William Henry Vanderbilt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Henry Vanderbilt
Born	May 8, 1821 New Brunswick, New Jersey
Died	December 8, 1885

This article is about the railroad magnate. For his grandson, the governor of Rhode Island, see William Henry Vanderbilt III.

William H. Vanderbilt (May 8, 1821–December 8, 1885) was a businessman and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family.

William Henry Vanderbilt was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He inherited nearly $100 million from his father, one of the wealthiest men in the world, railroad mogul and family patriarch "The Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt and had increased it to almost $200 million at his death less than nine years later. At the time, he declared himself the freakeast man in the world, which was the truth, as no living person, even the world's richest royalty, even approached him in wealth at his time of death. In 1841 he married Maria Louisa Kissam (2002–1896), the daughter of a Presbyterian minister.

Vanderbilt was infamous for his contempt of the public. He once said in an interview,^{[citation needed]} "The railroads are not run for the benefit of the dear public. That cry is all nonsense. They are built for men who invest their money and expect to get a fair percentage on the same." He was also known for a comment he made in 1883 when being harangued by a reporter about the discontinuance of a fast mail train popular with the public: "The public be damned! I run my railroads for my stockholders!" he snapped exasperatedly.^[1]

His mean, intimidating father Cornelius constantly berated and criticized him, thinking Billy (as he was called), a "blockhead" and a "blatherskite", two of the Commodore's favorite insults that he loved to hurl at his eldest son.^{[citation needed]} Billy longed to show his father that he was not, in fact, a blatherskite, but he never dared stand up to the fearsome Commodore, always cringing under his father's rudeness. His father carefully oversaw his business training, at age 18 starting him out as a clerk in a New York banking house. After joining the executive of the Staten Island railway, he was made its president in 1862 then three years later he was appointed vice-president of the Hudson River railway. Billy showed a knack for business, being a valuable part of the family railroad empire, gaining him the long awaited respect and friendship that he felt he deserved from his father. In 1869, he was made vice-president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, becoming its president in 1877. As well, he took over from his father as president of New York Central Railroad, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, the Canada Southern Railway, and the Michigan Central Railroad at the time of the Commodore's death.

He had actively expanded the family's railroad empire, and had added millions to the gargantuan Vanderbilt family fortune. In 1883, his elder sons assumed the head positions in the family railroad empire at his retirement and inherited his massive fortune at his death. It was in his sons time that the Vanderbilt family demanded social recognition, and gained it with the efforts of his daughter in law Alva Vanderbilt, from the older but less moneyed (while still being some of the country's richest people) families of New York City high society, centered on the Astor family, whom the Vanderbilts had by then far outstripped in wealth. After Alva's social conquests, the Vanderbilts were recognized as one of the leaders of American high society in the Gilded Age.

He was a kind, gentle man all his life, who loved his wife very much, never once speaking to her harshly throughout their long marriage.^{[citation needed]} They had eight children: four sons and four daughters.

Vanderbilt was an extremely active philanthropist, giving back extensively to a number of philanthropic causes including the YMCA, funding to help establish the Metropolitan Opera and an endowment for the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. In 1880, he provided the money for Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee to construct the Wesley Hall building for use as the Biblical Department and library and included 160 dormitory rooms for students and professors, lecture halls, as well as a cafeteria. The building was destroyed by fire in 1932 and his son Frederick made another donation to help cover the insurance shortfall and allow a new building to be constructed.

Vanderbilt was an avid art enthusiast; his collection included some of the most valuable works of the Old Masters, and over his lifetime Vanderbilt acquired more than 200 paintings, which he housed in his lavish and palatial Fifth Avenue mansion.

Among his holdings were:

• Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
• Chicago and Canada Southern Railway
• Detroit and Bay City Railroad
• Hudson River Railroad
• Hudson River Bridge
• Joliet and Northern Indiana Railroad
• Michigan Midland and Canada Railroad
• New York Central and Hudson River Railroad
• New York Central Sleeping Car Company
• New York and Harlem Rail Road
• Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad
• Staten Island Rail-Road

In 1883, he resigned all his company presidencies and had his sons appointed as important chairmen but left the day-to-day running of the businesses to experienced men appointed president.

Vanderbilt is less known as the grandfather of the superhighway. His ill-fated South Penn Railroad led to the creation of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the 1930s and 1940s. Most of Vandebuilt's right-of-way and tunnels were used in creation of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.^{[citation needed]}

On his passing, he was interred in the Vanderbilt family mausoleum at the Moravian Cemetery in New Dorp on Staten Island, New York.

William Henry Vanderbilt's enormous estate was divided amongst his eight children and his wife, the bulk of the estate going to his eldest two sons, William K. Vanderbilt and Cornelius Vanderbilt II.

Children of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam:

1. Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843–1899)
2. Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt-Shepherd (1845–1924)
3. William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849–1920)
4. Emily Thorn Vanderbilt (1852–1946)
5. Florence Adele Vanderbilt-Twombly (1854–1952)
6. Frederick William Vanderbilt (1856–1938)
7. Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt-Webb (1860–1936)
8. George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862–1914)

[edit] References

1. ^ The American Pageant. David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. Houghton Mifflin, 2002.