Charles May Swift (1854-1929) was the American businessman who founded Meralco, the largest

electric utility An electric utility is a company in the electric power industry (often a public utility) that engages in electricity generation and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a major pr ...

and one of the leading companies of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, founded as the Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company. A lawyer from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, United States, Swift also founded the Philippine Railway Company Inc (now known as Panay Railways) and several other railroads in Michigan. Swift was born in

Middlebury, Vermont Middlebury is the shire town (county seat) of Addison County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 9,152. Middlebury is home to Middlebury College and the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History. History One of ...

and moved to Detroit when he was still a child. He finished school, graduating from Detroit High School, in 1870, and was admitted to the bar in 1877. He made his fortune in mining. He practiced law until about 1893, after which he was involved with building and operating electric

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

s and steam railroads in Michigan and the Philippines, then a colony of the United States. Investments in trolleys and the Philippines were profitable for him. Railroads in the Philippines and

that he was involved with building include, in the Philippines, the Philippine Railway Company, the Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company and

Manila Suburban Railways Company The Manila Electric Company (), also known as Meralco (, ), is an electric power distribution company in the Philippines. It is Metro Manila's only electric power distributor and holds the power distribution franchise for 22 cities and 89 munic ...

; and in Michigan, the Wyandotte and Detroit River Railway, the Rapid Railway, and the Detroit and Port Huron Shore Line Railway. He was also president and director of the Nepigon Mining Lands Company. He married Clara Trowbridge in 1886 and later Jessica Stewart Sylvester in 1913. He had no children. He lived for many years in

Grosse Pointe, Michigan Grosse Pointe is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the city had a population of 5,421. Grosse Pointe is an eastern suburb of Metro Detroit along Lake ...

. In 1929, he became ill and withdrew all his money from the stock market in order to set up family trusts. He would die on June 21 before the

Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...

, thus inadvertently saving his fortune from that financial disaster. He is buried in Middlebury. His papers are at the

Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History, also known as the Sheldon Museum, is a history museum in Middlebury, Vermont created by Henry Sheldon in 1882 focusing on his private collections and the history of the state of Vermont, US. It is located in ...

in Middlebury, VT as part of the Stewart-Swift Research Center, along with papers and documents from his and his second wife's family. He was a trustee of

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

and bequeathed US$200,000 to the college, to be paid after his wife dies and the life trust for her benefit was dissolved. He owned two vacation homes in Vermont, both of which still exist. One on

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type = , ...

in Ferrisburg, Vermont, he named Grosse PointeAt after his hometown in Michigan. The other in Middlebury is currently an inn known as the Swift House Inn.

References

External links

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Our History, Swift House Inn
house formerly owned by Charles Swift {{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Charles 1854 births 1929 deaths American railway entrepreneurs People from Middlebury, Vermont People from Grosse Pointe, Michigan Businesspeople from Vermont Businesspeople from Michigan Rail transportation in the Philippines Middlebury College

See also

References

External links