Credit Foncier of America

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Credit Foncier of America
Fate Bankrupt
Founded 1866
Defunct 1870s
Location Omaha, Nebraska
Denver, Colorado
Tacoma, Washington
Industry Financing, railroads, real estate
Key people George Francis Train

Credit Foncier of America was a late 1800s financing and real estate company in Omaha, Nebraska. The company existed primarily to promote the townsites along the Union Pacific railroad,[1] and was incorporated by a special act of the Nebraska Legislature in 1866.[2][3] Credit Foncier was said to be "intimately connected with all the early towns along the Union Pacific."[4]

While related to Train's Crédit Mobilier the company was not embroiled in the scandals that tore that organization apart.[5]

[edit] About

Founded, controlled, and initially owned by eccentric railroad booster George Francis Train, Credit Foncier was named after Credit Foncier de France.[6] Along with support from businessman Cyrus McCormick,[7] Omaha banker Augustus Kountze was among the original "special commissioners" appointed by the Legislature to form the company.[8] The company is said to have been organized to "profitably dispose" of the Union Pacific's land grant acreage.[9]

The company owned almost 5,000 acres in Omaha; 1,000 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and 7,000 in Columbus, Nebraska, along with other land along the Union Pacific mainline.[10] Train once explained, "One of my plans was the creation of a chain of great towns across the continent, connecting Boston and San Francisco by a highway of magnificent cities."[11] The company built a hotel it called the "Credit Foncier" in Cleveland, Nebraska in 1868; not liking its success there it was moved to Columbus the next year. George Train, with so much land in the city, predicted a great future for Columbus.[12] Train is credited with writing newspaper articles and delivering speeches in which he promoted the town, calling it, "Columbus, the new center of the Union and quite probably the future capital of the U.S.A."[13]

Train served as president of the company; George P. Bemis was the secretary. Bemis later became mayor of Omaha.[14] Two of his investments in Omaha marked the city's history, including the Cozzens House Hotel. The other, originally called "Train Town" for its owner and still entitled "Credit Foncier Addition" in city records, yielded Train "a small fortune" as he sold homes and empty lots to new settlers just south of Omaha.[15]

Train later moved the headquarters of Credit Foncier to Denver, Colorado, and again to Tacoma, Washington. Along with Omaha, Train promised each city it would become the "gleaming metropolis" of the Union Pacific.[16]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Reps, J.W. (1992) The making of urban America: a history of city planning in the United States. Princeton University Press. p 402.
  2. ^ Morton, A. (1966) The Great American Land Bubble: The Amazing Story of Land-grabbing. Johnson Reprint Corp. p 290.
  3. ^ Morton, J.S., et al. (1918) History of Nebraska. Western Publishing and Engraving Company. p 349.
  4. ^ Quiett, G.C. (1939) They Built the West: An Epic of Rails and Cities. D. Appleton-Century Company, incorporated. p 157.
  5. ^ McCague, J. (1964) Moguls and Iron Men: The Story of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Harper and Row. p 135.
  6. ^ Holland, P.G. (nd) "George Francis Train and the Woman Suffrage Movement, 1867-70". University of Iowa. Retrieved 4/10/08.
  7. ^ Montgomery, D. (1961) Beyond Equality: Labor and the Radical Republicans, 1862-1872. University of Illinois Press. p 21.
  8. ^ Morton, J.S., et al. (1918) History of Nebraska. Western Publishing and Engraving Company. p 349.
  9. ^ McCague, J. (1964) Moguls and Iron Men: The Story of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Harper and Row. p 135.
  10. ^ Larsen, L.H., Cottrell, B.J., Dalstrom, H.A. and Dalstrom, K.C. (2007) Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs. University of Nebraska Press. p 152.
  11. ^ Train, G.F. (1902, 2007) My life in many states and in foreign. Kessinger Publishing, LLC.
  12. ^ "Platte County," Andreas' history of Nebraska. Retrieved 4/10/08.
  13. ^ Howard, R.W. (1962) The Great Iron Trail: The Story of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Putnam. p. 206.
  14. ^ White, J.T. (1893) The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. J. T. White company. p 557.
  15. ^ Stanley, H.M. (1895) My Early Travels and Adventures in America and Asia. C. Scribner's Sons. p 193.
  16. ^ Reps, J.W. (1992) The making of urban America: a history of city planning in the United States. Princeton University Press. p 402.