Benjamin Franklin Yoakum (August 20, 1859 – November 28, 1929) was an American railroad executive of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who attempted to join the Frisco and Rock Island Railroads into a great system stretching from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. In 1909, when Yoakum controlled 17,500 miles of railroad, ''Railway World'' magazine called him an "empire builder" who had done as much for the Southwest as legendary

James J. Hill James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railroad director. 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 Midwes ...

had done for the Northwest.

Biography

Yoakum was born near

Tehuacana, Texas Tehuacana (, ) is a town near the Tehuacana Hills in Limestone County, Texas, United States. The population was 283 at the 2010 census. From 1869 until 1902, the town was home to Trinity University. History A post office called "Tewockony Sprin ...

, on August 20, 1859 to Narcissa Teague and Franklin L. Yoakum. In 1879 at age twenty, he worked on the surveying gang for the International-Great Northern Railroad to

Palestine, Texas Palestine ( ) is a city in and the seat of Anderson County in the U.S. state of Texas. It was named for Palestine, Illinois, by preacher Daniel Parker, who had migrated from that town. The city had a 2020 U.S. census population of 18,544, mak ...

. He later became a

land speculator In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.) Many s ...

for

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made hi ...

. He drilled artesian wells in the

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. The ...

. In 1887, the town of

Yoakum, Texas Yoakum is a city in Lavaca and DeWitt counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 5,908 at the 2020 census. History The area was sparsely settled until a townsite was laid out with the construction of the San Antonio and Aransas ...

, was named for him. From before 1888 to 1892, Yoakum worked for the

San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway first began operation in the U.S. state of Texas in 1886. It was developed by Uriah Lott and businessmen of San Antonio as a direct route from the city to Aransas Bay on the Texas Gulf coast. It was eventual ...

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

and traffic manager. From 1893 to 1896, he was

and third

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

for the

Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. From its starting point in Galveston, Texas, the railroad eventually extended northwestwards across the state to Sweetwater and northwards vi ...

. In 1896, he became vice president and

of the

Frisco Railroad Frisco may refer to: Places in the United States *Frisco, Alabama, an unincorporated community *San Francisco, California, as a nickname * Frisco, Colorado, a home rule municipality **Frisco Historic Park – see Frisco Schoolhouse * Frisco, Idah ...

. He became president in 1900, and

chairman of the board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

in 1904. Other positions Yoakum held were president of the

Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad The Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago to southern Illinois, St. Louis, and Evansville. Founded in 1877, it grew aggressively and stayed relatively strong throughout the Great Depression and two Wor ...

, 1902-1904, afterwards chairman of the board; president, Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad, 1904, afterwards chairman; president, St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway after 1905; and chairman of the executive committee,

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

after 1905. According to the ''Handbook of Texas'',

In 1905 the Frisco and Rock Island lines were joined, and Yoakum was the chairman of the executive committee. This line was known as the Yoakum Line and at the time was the largest railroad system under a single control. His career was one of the most colorful of the many men in railroad history.

Between 1911 and 1913, the Frisco suffered devastating financial losses from coal strikes, flooding of the tracks in Louisiana and Arkansas, and loss of business due to the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

. "Yoakum's Dream" ended when the Frisco entered bankruptcy in 1913 and was shorn of its

Gulf Coast Lines The Gulf Coast Lines was the name of a railroad system comprising three principal railroads, as well as some smaller ones, that stretched from New Orleans, Louisiana, via Baton Rouge and Houston to Brownsville, Texas. Originally chartered as s ...

as well as its affiliation with the Rock Island. In 1907, Yoakum moved to New York, where he became president of the Empire Bond and Mortgage Company. In his later years, Yoakum gave lectures and wrote popular magazine articles about the railroads, and advocated agricultural cooperatives to help farmers, in whose problems he was deeply interested. Yoakum died at his home in New York on November 28, 1929, at age 70. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1932, Yoakum's heirs sold his country home, "Tywacana", located in what was then part of

Farmingdale, New York Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The population was 8,189 as of the 2010 Census. The Lenox Hills neighborhood is adjacent to Bethpage State Park and the rest of the ...

, now within the Census boundaries of

Old Bethpage Old Bethpage is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located on Long Island in the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 5,283 at the 2020 United States Census. It is served by the Old ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, to the State of New York, which developed the property into

Bethpage State Park Bethpage State Park is a New York state park on the border of Nassau County and Suffolk County on Long Island. The park contains tennis courts, picnic and recreational areas and a polo field, but is best known for its five golf courses, inclu ...

.. The park's famous Black Course has hosted golf's U.S. Open twice. http://nyheritage.nnyln.org/digital/collection/p15281coll40/id/86/

Family

Yoakum married Elizabeth Bennett of San Antonio, daughter of a prominent banker. They had two daughters, one of whom, Bessie F. Yoakum, married Francis Rham Larkin in 1913. A brother, Charles Henderson Yoakum (1849-1909), was a Texas state legislator and United States Congressman. Another brother, Finis E. Yoakum (1851-1920), was a faith healer and social reformer.

References

External links

*
''History of the Frisco'', St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, circa 1962. ''The Frisco: A Look Back at the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway'', Springfield-Greene County (Missouri) Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoakum, Benjamin Franklin 1859 births 1929 deaths Yoakum, Benjamin Franklin Yoakum, Benjamin Franklin 19th-century American railroad executives 20th-century American railroad executives People from Limestone County, Texas People from Old Bethpage, New York

Biography

Family

See also

References

External links