The Rail Car "Grand Isle" is an exhibition building at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.
The Wagner Palace Car Company fabricated the rail car "Grand Isle" about 1890 as a gift, presented by Dr. William Seward Webb, president of the company, to Vermont Governor Edward C. Smith. The car’s mahogany-paneled parlor, elegant dining room, staterooms, and plush furnishings typify the private luxury cars that became important symbols of rank to railroad men, business tycoons, and public figures in the final quarter of the 19th century.
Although Webb was trained as a physician, his father-in-law, William Henry Vanderbilt, persuaded him to give up the medical profession and join the family’s railroad enterprise instead. As president of the Rutland Railroad and the Wagner Palace Car Company, Webb lived for part of the year in Shelburne, Vermont, from whence he commuted with relative ease to New York City. His own private car, the "Ellsmere", was similar in construction and style to the Museum’s Grand Isle.
When the Museum purchased the Grand Isle in 1960, its paneling had been painted, its fixtures replaced, and its lush fittings removed to convert it to use as a business car. J. Watson Webb, Jr., Dr. Webb’s grandson, supervised the car’s renovation ensuring that it would once again embody the days of luxury rail travel and commemorate his family’s role in the railroad industry.