Object Details
- Creator
- Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
- Hill, James Jerome, 1838-1916
- Names
- Great Northern Railroad
- St. Paul, Minnesota and Mantioba Railway.
- Place
- St. Paul (Minn.)
- Topic
- Railroad companies -- Minnesota
- Railroads -- Management
- Transportation
- Provenance
- Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
- Creator
- Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
- Hill, James Jerome, 1838-1916
- See more items in
- James J. Hill Scrapbook
- Summary
- Scrapbook documents James j. Hill's work as president of the Great Northern Railway, and his control of the First National Bank and Northwestern Trust Company.
- Biographical / Historical
- James J. Hill was born near Guelph, Ontario on September 16, 1838 of parents of Scottish and Northern Ireland background. He moved to St. Paul, Minnesota when he was 18 and began his career in railroad building. His major accomplishment was to discover the "bread-basket of the world" in the Northwest United States and led in the development of its 6 states from wilderness. Along the 6,000 miles of track he created wealth of $5 billion in land values, having provided for 400,000 farms on 65 million acres. This was done between 1880-1893 with no Federal or State money. He introduced livestock to these farms and imported blood stock. He had men show the farmers how to raise more wheat, and established cheap rates for rail and steamship for the transport of the grain. Hill organized a fleet of steamships for the commercial invasion of Japan and China and made possible trade between Buffalo, NY to the Far East. Hill was known to believe in low grades, heavy power, large capacity cars and big trainloads. Besides being president of the Great Northern Railway form 1889-1912, he controlled the First National Bank and the Northwestern Trust Company. He also helped to get Armour and Company to locate in south St. Paul. He arranged for Wall Street to purchase $500,000,000 of foreign bonds to help the allies in 1915. He also personally gave money to King Albert of Belgium to help the country after the Germans invaded it. Hill was worth an estimated $200 to $250 million when he died.
- Hill was the son of a farmer in Ontario, Canada. At 18 he moved to St. Paul, Minn., and took a job as a clerk with a steamship company. In 1873 he and a partner took over the bankrupt St. Louis and Pacific Railway. This line was reorganized in 1879 as the St. Paul, Minnesota and Manitoba Railway, with Hill as General Manager; in 1883 he became its President. Hill extended his rail line into the Great Northwest and opened it up to commerce. He amassed a fortune, estimated at between 200 to 250 million dollars at his death.
- Extent
- 0.66 Cubic feet (1 box)
- Date
- 1916
- Custodial History
- This scrapbook, presumably part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana (AC0060), was found in the vault, Spring, 1989.
- Archival Repository
- Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Identifier
- NMAH.AC.0334
- Type
- Collection descriptions
- Archival materials
- Clippings
- Obituaries
- Scrapbooks
- Citation
- James J. Hill Scrapbook, 1916, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
- Processing Information
- Collection processed by Robert Harding, 1991.
- Rights
- Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
- Genre/Form
- Clippings -- 1910-1920
- Obituaries
- Scrapbooks -- 1910-1920
- Scope and Contents
- Scrapbook contains clippings of the news stories and obituaries printed after the death of James J. Hill on May 29, 1916, drawn from newspapers throughout the United States and Canada. The 151 scrapbook pages (13" x 15") contain newspaper clippings of the news stories and obituaries of the death of James Jerome Hill on May 29, 1916 at age 78. The clippings dated May 29 and 30, 1916 are from throughout the United States and Canada and report on the life and death of the man known as "Railroad Builder" and "Empire Builder".
- Restrictions
- Collection is open for research.
- Record ID
- ebl-1562729482265-1562729482267-0
