[15], Leonard says that after 1900 Hill exhibited poor business judgment regarding one Canadian subsidiary, the Vancouver, Westminster and Yukon Railway Company (VW&Y). He laid more than 6000 miles of railroad. He also built the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway. His first job in St. Paul was with a steamboat company, where he worked as a bookkeeper. Hill noted that the secret to his success was "work, hard work, intelligent work, and then more work."[3]. The Northern Pacific and the "short squeeze" of 1901, The Hill Lines survive the trust-busting era, Claire Strom, "Among Friends: The Power of Ethnicity in the Great Northern Railway Corporation,", Don L. Hofsommer, "Ore Docks and Trains: The Great Northern Railway and the Mesabi Range,", Frank Leonard, "Railroading a Renegade: Great Northern Ousts John Hendry in Vancouver,", Webvideo:James J. Hill and the Building of the Stone Arch Bridge, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, James J. Hill and the Building of His Railroad Empire, Harry Elmer Barnes: The World War of 1914–1918, Great Northern Lofts - Condo and Loft Directory, "James Hill legacy a wealth of information", "James J. Hill; An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society", Northern Pacific Railway Corporate Records, Mary Theresa Mehegan Hill in MNopedia, the Minnesota Encyclopedia, James J. Hill in MNopedia, the Minnesota Encyclopedia, The Destruction of a Wealth and Jobs Creator by Parasitical-Elites, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_J._Hill&oldid=1002823751, 19th-century American railroad executives, American railroad executives of the 20th century, Pre-Confederation Canadian businesspeople, Canadian people of Ulster-Scottish descent, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad people, Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada), Businesspeople from Saint Paul, Minnesota, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2016, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the Encyclopedia Americana with a Wikisource reference, Wikipedia articles incorporating citation to the NSRW, Wikipedia articles incorporating citation to the NSRW with an wstitle parameter, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Mary Francis Hill Hill (1869–1947), who married, Clara Anne Hill Lindley (1873–1947), who married, Katherine Theresa Hill (1875–1876) (died in infancy), Charlotte Elizabeth Hill Slade (1877–1923), who married, Rachel Hill Boeckmann (1881–1967), who married. The pass had initially been described by Lewis and Clark in 1805, but no one since had been able to find it so Hill hired Santiago Jameson to search it out. Hill's heirs established the James J. Hill Reference Library in St. Paul,[24] which is considered by the Small Business Administration the premier source for publicly accessible practical business information in the United States, and many SBA programs rely on the Hill Library's HillSearch service to provide business information resources to small businesses nationwide. For James Hill it was a golden opportunity. Hill was a supporter of free trade and was one of the few supporters of free trade with Canada. [25] The Hill library owns 75 shares. In May 1879, the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway Co. (StPM&M) formed—with James J. Hill as general manager. Politically, Hill was a Bourbon Democrat. — James Taylor. Hill made sure his railroad was carefully managed so he … In 1891, James J. Hill and his family moved into a 32 room, 3,000 square foot, $93,000 mansion. By the time he died in 1916 he had amassed a fortune worth $63 million. During the Panic of 1873, a number of railroads, including the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (StP&P), had gone bankrupt. [7] The pass had been discovered by John Frank Stevens, principal engineer of the Great Northern Railway, in December 1889, and offered an easier route across the Rockies than that taken by the Northern Pacific. The result was chaos on Wall Street. Between 1883 and 1889, Hill built his railroads across Minnesota, into Wisconsin, and across North Dakota to Montana. It was designed by James Brodie, who also built the Hill house on Summit Avenue. They had ten children: By early 1916 Hill began pouring more attention into philanthropy, donating thousands of dollars to various institutions as he privately struggled with a variety of increasingly painful ailments. This last attempt lasted from 1955 until final Supreme Court approval and merger in March, 1970, which created the Burlington Northern Railroad. The 1887 building was converted between 2000 and 2004 to a 53 unit condo in the Historic Lowertown District of St. His first goal was to expand and upgrade even more. Hill was a hands-on, detail-obsessed manager. It is currently situated in front of More Hall, which is adjacent to the former on campus nuclear reactor building. Corrections? In 1870, he and his partners started the Red River Transportation Company, which offered steam boat transportation between St. Paul and Winnipeg. Over 400 workers labored on the project. Hill sent emissaries to the Pacific who found that Japan had the most potential in the market of "Oriental Trade," and he decided to capitalize on this opportunity. In St. Paul, the city's main library building and the adjoining Hill Business Library were funded by him. Hill tried to promote American exports to East Asia. 7 benefits of working from home; Jan. 26, 2021. It developed out of a struggling Minnesota railroad, the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (SP&P), which Hill and three associates purchased in 1878.…, Hill for the control of the Northern Pacific led to one of the most serious financial crises ever known on Wall Street. By the time he had finished, he was adept at algebra, geometry, land surveying, and English. In 1867, Hill entered the coal business, and by 1879 it had expanded five times over, giving Hill a local monopoly in the anthracite coal business. "A Gilded Age Businessman in Politics: James J. Hill, the Northwest, and the American Presidency, 1884-1912,", This page was last edited on 26 January 2021, at 05:53. The net worth of the company jumped from $728,000 in 1880 to Outward success alienates a man from himself. Though a Protestant, Hill maintained a strong philanthropic relationship with the Catholic Church in St. Paul and throughout the northwest. The Hill Library has developed numerous online programs and now serves millions of small business owners worldwide. Complete James J. Hill 2017 Biography. Northern Pacific stock was forced up to $1,000 per share. Give me Swedes, snuff and whiskey, and I'll build a railroad through hell. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The Great Northern was the first transcontinental built without public money and just a few land grants, and was one of the few transcontinental railroads not to go bankrupt. The train served as Great Northern's flagship train, and is still operated today by Amtrak. By 1889, Hill decided that his future lay in expanding into a transcontinental railroad. The Hills maintained close ties with Archbishop John Ireland, and Hill was a major contributor to the Saint Paul Seminary, Macalester College, Hamline University, the University of St. Thomas, Carleton College, and other educational, religious and charitable organizations. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. He offered Japanese Industrialists Southern cotton and would even ship it for free if they would compare it with the short staple cotton they were using with the promise of a refund if they were dissatisfied, which they were not. In order to generate business for his railroad, Hill encouraged European immigrants to settle along his line, often paying for Russian and Scandinavian settlers to travel from Europe. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). HILL, JAMES JEROME. James J. Hill was a railroad magnate responsible for greatly expanding railways into the U.S. Northwest during the late 19th century. Biography. Hill also invested in founding schools and churches for these communities and promoted a variety of progressive techniques to ensure they prospered. Concomitantly, the resulting trade in munitions with England and France carried the United States from a depression in 1914 to boom years in 1915 and 1916. Hill did much of the route planning himself, travelling over proposed routes on horseback. In 1880, its net worth was $728,000 (equal to $19,286,979 today); in 1885 it was $25,000,000, equal to $711,388,889 today. The Northern Pacific and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroads also came under Hill’s control. The Democratic Party's continued enchantment with the populist William Jennings Bryan led Hill to support Republican presidential candidates William McKinley (1896 and 1900), Theodore Roosevelt (1904), and William Howard Taft (1908 and 1912). Quietly, Harriman began buying stock in Northern Pacific with the intention of gaining control of Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy. Five strategies to maximize your sales kickoff; Jan. 26, 2021. Hill's historic home is located next to the Cathedral, largely due to the special relationship Hill's wife, a practicing Catholic, had with the Diocese. Paul. One of his appealing qualities was that he was not an absentee-emperor whose knowledge of his realm came solely from his agents and captains. During the winter months when the Mississippi River was frozen and steamboats could not run, Hill started bidding on other contracts and won several. Through this work, he learned all aspects of the freight and transportation business. ∎ a sloping piece of road or trail: they were climbing a st… [citation needed], Because of his previous experiences in shipping and fuel supply, Hill was able to enter both the coal and steamboat businesses. To promote settlement and revenue for his rail business, Hill experimented with agriculture and worked to hybridize Russian wheat for Dakota soil and weather conditions. For a brief period of time, he hired Italian and Greek laborers, but company officials were not satisfied with their performance. [5] He wanted people to settle along his rail lines, so he sold homesteads to immigrants while transporting them to their new homes using his rail lines. He was within 40,000 shares of control when Hill learned of Harriman's activities and quickly contacted J. P. Morgan, who ordered his men to buy everything they could get their hands on. Hill was born in a rural community west of Toronto, Canada in 1838. James J. Hill was born on Sept. 16, 1838, near Rockwood, Ontario, Canada, of parents of Irish background. Because of the size of this region and the economic dominance exerted by the Hill lines, Hill became known during his lifetime as "The Empire Builder". Hill also wanted control of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad because of its Midwestern lines and access to Chicago. Hill was implacable in defending and promoting his financial interests and eliminating competition. After the Great Northern Railway absorbed the St. Paul line in 1890, Hill became its president (1893–1907) and chairman of its board of directors (1907–12). With these friendly relations established, Hill managed to secure the industrializing Japanese order for 15,000 tons of rails against competition from England and Belgium. [14] Mary Hill died in 1922 and was buried next to her husband by the shore of Pleasant Lake on their North Oaks farm. Roosevelt sent his Justice Department to sue the Northern Securities Company in 1902. Hill told the crowd, estimated to have been as many as 90,000 people, "This exposition may be regarded as the laying of the last rail, the driving of the last spike, in unity of mind between the Pacific coast and the country east of the mountains" ("James J. Hill Says Exposition Makes Unique Appeal," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 2, 1909). Hill's Northern Securities Company was prosecuted and tried in St. Paul under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. Omissions? But he remained active in running his railroads and went to his office in St. Paul every day. [8], In 1898 Hill purchased control of large parts of the Mesabi Range iron mining district in Minnesota, along with its rail lines. After settling in St. Paul, Minnesota, about 1870, he established transportation lines on the Mississippi and Red rivers … He was one of the most successful railroad magnates of his time. — James T. Hill. Such a condition report is provided as a courtesy to our clients and should in no instance … Hill saved money by repeatedly cutting wages, made possible by a time of deflation when prices were falling generally. His condition deteriorated quickly in mid-May, but even with the help of many respected doctors he was beyond saving. By the time of his death in 1916, James J. Hill was worth more than Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. As a result, one feature Hill integrated into the construction of the 1887 company headquarters (the Great Northern General Office Building) was barrel-vaulted ceilings constructed of brick and railroad steel rails that held up a layer of sand several inches deep. [7] Hill moved on without the benefit of a central company, and acquired the Colorado and Southern Railway lines into Texas. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. As with his business dealings, Hill supervised the construction and design himself, hiring and firing several architects in the process. Besides his shipping and coal businesses, Hill also entered bankin… Upon completion of the Summit Avenue residence, Hill had the family's old house, which he had constructed in 1878, razed. James Jerome Hill was born on Sept. 16, 1838, near Rockwood, Ontario, Canada, of parents of Irish background. The company offered transportation services with a steamboat between St. Paul and Winnipeg. Synopsis Born on September 16, 1838, in Ontario, Canada, James J. Hill came from an impoverished childhood to found his own company in 1866. Accountant James Hill, Jr. was born in Baltimore on August 20, 1941, to Joyce and James Hill, Sr. Hill graduated from Central State University with a B.S. I don't build no heathen temples, where the Lord has done laid a hand. Because of vandals and curious admirers, both graves were later moved to Resurrection Cemetery in St. Paul for safer keeping. Hill avoided this by investing a large portion of the railroad's profit back into the railroad itself—and charged those investments to operating expense. James Jerome Hill, James J. Hill (1838–1916) rose above a childhood of poverty in Canada to become one of the great U.S. empire builders and one of the wealthiest men o… Britain, Ireland, France, and the Low Countries, hill / hil/ • n. 1. a naturally raised area of land, not as high or craggy as a mountain. Hill founded the Great Northern Railroad, which by 1893 connected St. Paul, Minnesota, to Washington's Puget Sound.Hill also acquired a reputation as a "robber baron," and the … At the age of 18 he left Canada for St. Paul, Minn., at that time a small frontier trading post at the head of the navigable portion of the Mississippi River. Feb. 3, 2021. James J. Hill, in full James Jerome Hill, (born September 16, 1838, near Guelph, Ontario, Canada—died May 29, 1916, St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.), American financier and railroad builder who helped expand rail networks in the northwestern United States. Hill's top aides were careless about details, bookkeeping, correspondence, and reports.[16]. For three years, Hill researched the StP&P and finally concluded that it would be possible to make a good deal of money off the StP&P, provided that the initial capital could be found. Under his management, StPM&M prospered. Courtesy: James J. Hill Library. There's a well on the hill, let it be. in accounting in 1964, and received his M.B.A. in personnel administration and accounting in 1967 from the University of Chicago. Engage students in your virtual classroom with Prezi Video for Google Workspace This unfortunately ended Hill's ability to maintain competitive rates in Asian countries and in the subsequent two years American trade with Japan and China dropped 40% (or $41 million). He attended the Rockwood Academy for a short while, where the head gave him free tuition. His particular talents for English and mathematics would be critical later in his life. Hill and his railway are mentioned in the Harry McClintock song "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum.". In 1959, Hill High in St. Paul, Minnesota, was established as a school from the funds set aside from Hill's wife for education. The StP&P in particular was caught in an almost hopeless legal muddle. His Highways of Progress was published in 1910. If the federal government believed that the railroads were making too much profit, they might see this as an opportunity to force lowering of the railway tariff rates. [2] By 1879 he had a local monopoly by merging with Norman Kittson. In 1907, at the age of 69, Hill turned over leadership of the Great Northern to his son, Louis W. Hill. Jim Hill Mountain near Stevens Pass in the Cascade Range is named after him, also, In 1929, the Great Northern Railway inaugurated a long-distance passenger train extending from Chicago to Seattle, and named it the Empire Builder in his honor. His company had expanded five times in 1879. It operated agencies in Germany and Scandinavia that promoted its lands, and brought families over at low cost. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. On that line’s failure in 1873, Hill interested Canadian capitalists and reorganized it as the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway Company, becoming its president in 1882. He ousted its president John Hendry, thereby worsening the problems, prolonging the delays, and adding to the costs of taking over […] Hill Capital is a venture capital fund established in 2016 "aligned with James J. Hill's belief in the cooperation of the production, distribution and exchange of wealth as outlined in his writings". His ability to ride out the depression garnered him fame and admiration. Hill entered the coal business in 1867. Together they not only bought the railroad, they also vastly expanded it by bargaining for trackage rights with the Northern Pacific Railway. "[6] Hill got what he wanted, and in January 1893 his Great Northern Railway, running from St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington — a distance of more than 1,700 miles (2,700 km) — was completed. Near the end of his life, Hill played what a recent biographer, Albro Martin, called his "last and greatest role." After settling in St. Paul, Minnesota, about 1870, he established transportation lines on the Mississippi and Red rivers and arranged a traffic interchange with the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Major Achievements of James J Hill. Thus there is little in James J. Hill at home on which to build a legend. James J. Hill lived the late nineteenth century American dream. What drivel is this? James J. Hill Family, Childhood, Life Achievements, Facts, Wiki and Bio of 2017. He made his own freighting company that was so successful that it spread to the Pacific from St. Paul by using the (failing) St. Paul and Pacific railroad company. [14], In this time he also began to focus his energies on securing trade with Asian countries. Built at a cost of $930,000 and with 36,000 square feet (3,300 m2), the James J. Hill House was among the city's largest. In 1912 James J. Hill said of his Great Northern Railway, “The financial outlook of this company is as well assured as that of most governments.” Unlike most other transcontinental lines, the Great Northern expanded west without relying on government subsidies and land grants. [8][9][10], Six months after the railroad reached Seattle came the deep nationwide depression called the Panic of 1893. During this period, Hill began to work for himself for the first time. A bust of Hill is located on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington. James J. Hill. Meanwhile, nearly every other transcontinental railroad went bankrupt. He also ran model experimental farms in Minnesota, such as North Oaks, to develop superior livestock and crop yields for the settlers locating near his railroads. "What we want," Hill is quoted as saying, "is the best possible line, shortest distance, lowest grades, and least curvature we can build. The James J. Hill Center, located in Saint Paul, MN, is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) business reference library founded in 1921. We do not care enough for Rocky Mountains scenery to spend a large sum of money developing it. In The Great Gatsby, Hill is the man whom Gatsby's father says Gatsby would have equalled if he had lived long enough. He went into a coma and died on May 29 at the age of 77. The 14-story building cost $14 million to construct. Drawing on his experience in the development of Minnesota's Iron Range, Hill was, during 1911–1912, in close contact with Gaspard Farrer of Baring Brothers & Company of London regarding the formation of the Brazilian Iron Ore Company to tap that nation's rich mineral deposits. James J. Hill was a railroad magnate responsible for greatly expanding railways into the U.S. Northwest during the late 19th century. An enthusiastic conservationist, Hill was invited by President Theodore Roosevelt to a governors' conference on conservation of natural resources, and later appointed to a lands commission. Hill was a member of the Jekyll Island Club (aka The Millionaires Club) on Jekyll Island, Georgia, along with J. P. Morgan and William Rockefeller. He started with a huge region that people thought could never be developed. He was active in banking as president of the Northern Securities Company (which in 1904 was declared in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act). — James J. Hill. [26] As of September 2016, the fund is not yet closed. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest. He quickly rose from lowly clerk to controller of a railroad monopoly and became one of the most powerful figures of the Gilded Age. James J. Hill : biography September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916 One of his challenges at this point was the avoidance of federal action against railroads. Hill teamed up with Norman Kittson (the man he had merged steamboat businesses with), Donald Smith,[4] George Stephen and John Stewart Kennedy. The Great Northern reached Seattle on 7 January 1893. A Canadian himself of Scotch-Irish Protestant ancestry, he brought in many men with the same background into high management. James D. Watson. In September 1915, the first public loan, the $500,000,000 Anglo-French loan, was floated after negotiations with the Anglo-French Financial Commission. James J. Hill, American financier and railroad builder who helped expand rail networks in the northwestern United States. Jameson discovered the pass 1889 and it shortened the Great Northern's route by almost one hundred miles. [12] Hill's leadership became a case study in the successful management of a capital-intensive business during the economic downturn.
Pa020047 Spark Module, Throat Burning During Pregnancy, Samsung Dryer 3h Code, Red Eye Retro Bongs, Pa020047 Spark Module, Reko Pizzelle Logo,