeast United States.
An 1895 historian of the PRR had this to say about the significance of the PW&B, which it had acquired and gained control of fourteen years before:
An important constituent of a great North and South line of transportation, it challenges ocean competition and carries on its rails not only statesmen and tourists but a valuable interchange of products between different lines of latitude. As a military highway, it is of the greatest strategic importance to the national, industrial, and commercial capitals – Washington, Philadelphia and New York. It presents some of the very best transportation facilities to the commerce of the cities after which it is named and could not be obliterated from the railroad map of the United States without materially disturbing its harmony.
In 1902, the PW&B was merged into the PRR's owned and newly merged Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad.
The right-of-way laid down by the PW&B line is still in use today as part of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor; and the Maryland Department of Transportation's MARC commuter passenger system from Baltimore to Maryland's northeast corner. Freight is hauled on the route by Norfolk Southern and formerly by the Conrail system.
Origins.
On April 2, 1831, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, seeking to improve transportation between Philadelphia and points south along the Atlantic coast and Eastern seaboard, chartered the Philadelphia and Delaware County Rail-Road Company. The legislature allotted $200,000 to build a rail line from America's largest city to the Delaware state line. In July 1835, surveyors began to look at possible routes, and in October, they reported that the best option, a 17-mile line, would cost $233,000 to build.
Meanwhile, further south, across the Mason–Dixon line, the Delaware and Maryland legislatures were doing their part to create a rail link to Wilmington and Baltimore. On January 18, 1832, the State of Delaware chartered the Wilmington and Susquehanna Rail Road Company (W&S, $400,000) to build from Wilmington to the Maryland state line. On March 5, the State of Maryland chartered the Baltimore and Port Deposite Rail Road Company (B&PD) (with $1,000,000) to build from Baltimore northeast to the western bank of the Susquehanna River. On March 12, the Delaware and Maryland Rail Road Company (D&M) was chartered for $3,000,000 to build from Port Deposit or any other point on the Susquehanna's eastern river bank north to the Delaware line.
In 1835, the W&S hired architect/surveyor William Strickland to make a preliminary survey to the southwest between Wilmington and North East, Maryland. That same year, the B&PD began operating trains between Baltimore harbor's "Basin" (today's Inner Harbor) waterfront and its Canton industrial, commercial and residential neighborhood to the southeast. But Matthew Newkirk, who had invested $50,000 in the B&PD, grew impatient. On Oct. 6, he wrote to the Company Board "demanding that Pres. Finley resign and be replaced by someone who will be more aggressive in collecting from delinquent subscribers and pushing project forward." As alternates, he suggests the noted lawyer, artist and civic activist, John H. B. Latrobe, brother of Chief Engineer Benjamin H. Latrobe, II (grandson of famous architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe), or Roswell L. Colt. Six days later, Colt became railroad line president, but his term lasted just five weeks; he was soon replaced by Lewis Brantz.
Operations.
The year 1836 saw several milestones. The P&DC opened its first segment of track; saw its allowable expenditures upped by the State to $400,000; and changed its name, on March 14, to The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company. On July 4, the PW&B began building its bridge over the Schuylkill River, the most significant obstacle on its part of the route. The bridge would cross at Gray's Ferry Bridge, south of the city. Meanwhile, on April 18, the D&M merged with the W&S, forming the Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad Company.
Work proceeded in Delaware and Maryland as well. By July 1837, there was continuous track from Baltimore to Wilmington, broken only by the wide Susquehanna River, which trains crossed by steam-powered ferryboats at Havre de Grace to Perryville. On January 15, 1838, the PW&B opened service to Wilmington from Gray's Ferry, then a few miles south of Philadelphia's city limits.
The disadvantages of tripartite ownership of the Philadelphia-Baltimore line having become obvious, the three remaining state-chartered railroads merged on February 12, 1838, to form the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company. (The new company's name differed from its predecessor's in that "The" at the beginning of the titled name was not part of its formal incorporated name.)
Among the passengers that year was Frederick Douglass, (1808-1895), a former Eastern Shore farm slave and later Fells Point ships' caulker, who escaped his Baltimore owner by boarding a PB&W train, perhaps at a Canton station or along the line in the vicinity, (further east of the future 1849-1850 historic President Street Station at President and Fleet Streets, which is east of "The Basin" of Baltimore's Harbor), and riding it northeast to Havre de Grace, Perryville, Wilmington and then to Philadelphia. To avoid detention, Douglass, a future world-famous abolitionist, statesman, Federal official, orator and publisher, borrowed a "seaman's protection", a document obtained by his future wife, a free black woman, which was normally carried by free black sailors, of which there were many in the merchant fleets and the navy. Later, the railroad would require black passengers to have "a responsible white person" sign a bond at the ticket office before allowing them to board.
In December, the PB&W completed its Schuylkill bridge at Gray's Ferry. Named the "Newkirk Viaduct" after PW&B president Matthew Newkirk, it allowed trains to run from downtown Philadelphia to downtown Baltimore, with only the Susquehanna River steam railroad ferry interrupting the ride. That interruption was eventually bridged under pressure of the heavy traffic needs in 1864–5, the later days of the Civil War. After a disastrous storm damaged the new spans, reconstruction began anew and was completed by 1866.
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) began using the tracks that same year to offer service northeast of Baltimore to Philadelphia.
Operation and expansion.
In Baltimore, the PW&B's terminus and business office sat at the southwest corner of President and Fleet Streets, east of the Jones Falls, the eventual future site of the President Street Station. The line ran east along Fleet Street, turned southeast onto Boston Street and ran along the waterfront past Canton before turning northeast and leaving the city limits, heading east, then northeast towards the Susquehanna.
In Philadelphia, the line ended at Broad Street and Prime Avenue (today Washington Avenue), where it connected with the Southwark Rail-Road (built in 1835) to reach the Delaware River.
In 1839, the railroad's ticket agents advertised daily mail-and-passenger trains that left Baltimore's old original Pratt Street station (at South Charles Street) of the B&O (before 1857-65 construction of the now-famous Camden Street Station) at 9:30 a.m., stopped for lunch in Wilmington, and reached the Market Street depot in Philadelphia at 4 p.m.
In 1842, Newkirk resigned as PW&B president. He was replaced by Matthew Brooke Buckley (1794-1856), who had become a PW&B board member on Jan. 10, 1842, and one week later had taken over leadership of one of the railroad's three executive committees, the Northern one. As president, Buckley helped create the first telegraph line, (the previous invention of Samuel F. B. Morse laid over the B&O line to Washington in 1844), from Philadelphia to Baltimore (and hence from points north and south) by agreeing to allow the builder to use the PW&B right-of-way in exchange for the use of the communications equipment.
On Jan. 12, 1846, Buckley was replaced by Edward C. Dale (1802-1866), a grandson of Richard Dale, one of the U.S. Navy's first commodores.
In February 1850, the PW&B improved its Baltimore terminus by completing erection of a new station, with a 208-foot (63 m) barrel-vaulted train shed. Service onward to Washington, D.C., was facilitated by drawing the coaches by horse down Pratt Street to the B&O terminal, first at East Pratt and South Charles Streets, later after 1857, to the new Camden Street Station. (In 1861, one week after the American Civil War began with the Confederate firings on Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, in South Carolina, an angry mob of Southern sympathizers attacked a trainload of future Union Army soldiers of the 6th Massachusetts volunteer state militia, joined in Philadelphia by the "Washington Brigade" of Pennsylvania state militia, heading to Washington to protect the Capital and respond to President Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops and declaring a state of rebellion. Because locomotives were not allowed to transfer through the city possibly for fire safety reasons during their transfer: the "First Bloodshed" of this famous "Pratt Street Riot" set the nation irrevocably on the path to war.) Unwieldy as it was, the arrangement allowed the railroads to temporarily compete with the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad (renamed Pennsylvania Railroad after 1857) on routes going west from Philadelphia. By 1853, the Camden and Amboy Railroad and New Jersey Railroad were also part of this agreement, providing through service from New York City to the West.
The PB&W also extended its reach into Delaware – on March 15, 1839, it bought the New Castle and Frenchtown Turnpike and Rail Road running from New Castle, Delaware, to Frenchtown, Maryland – but it took 13 years to connect the line to the rest of the PW&B. The "New Castle and Wilmington Railroad" was chartered to do so, and opened in 1852. The line also provided a connection with the Delaware Railroad, which the PW&B took over and began to operate on January 1, 1857. In 1859, the NC&F was abandoned west of Porter, the junction with the Delaware Railroad. By 1866, these moves and others allowed the PW&B to dominate the Delmarva Peninsula rail market.
In November 1866, the Susquehanna River was bridged at last by the PW&B Bridge, a 3,269-foot (996 m) wooden truss, finally creating a continuous rail connection between Philadelphia and Baltimore.
To avoid swampy areas and serve more populated ones, the PW&B built the Darby Improvement, which diverged from its existing main line just south of the Grays Ferry Bridge, passed through Darby, and rejoined it at Eddystone, just upriver from Chester. The new inland track opened on November 18, 1872. The PW&B dispensed with the 9.9-mile old alignment less than a year later, leasing it on July 1, 1873, to the Philadelphia and Reading Railway for 999 years with the stipulation that it would be used solely for freight. (The Reading dubbed the line, along with some connecting track, its Philadelphia and Chester Branch; southbound trains reached it via the Junction Railroad (jointly controlled by PW&B, Reading, and PRR) and continued on to the connecting Chester and Delaware River Railroad.)
The PW&B, which had competed so fiercely with the Pennsylvania, began to see their interests align. In 1873, the PRR opened the Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road (founded 1853, organized 1858), from Baltimore to Washington. The PW&B agreed to allow the PRR to use its track between Philadelphia and Baltimore, helping the PRR offer a shorter and more direct trip to Washington.
On May 15, 1877, the PW&B formally absorbed the New Castle and Frenchtown and New Castle and Wilmington railroads, forming a branch line from Wilmington to Rodney. On May 21, 1877, it then absorbed the Southwark railroad, extending its main line to the Delaware River waterfront.
Fight for control.
In 1880, a conflict began between the PRR and the B&O, both of which operated over the PW&B. The B&O was working to reduce its reliance on PRR tracks; it had recently arranged to switch its Philadelphia-New York trains to the new Reading-controlled "Bound Brook Route," which had recently broken the PRR's monopoly on travel to New York via New Jersey. At the time, northbound B&O trains left the PW&B at Gray's Ferry Bridge in southwest Philadelphia and traveled over the Junction Railroad to Belmont, where they reached Reading rails and continued north. However, a mile of the Junction Railroad's track through Philadelphia was owned and used by the PRR, which showed great ingenuity in arranging delays to B&O trains.
The irate John W. Garrett (1820–84), Civil War-era President of the Baltimore & Ohio, decided to counter-attack by quietly buying out the PW&B, which would have cut off the Pennsylvania Railroad from its Baltimore & Potomac subsidiary. However, his agent encountered unexpected difficulties in buying up a majority of the stock at the price specified. Meanwhile, Garrett's maneuver became known to the PRR, which quickly bought out a majority of the stock at a somewhat higher price and took control of the PW&B first instead. Garrett and the Baltimore and Ohio were forced later to construct an independent separate northeast line to Philadelphia, the Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad, while paying the PRR substantial fees to continue service further north to New York City over their lines. The new line opened in 1886; the Reading also used it to avoid the Junction Railroad.
PRR subsidiaries.
A number of branches were built, bought and sold from 1881 to 1891, as described below. In 1895, the main line was realigned and straightened at Naaman's Creek in Delaware. The old line would become sidings for Claymont Steel.
The PRR's Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road was formally leased to the PW&B on November 1, 1891.
The Elkton and Middletown Railroad, opened in 1895, was planned as a cutoff between the main line at Elkton, Maryland, and the Delaware Railroad at Middletown, Delaware. However, only a short piece of track, serving industries in Elkton, was ever constructed. It was consolidated into the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad on September 15, 1916.
Merger.
The PW&B merged with the Baltimore and Potomac on November 1, 1902, to form the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad.


Thomas M. Wagner

Thomas M. Wagner (c. 1824 – July 17, 1862) was a lieutenant colonel in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He was killed when a cannon exploded during an inspection at Fort Moultrie. The main fortification on Morris Island was subsequently named for him and was the site of the First and Second Battle of Fort Wagner.
Before the war, he was a South Carolina state senator and an executive of the Charleston and Savannah Railroad.


Drew Lewis