William Barstow Strong

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William Barstow Strong (born May 16, 1837 in Brownington (Vermont) , † August 3, 1914 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American railroad entrepreneur. He was president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from 1881 to 1889 . He is also often called William B. Strong or WB Strong .

Life and advancement

He was born in Brownington, Vermont on May 16, 1837. Strong graduated from college in Chicago , Illinois in 1855 and began a railroad apprenticeship . He started out as a station attendant on the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad , a position his older brother James got him .

He worked his way up successively with the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway , McGregor Western Railway , Chicago and North Western Railway , Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) in the 1870s to the position of Operations Inspector for the Michigan Central Railroad . In this position Strong was replaced by Henry Brockholst Ledyard in 1876 . After an interim position at Michigan Central, he returned to CB&Q, moved to a management position at Santa Fe as general manager and became vice president after a month.

On July 12, 1881, he followed T. Jefferson Coolidge to the presidency of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF). Under him, the ATSF's operating network grew to about 7,000 miles (11,265 km), making the ATSF the largest railroad in the United States at the time. He remained its president until his retirement in 1889.

The city of Barstow , where the ATSF operated its repair shop and major maintenance facility (now BNSF Railway ), and Strong City, Kansas , were named in his honor.

Other namesake of William Barstow Strong

William Barstow Strong was the name of an ATSF track observation vehicle in the late 20th century.

William B. Strong was one of the names on board the NASA -Raumsonde Stardust , in 2004 the comet Wild 2 visited.

References all in English

  1. ↑ a b c d e Waters, Laurence Leslie: Steel Trails to Santa Fe . University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas 1950, p. 54.
  2. ^ The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway and Auxiliary Companies - Annual Meetings, and Directors and Officers; January 1, 1902
  3. ↑ Infoplease.com . In: William Barstow Strong . Retrieved January 10, 2007.
  4. ^ A b Pearson Education: William Barstow Strong . 2005. Retrieved June 2, 2005.
  5. ^ Burton, Clarence M. and Burton, M. Agnes: History of Wayne County and the City of Detroit, Michigan, Vol III; Henry Brockholst Ledyard . The SJ Clarke Publishing Company, 1930 (Retrieved June 2, 2005).
  6. ^ Barstow, California - Crossroads of Opportunity . In: Legends of America.com . 2005. Archived from the original on May 25, 2005. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 2, 2005. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.legendsofamerica.com
  7. ^ Strong City, Kansas . Retrieved June 2, 2005.
  8. ^ ATSF # 89, William Barstow Strong . 2003. Retrieved January 11, 2007.
  9. ↑ NASA: Stardust Project - Microchip Names (S) . July 16, 2001. Retrieved June 2, 2005.

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Strong, William Barstow
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Strong, William B .; Strong, WB
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American railroad entrepreneur, President of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Brownington (Vermont)
DATE OF DEATH August 3, 1914
Place of death Los Angeles , California