John Edgar Thomson (February 10, 1808 – May 27, 1874) was an American
civil engineer and industrialist. An entrepreneur best known for his leadership of the
Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) from 1852 until his death in 1874, Thomson made it the largest business enterprise in the world and a world-class model for technological and managerial innovation. The railroad's first Chief Engineer became its third President.
His sober, technical, methodical, and non-ideological personality had an important influence on the Pennsylvania Railroad, which in the mid-19th century was on the technical cutting edge of rail development. The railroad was known for its conservatism and steady growth while avoiding financial risks. His Pennsylvania Railroad became the largest railroad in the world, with 6000 miles of track, and was notable for generating steady financial dividends, for high-quality construction, constantly improving equipment, technological advances (such as replacing wood with coal as locomotive fuel), and innovation in management techniques for a large complex organization.
Childhood and early career
John Edgar Thomson was born in 1808 in
Springfield Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Springfield Township, or simply Springfield, is a township in Delaware County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 24,211 at the 2010 census. Springfield is a suburb of Philadelphia, located about west of the city.
Geography
S ...
, near
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, to a family with Quaker roots whose immigrant ancestors had arrived in the colonial era. His father John Thomson was a leading civil engineer, who helped build the
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and the first experimental railroad in the United States. The son had little formal schooling, as was typical of the time. He worked closely with his father from an early age, acquiring a sound foundation of engineering practice which he augmented by reading, observation, and experience.
Thomason began his railroad career at age 19 as a rodman working in a survey crew locating the
Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad
Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad (P&CR) (1834) was one of the earliest commercial railroads in the United States, running from Philadelphia to Columbia, Pennsylvania, it was built by the Pennsylvania Canal Commission in lieu of a canal from Colu ...
; later he worked for
Camden and Amboy Railroad
The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a railroad company which began as the important Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A), whose 1830 lineage began as one of the eight or ten earliest permanent North AmericanList of Earliest Am ...
. In 1832 he sailed to Great Britain, making an inspection tour of the new railways constructed in the country. Through his father's influence, he became a member of Pennsylvania state's engineer corps, surveying routes for a rail line west from Philadelphia. He was soon promoted to assistant engineer, and in 1830, when the line of the Camden & Amboy Railroad was located across the state of New Jersey, Thomson was placed in charge of an engineering division.
Developing Georgia's railroads
At the age of 26 in 1834, Thomson was hired as the chief engineer of the newly chartered
Georgia Railroad
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
. He located the road, negotiated and oversaw construction contracts, operated portions as they opened, and promoted possible connections to the north and west. Thomson became nationally known for his expertise; his salary was $4000 in 1837.
By 1845, he had completed the railroad from
Augusta to
Marthasville (present-day
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
). At 173 miles (278.4 km), it was the longest railroad in the world at the time. Thomson later bought control of the
Montgomery and West Point Railroad and helped finance and locate the
Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...
. Also in 1845, he surveyed and designed the
Augusta Canal
The Augusta Canal is a historic canal located in Augusta, Georgia, United States. The canal is fed by the Savannah River and passes through three levels (approximately total) in suburban and urban Augusta before the water returns to the river at ...
for lawyer
Henry Cumming; it was completed two years later.
Pennsylvania Railroad
The state of Pennsylvania had invested extensively in state-owned
canals
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
and
short-line railroad
:''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.''
A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that oper ...
s. They were neither profitable nor efficient, and the state was falling behind its rivals in infrastructure development, believed critical for economic growth. The Pennsylvania Railroad, also known by the acronym PRR, incorporated in 1847, built a line across the Allegheny Mountains from the capital
Harrisburg
Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...
west to
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
, to eliminate the inefficient Allegheny Portage Railroad and the slow-paced canals. The line would give Philadelphia a link to the fast-growing west, allowing it to compete with
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
(which was served by the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
) and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
The company appointed Thomson as chief engineer at a salary of $5000 a year. Thomson did a brilliant job. With unbounded energy he sought out the best routes, making allowances for grades and river crossings. With
Herman Haupt
Herman Haupt (March 26, 1817 – December 14, 1905) was an American civil engineer and railroad construction engineer and executive. As a Union Army General officer, General during the American Civil War, he revolutionized U.S. military transpo ...
, he co-designed what became famous as
"Horseshoe Curve" and built a railroad with practicable grades. He switched the fuel from wood to coal for the locomotives; other lines followed suit, thus opening up a new demand for coal, which the PRR shipped to all railroads. The through line between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh opened for traffic in February 1854, and made Philadelphia a major outlet for long-haul traffic from the west. This connection also strengthened its port, which had access to the Atlantic Ocean.
![PRR Horseshoe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/PRR_Horseshoe.jpg)
Thomson led a faction that ousted the incumbent board of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1852; Thomson became president and turned his attention more toward finance than engineering. He repeatedly reorganized the company into more efficient subdivisions, and to better cost accounting, paying careful attention to the selection of vice presidents. His organizational model was widely imitated by other railroads, and set the standard for large American businesses. In 1857 he financed the railroad's purchase of the entire system of state transportation works, consisting of 278 miles of canals and 117 miles of railroad, together with real estate and rail equipment. At a cost of $7.5 million the Pennsylvania now dominated the state and took control of most short-haul traffic from the many towns along its heavily populated route.
Postwar expansion
![J Edgar Thomson plaque 30th St Station Philadelphia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/J_Edgar_Thomson_plaque_30th_St_Station_Philadelphia.png)
Thomson expanded the railroad to the west, into Ohio and parts beyond. In 1856 Thomson arranged for the consolidation of several western lines into the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway. It was formally leased to the Pennsylvania in 1869 and, in 1870-71, the Pennsylvania Company, one of the first of the holding companies, was created to take over the properties west of Pittsburgh, which were developing into large northwest and southwest systems.
In 1860, the Pennsylvania represented only the main line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, with a few short branches. By 1869 it had expanded within Pennsylvania alone to nearly one thousand miles and also controlled lines northward to the shores of
Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...
, through New York State. In 1869 it purchased the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago line, giving it a connection with
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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through Ohio and Indiana. In 1870 the Pennsylvania began to expand on the east coast also, obtaining an entry into New York City by acquiring the United Railroad and Canal Company, which owned leased 456 miles of railroad and 65 miles of canals in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. By 1873 Thomson also had links to the South. Thomson then built up Philadelphia as a transatlantic port, creating the
American Steamship Company
The American Steamship Company (ASC) is an American transportation company that operates a fleet of self-unloading vessels in the Great Lakes. The company is currently owned by Rand Logistics Inc.
History
The American Steamship Company was fo ...
in 1870 under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Steel was becoming available at moderate cost, and Thomson contracted with industrialist
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
for steel to replace all the wooden railway bridges, and to replace iron tracks with stronger steel tracks. With such infrastructure in place, trains could be designed to be heavier, faster, and more efficient.
In 1871-72 the Pennsylvania expanded into the Midwest by astute purchases. It bought the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad in 1871 as well as smaller lines in Ohio, merging them into the system. The most important acquisition during this period was the purchase of the
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, with lines extending westward from Pittsburgh to St. Louis, Missouri, and branches reaching southward to
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...
and northward to Chicago. This system included over 1400 miles of road, giving the Pennsylvania a second line to Chicago, a direct line to St. Louis, a second line to Cincinnati, and access to territory not previously tapped.
Technology
Besides expanding the system and putting it on a solid financial basis, Thomson made the Pennsylvania the technological leader of the industry. It took the lead in changing its engines to run on coal rather than wood burning, and from iron to steel (in constructing rails, bridges and cars). With Philadelphia emerging as the center of the locomotive industry, new innovations were offered first to the Pennsylvania Railroad, which embraced them.
Management
Thomson developed a new kind of management suitable for a large dispersed corporation with many functions, partly based on the work of
Daniel McCallum. Specicifically, he devised a decentralized system based on geographical districts, as well as the
staff and line Staff and line are names given to different types of functions in organizations. A line function is one that directly advances an organization in its core work. This always includes production and sales, and sometimes marketing. A staff function sup ...
system that became synonymous with American management. Line executives handled people and hourly operational decisions on traffic, while staff executives handled finance and paperwork.
Business
As a conservative, risk-averse financier, Thomson avoided disaster during the panics of 1837, 1857, and 1873, while rival lines often went bankrupt. His Pennsylvania Railroad was worth about $400 million in the early 1870s (before the
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the ...
depressed values), with $25 million in traffic revenue and a profit of $8.6 million. It paid steady dividends year in and year out and was a favorite for cautious investors. The speculators who were so numerous in the post-Civil War era looked elsewhere. Thomson had a vision of a transcontinental line, invested his own money in several ventures, and briefly in 1871 the Pennsylvania controlled the
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...
.
Chandler (1965) demonstrates that the large-scale problems of management became obvious in the middle of the 19th century with the rise of the great railroad systems, such as the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore and Ohio. New methods had to be invented for mobilizing, controlling, and apportioning capital, for operating a widely dispersed system, and for supervising thousands of specialized workmen spread over hundreds of miles. The railroads solved all these problems and became the model for all large businesses. The main innovators were three engineers,
Benjamin H. Latrobe of the Baltimore and Ohio,
Daniel C. McCallum of the Erie, and Thomson of the Pennsylvania. They devised the functional departments and first defined the lines of authority, responsibility, and communication, together with the concomitant separation of line and staff duties which have remained the principles of the modern American corporation.
Taciturn and not a glad-hander, Thomson was active in many civic projects.
Memory and legacy
Thomson died in Philadelphia on May 27, 1874 and is interred at
The Woodlands Cemetery
The Woodlands is a National Historic Landmark District on the west bank of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. It includes a Federal-style mansion, a matching carriage house and stable, and a garden landscape that in 1840 was transformed into ...
.
A historic marker commemorates the location of his birth in his hometown of Springfield (Delaware County), Pennsylvania, and a street in the community is named for him. The city of
Thomson Thomson may refer to:
Names
* Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin
* Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson
Businesses and organizations
* SGS-Thomson Mic ...
in
McDuffie County, Georgia
McDuffie County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,632. The county seat is Thomson. The county was created on October 18, 1870 and named after the South Carolina governor and senator ...
, was named for him.
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
was a great admirer and named his main company the J. Edgar Thomson Steel Company; Carnegie also named the
Edgar Thomson Steel Works The Edgar Thomson Steel Works is a steel mill in the Pittsburgh area communities of Braddock and North Braddock, Pennsylvania, United States. It has been active since 1875. It is currently owned by U.S. Steel and is known as Mon Valley Works – ...
in
Braddock, Pennsylvania
Braddock is a borough located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It is upstream from the mouth of the Monongahela River. The population was 1,721 as of the 2020 census.
The borough is represented by the ...
, after him.
Thomson married Lavinia Frances Smith in 1854. Although they had no children together, they adopted a daughter. By the time of his death in 1874, after the national financial
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the ...
, Thomson's fortune had declined by 3/4, to $1.3 million. He had bequeathed most of it to charity, including a fund to help orphans whose fathers may have been killed in the course of their railroad duties.
Thomson was inducted posthumously into the
Junior Achievement
JA (Junior Achievement) Worldwide is a global non-profit youth organization founded in 1919 by Horace A. Moses, Theodore Vail, and Winthrop M. Crane. JA works with local businesses, schools, and organizations to deliver experiential learning ...
U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1975.
Notes
References
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External links
Guide to Railroad History onlineRailroad Extra websitePennsylvania Historical Marker birthplace.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, John Edgar
American civil engineers
American Civil War industrialists
Burials at The Woodlands Cemetery
19th-century American railroad executives
Pennsylvania Railroad people
People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War
People from Springfield Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
1808 births
1874 deaths
Engineers from Pennsylvania