WILLIAM BARSTOW STRONG Biography - Craftmen, artisans and people from other Occupations

 
 

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WILLIAM BARSTOW STRONG

Name: William Barstow Strong                                                         
Born: 16 May 1837 Brownington, Vermont                                               
Died: 3 August 1914 Los Angeles, California                                         
                                                                                     
William Barstow Strong (May 16, 1837 - August 3, 1914) served as president of       
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from 1881 to 1889. He is often             
referred to as either William B. Strong or W. B. Strong.                             
                                                                                     
He was born in Brownington, Vermont on May 16, 1837. Strong graduated from           
Bell's Business College in Chicago, Illinois, in 1855, and soon launched his         
career in railroading. His first railroad job was as a station agent for the         
Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, a position that was introduced to him by his       
older brother James.                                                                 
                                                                                     
He married Abbie J. Moore, October 2, 1859, in Beloit, Wisconsin. They had three     
children, a girl and two boys.                                                       
                                                                                     
He worked his way through several railroad jobs successively for the Chicago,       
Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, McGregor Western Railway, Chicago and North         
Western Railway, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), and as             
superintendent of the Michigan Central Railroad in the 1870s. In this position,     
Strong was succeeded by Henry Brockholst Ledyard in 1876. He returned to the         
CB&Q after working on the Michigan Central and then joined the management team       
of the Santa Fe as General Manager, and was promoted to Vice President within a     
month.                                                                               
                                                                                     
On July 12, 1881, he succeeded T. Jefferson Coolidge as president of the             
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF). Under his tenure, the ATSF             
expanded to about 7,000 miles (11,265 km) of right-of-way, which at the time         
made the ATSF the largest railroad in North America. He held the presidency         
until his retirement in 1889.                                                       
                                                                                     
The city of Barstow, California, where the ATSF maintained extensive shop and       
equipment construction and repair facilities, and the town of Strong City,           
Kansas, are both named in his honor.