Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company letters, 1887-1891
- Corporate Author:
- Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Co.
- Physical Description:
- 84 items
- Restrictions on Access:
- Unrestricted access.
- Summary:
- This collection consists of 84 letters for the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company concerning finances, legal matters, and land use related to railroading, coal mining, and related industries.
- Subject(s):
- Genre(s):
- Note:
- In Historical Collections and Labor Archives, University Libraries, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa. (#RG 178)
- Biographical or Historical Sketch:
- In 1833, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company (P & R) was established to serve the burgeoning anthracite coal industry and its customers throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The railroad also supported iron making, canal and sea-going transportation, and shipbuilding, establishing itself as a transportation industry giant for over a century. During the American Industrial Revolution, the P & R provided trackage to the most densely industrialized parts of America in all four directions, becoming America's largest corporation by the 1870s. Shortly thereafter, the P & R attempted to expand its ownership beyond transportation, creating the subsidiary, the P & R Coal and Iron Company. A confrontation with financier J. P. Morgan caused the P & R to resume its original role as simply a transporter of anthracite coal. Following the 1890s, despite its creation of a new holding company called the Reading Company, the Pennsylvania & Reading Railroad was forced to break up its various entities by order of the Supreme Court.
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