This is the grave of Thomas Alexander Scott. Born in 1823 in Peters Township, Pennsylvania, Scott would become one of the most vile men of the early Gilded Age. He got involved in railroad work at a y
One major problem with American public transportation is the incredibly high cost of construction. Another is the spread out nature of American cities. How does one create functional public transporta
For the latest LGM podcast, I talked to Michael Hiltzik, the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Los Angeles Times, about his latest book Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of
This is the grave of Charles Francis Adams, Jr. Born in 1835 to Boston, Adams grew up in America’s most elite family. Of course, his great-grandfather was John Adams, his grandfather John Quincy
Today is the anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad’s completion in Utah. I have written in the past about the horrific labor history behind this. I was happy to wake up this morning to se
On February 20, 1893, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad went into receivership. This was the first step toward the Panic of 1893, the greatest economic crisis in American history prior to the Grea
On March 28, 1959, railroad worker union leaders in Mexico that threatened to shut down the nation were arrested. The government crack down, its firing thousands of workers and arrest of many more dem
This is the grave of James J. Hill. Born in 1838 in Ontario, Hill moved permanently to the United States in 1856, setting in Saint Paul, Minnesota, a few years before the good citizens of that state c