Homer Loring was an American industrialist who served as chairman of the

Boston & Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970, B ...

from 1924 to 1928. He was known for reorganizing large industries.

Early life

Loring was born on October 1875 in Newton Center, Massachusetts. He attended Newton public schools. Loring began his business career with his father's brokerage firm.

Railroads

Loring served as president of the Macon, Dublin & Savannah Railroad, chairman of the

Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway The Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway (Eastern Mass) was a streetcar and later bus company in eastern Massachusetts, serving northern and southern suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. Its precursor company was the Bay State Street Railway, which ...

, and receiver of the Des Moines, Fort Dodge & Southern Railroad. He also worked for the Saginaw Traction Company and organized the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company.

Boston & Maine

On April 9, 1924, Loring was elected as a director of the Boston & Maine Railroad. On August 19, 1924, Loring was elected chairman of the B&M executive committee. During his tenure as chairman, the B&M built new freight classification yards, improved buildings, roadbeds, and bridges, installed new equipment, consolidated personnel, discontinued or transferred 300 miles of unremunerative lines, enlarged the

Hoosac Tunnel The Hoosac Tunnel (also called Hoosic or Hoosick Tunnel) is a active railroad tunnel in western Massachusetts that passes through the Hoosac Range, an extension of Vermont's Green Mountains. It runs in a straight line from its east portal, alo ...

, and developed a new

North Station North Station is a commuter rail and intercity rail terminal station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by four MBTA Commuter Rail lines – the Fitchburg Line, Haverhill Line, Lowell Line, and Newburyport/Rockport Line – and the Amtrak ...

complex, which included a new train station, the

Boston Garden The Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928, as "Boston Madison Square Garden" (late ...

Hotel Manger The Hotel Manger (pronounced Mang-er as in hangar), renamed the Hotel Madison in 1959, was a hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, that operated from 1930 to 1976. It was attached to North Station and the Boston Garden. In 1983, the buil ...

, North Station Industrial Building, and a distributing terminal. Loring's financial reorganization brought $13 million of new funds to the railroad and extended the maturity of $40 million worth of bonds by fifteen years. He also installed George Hannauer as president and brought on

John Frank Stevens John Frank Stevens (April 25, 1853 – June 2, 1943) was an American civil engineer who built the Great Northern Railway in the United States and was chief engineer on the Panama Canal between 1905 and 1907. Biography Stevens was born in ...

as an advisor. Loring resigned as chairman on September 24, 1928.

Administration and Finance

In December 1922, Governor Channing H. Cox nominated Loring to serve on the newly created State Commission on Administration and Finance. Loring was the commission's chairman as well as the budget commissioner. He resigned in September 1924 to fully devote his time to his duties as B&M chairman.

Textiles

In October 1928, Loring and associates bought into the Seneca Textile Corporation of New York. On October 9, 1928, Loring announced the formation of the United Merchants and Manufacturers, Inc. Loring served a president of the new company. In January 1929, Loring purchased the

Arkwright Mills Arkwright is a village in the northeastern corner of Coventry, Rhode Island touching Cranston, Rhode Island, Cranston and Scituate, Rhode Island, Scituate, now connected by Route 115. In the 1700s the Remington family owned a large parcel of land ...

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

Personal life

Loring was married to Mary (Bennett) Loring. The couple had one daughter. In 1908, Loring purchased Maple Ridge Farm in

Ashland, Massachusetts Ashland is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the MetroWest region. The population was 18,832 at the 2020 United States Census. History The area now known as Ashland was settled in the early 18th century an ...

for use as a summer place. On January 25, 1925, the mansion house was destroyed by a suspected arson fire. All of the mansion's valuables were destroyed. In 1936, Loring began residing in a room at

The Union League Club The Union League Club is a private social club in New York City that was founded in 1863 in affiliation with the Union League. Its fourth and current clubhouse is located at 38 East 37th Street on the corner of Park Avenue, in the Murray Hill ...

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 ...

. Loring died on June 20, 1939 in his room at The Union League Club. He was buried in the Lakeview Cemetery in

Holliston, Massachusetts Holliston is a New England town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States in the Greater Boston area. The population was 14,996 at the 2020 census. It is located in MetroWest, a Massachusetts region that is ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loring, Homer 1875 births 1939 deaths 20th-century American railroad executives American textile industry businesspeople Boston and Maine Railroad People from Ashland, Massachusetts People from Murray Hill, Manhattan People from Newton, Massachusetts