Hill died in St. Paul on May 29, 1916. Paul. "Minnesota, Death Records, 1866-1916," index and database. Hill was represented by, among others, the law firm headed by Frank B. Kellogg. 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. James Jerome Hill Mary Theresa Mehegan Hill Mary Frances (Mamie) James Norman (Jimmy) Louis Warren Clara Ann "What we want," Hill is quoted as saying, "is the best possible line, shortest distance, lowest grades, and least curvature we can build. He also built the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway. With the end of the iron ore trust, any royalties that flow from the mines will now head in another direction. [13] Hill's leadership became a case study in the successful management of a capital-intensive business during the economic downturn. Not for the first time in Hill's career, competitors became partners. So the trust came with an expiration date: it would terminate 20 years after the last original founder had died. 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 man nicknamed the Empire Builder, and his descendents, get credit for a defining role in developing and shaping Minnesotas Iron Range and the Northwest. Thus, the knowledge he amassed in the academy was put to use in order to establish his business later in life. James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 - May 29, 1916), was a Canadian-American railroad executive. Opened as the James . 4241 Jutland Dr #202, San Diego, CA 92117. For a brief period of time, he hired Italian and Greek laborers, but company officials were not satisfied with their performance. What to expect; First visit; FAQ; Even though it was a public stock, it wasnt a publicized venture, McCormack said. Drawing on his experience in the development of Minnesota's Iron Range, Hill was, during 19111912, 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. He loved reading and also took to poetry. It was at this point that Hill went from general manager to the official president of StPM&M, and thereafter decided to expand the rail lines. The theory was that if a fire broke out and the ceiling caved in, the sand would drop and retard or suppress the fire. Hill pursued a broad range of other business interests: coal and iron ore mining, Great Lakes and Pacific Ocean shipping, banking and finance, agriculture, and milling. His first goal was to expand and upgrade even more. 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), William Howard Taft (1908 and 1912). A bust of Hill is located on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington. 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.[22]. From 1937 to 1951, Mr. Hill served in the Minnesota House of Representatives. 291 Pins 5y J Collection by Jessie Cochran Rachel Hill J Hill Mary Frances Gilded Age House On A Hill Downstairs Historical Sites Matilda Minnesota 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". (photo courtesy Minnesota Historical Society), A colorized 1910 postcard from the Mahoning iron ore mine, a decade after James J. Hill had purchased the land. Categories: Eramosa Township, Upper Canada | Great Northern Railway | Persons of National Historic Significance | Namesakes US Counties | Notables, WIKITREE HOME | ABOUT | G2G FORUM | HELP | SEARCH. People commented on his piercing gaze and said he held their attention with his quick, animated speech, gesturing expansively and jabbing the air with a hand or finger to make his point. [3] By 1879 he had a local monopoly by merging with Norman Kittson. [11] This "Dakota Boom" peaked in 1882 as 42,000 immigrants, largely from northern Europe, poured into the Red River Valley running through the region. The Great Northern bought its lands from the federal governmentit received no land grantsand resold them to farmers at cheap prices. Because of these measures, Hill not only stayed in business, but also increased the net worth of his railroad by nearly $10,000,000 (equal to $301,592,593 today). During this same period, Hill also entered into banking and quickly managed to become member of several major banks' boards of directors. By 1889, Hill decided that his future lay in expanding into a transcontinental railroad. His particular talents for English and mathematics would be helpful in his career. Schonberger, Howard. Early in 1901 he joined with J. P. Morgan to buy control of the Northern Pacific Railroad control contested by E. H. Harriman of the Union Pacific in an epic stock market battle in May 1901. Connecting junctions almost all over North America, it is to his merit that trade and occupations saw a leap in U.S.A. Holding on to his vivid ambition, he climbed up to the helm of Americas transportation business from being the son of a hired peasant. uis Warren Hill, Clara Anne Lindley (born Hill), Katherine Theresa Hill, Charlotte Elizabeth Slade (born Hill), Ruth Beard Heidsieck Lori James Jerome Hill, Anne Ann Hill (born Dunbar), James Hill, Mary Elizabeth Brooks (born Hill), Alexander Samuel Dunbar Hill, Louis Warren Hill. "[7] 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 (2,700km) was completed. That handoff has been the subject of a dispute in Ramsey County District Court, mostly about the timing of the handover. He was general manager (1879-1882) and president (1883-1890) of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company. Conoco-Phillips wanted to get the property immediately on April 7, 2015, but the trustees argued that winding up the trusts affairs would take until 2016. During the Panic of 1873, a number of railroads, including the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (StP&P), had gone bankrupt. He also contributed to the establishment of Marquette University School of Medicine. By the time of his death in 1916, James J. Hill was worth more than $53 million (equal to more than $1,319,813,456 today). By the time he had finished, he was adept at algebra, geometry, land surveying, and English. Hill did much of the route planning himself, travelling over proposed routes on horseback. Hill also invested in founding schools and churches for these communities and promoted a variety of progressive techniques to ensure they prospered. The winners of that truce were Hill and Morgan, who immediately formed the Northern Securities Company with the aim of tying together their three major rail lines (Ironically, the Burlington Route, Northern Pacific, and Great Northern would later merge in 1970 to form the Burlington Northern Railroad). Some mines were already operating, and Hills sons were excited by the potential. It is currently situated in front of More Hall, which is adjacent to the former on campus nuclear reactor building. It only had 10 employees. The $400-million merger consolidated all major rail lines in the northwest quarter of the nation. After 20 years working in the shipping business on the Mississippi and Red rivers, Hill and several other investors purchased the nearly bankrupt St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in 1878. By 1860, he was working for wholesale grocers, for whom he handled freight transfers, especially dealing with railroads and steamboats. Hills Great Northern, McCormack added, profited on all sides, from the ore itself, and the transporting of it by rail to Duluth, and then by ship because it went on Hills ships. Upon completion of the Summit Avenue residence, Hill had the family's old house, which he had constructed in 1878, razed. Two years later, Hill wrote a $2 million personal check half the purchase price for 25,000 acres of logged-off land, which had a small rail line to Hibbing for carrying logs. Seizing this opportunity, he collaborated with Norman Kittson, Donald Smith, George Stephen and John Stewart Kennedy, and bought off St. It was only in the 1870s that the possibility of a railway system through the Red River Valley dawned on him. [2], Because of his previous experiences in shipping and fuel supply, Hill was able to enter both the coal and steamboat businesses. In 1891, after three years of building, construction was completed on Hill's new family home at 240 Summit Avenue in St. Paul. [1] He was forced to leave school in 1852 due to the death of his father. [8] 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. 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. Cook St. Paul is no more. A childhood accident with a bow and arrow blinded him in the right eye. He began his career in transportation in 1856 as a 17-year-old clerk on the St. Paul levee. The school, which was all-male, consolidated in 1971 with the all-female Archbishop Murray School to form Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, Minnesota. When he was looking for the best path for one of his tracks to take, he went on horseback and scouted it personally. We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. He gradually began working for himself. Those iron ore holdings had grown so lucrative that Hill wanted to avoid the charge of earning too much money, according to an authorized company history, The Great Northern Railway.. - Eramosa Township, Ontario, Canada, May 29 1916 - Saint Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota, USA. Northern Pacific stock was forced up to $1,000 per share. This last attempt lasted from 1955 until final United States Supreme Court approval and merger in March, 1970, which created the Burlington Northern Railroad. The Union Pacific Railroad was the biggest competitor of Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads. She received education at St. Marys Institute of Notre Dame. Hill's father died when the boy was 14, so Jim Hill began clerking in local shops before setting off to seek his fortune. The New York Times described Mr. Hill, in his obituary, as "gifted with fine tastes and a keen artistic sense of beauty of form and color, and his collections of art and jewels were among the finest in the country.". He even sold wood to farmers in order to encourage them to buy his wheat. The key to the Great Northern line was Hill's use of the previously unmapped Marias Pass. In September 1915, the first public loan, the $500,000,000 Anglo-French loan, was floated after negotiations with the Anglo-French Financial Commission. In The Great Gatsby, Hill is the man whom Gatsby's father says Gatsby would have equalled if he had lived long enough. 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. Mary Hill Hill, who married Samuel Hill of Washington D.C. & Seattle. Guides lead tours that help you imagine family and servant life in the Gilded Age mansion, the setting of the public and private lives of the Hill family. Quietly, Harriman began buying stock in Northern Pacific with the intention of gaining control of Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy. His particular talents for English and mathematics would be critical later in his life. ", 240 Summit Ave. Funding provided by the State of Minnesota, the Legacy Amendment through the vote of Minnesotans on Nov. 4, 2008, and our generous donors and members. The legal dispute has led the trusts final president, Joseph Micallef, to decline interviews although Micallef did say, It is a very unusual trust., In a ruling Jan. 26, 2015, Judge Margaret Marrinan sided with the trust. In September 1915, the first public loan, the $500,000,000 Anglo-French loan, was floated. Its last trading day was April 6, 2015. Hill and Debs agreed to arbitration by other business owners led by Charles Alfred Pillsbury. It is also true that he used to survey the areas where rails were to be laid himself on horseback. The James J. Hill House in St. Paul, Minnesota is a National Historic Landmark. 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. Constantly updated. He knew that the multiplying profits would soon find its way under the Federal Governments scanner, and so he used his profits wisely. The Union Pacific Railroad was the biggest competitor of Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads. Avenue in the Library in his 70th year, was born on 25 September 1956 at little Falls N! Meanwhile, nearly every other transcontinental railroad went bankrupt. And it began with Hills hunger to build a rail line across northern Minnesota in the 1890s, to haul grain more directly from the Red River Valley to Lake Superior. The Great Northern Iron Ore Properties trust finally terminated on April 6, 2015, a century after Hills death, and its shares stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Upon completion of the Summit Avenue residence, Hill had the family's old house, which he had constructed in 1878, razed. 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. The Great Northern began large-scale shipment of ore to the steel mills of the Midwest. Hill teamed up with Norman Kittson (the man he had merged steamboat businesses with), Donald Smith,[5] George Stephen and John Stewart Kennedy. Hill undertook to establish a monopoly of the steamboat business; he was monopolizing coal, socializing with bankers, and buying other businesses at the same time. These events led him to be acclaimed as a headstrong businessman who had overcome the Panic of 1893 and stood like a pillar through Americas financial turmoil. It was designed by James Brodie, who also built the Hill house on Summit Avenue. He had nine years of formal schooling. First, Hill turned his personal ownership of the mines over to his railroad, a move that Hills more reverential biographers cite as proof of his honor and generosity. He observed and learnt and came up with shrewd ideas. To that end, Hill was a major figure in the effort launched by J.P. Morgan to float the Anglo-French Bond drive of 1915, which allowed the Allies to purchase much-needed foodstuffs and other supplies. using former Great Northern tracks west of St. Paul. Mary Hill was long active in St. Paul's Catholic community. (Peter Hill Beard is his great-grandson.) A childhood accident with a bow and arrow blinded him in the right eye. 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