William Butler Ogden

William Butler Ogden (born June 15, 1805 in Walton , Delaware County , New York , † August 3, 1877 in New York City ) was an American politician . He was mayor of the city of Chicago in 1837 and 1838 .

Career

William Ogden was born in the small community of Walton. As a teenager he took over his father's real estate company after the death of his father. He worked with his brother-in-law Charles Butler. Among other things, they were involved in the construction of a new building for New York University . Politically, Ogden was a member of the Democratic Party . In 1835 he served briefly as a member of the New York State Assembly . That same year he came to Chicago, where he oversaw the sale of land his brother-in-law had bought. The profit made in this way convinced him to stay there permanently from 1836. He was involved in drawing up the city charter.

When Chicago was officially made a city in 1837, William Ogden was elected its first mayor. He held this office between 1837 and 1838. His main interest was the expansion of the new city's infrastructure. Among other things, he campaigned for the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal , in which he also invested privately. To finance the construction of the local infrastructure, he had to collect city taxes. When these were not enough, he raised money from his New York home, which his partners there invested in Chicago. He also believed that business and government should work closely together.

In Chicago, Ogden soon became a rich man. Among other things, he became president of the Michigan Steam Boat Company and a local brewery. He also directed Rush Medical College and entered the banking industry. Ogden also provided the building site for the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. Since 1847 he was in the railroad business. He saw the advantages of connecting the city not only to the east, but also to the rural areas in the mid-west . The railroad should make it easier for agricultural products to be transported into the city. Since the financing of the project stalled, he had to finance the railway with the help of loans from the population. In 1848 construction began on the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad , which was profitable from the start and later expanded to Wisconsin .

In the following years, Ogden continued to operate successfully in the railway industry. In 1862 he became president of the Union Pacific Railroad . In 1871, Ogden suffered an economic setback when the great fire in Chicago destroyed much of his property there. On the same day, a wood company he owned in Wisconsin burned down. However, he has coped with these setbacks financially. He lived in New York City since the early 1860s. There well-known national personalities belonged to his circle of friends. Politically, he had converted to the Republicans in 1860 , whose attitude to slavery he supported. After a dispute with President Abraham Lincoln over the Emancipation Proclamation , which he considered premature, he left the party. He died in New York on August 3, 1877.

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personal data
SURNAME	Ogden, William Butler
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	June 15, 1805
PLACE OF BIRTH	Walton , New York
DATE OF DEATH	August 3, 1877
Place of death	New York City