John Mifflin Hood (1843–1906) was an American

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

and

electric streetcar 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 ...

system executive. Hood was President of the

Western Maryland Railway The Western Maryland Railway was an American Class I railroad (1852–1983) which operated in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was primarily a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation. The WM beca ...

from 1874 to 1901. In 1901-1902, he became President of

United Railways and Electric Company The United Railways and Electric Company was a street railway company in the Baltimore Metropolitan Area of the U.S. state of Maryland from 1899 to 1935. In 1900, the company built the Power Plant in Baltimore's Inner Harbor to provide electrical ...

, a streetcar system company in the

Baltimore 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 ...

metropolitan area. As the head of the UREC system at the turn of the 20th century, he oversaw completion of the massive construction project of the

Pratt Street Power Plant The Pratt Street Power Plant — also known as the Pier Four Power Plant, The Power Plant, "Pratt Street Toenail", and Pratt Street Station — is a historic former power plant located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It has undergone signif ...

Life and early educational/travel career

Hood was born near the village of Bowling Green in

Howard County, Maryland Howard County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2010 census, the population was 287,085. As of the 2020 census its population rose to 328,200. Its county seat is Ellicott City. Howard County is included in the Baltimore-Colu ...

, (which had just been erected/set up five years before by cutting portions of northwestern

Anne Arundel County Anne Arundel County (; ), also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, whi ...

off, formerly known as the Western District, then later as the Howard District), which is now near Sykesville, on April 5, 1843. He was the son of Dr. Benjamin Hood of the district and Miss Hannah Mifflin Hood of Baltimore. He studied at Rugby's Institute of

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...

, north of the city, from which he graduated in 1859. From 1859 to 1861 he traveled to the continent of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

exploring the technical opportunities and challenges there. He studied

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

and was intrigued by the Sciences and mathematics. His career was briefly interrupted by his service in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

when he returned from the Southern Hemisphere.

American Civil War career (1861-1865)

When he arrived back home in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

after a two-year absence, the country was embroiled in civil strife and secession with a split home border state of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He enlisted in August 1861 in Company C of the Second Maryland Regiment, then serving in exile in the southern

Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most oft ...

of the newly organized

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. Later on, Hood was noted for his topographical engineering abilities and transferred to Company B of the Second Maryland with engineering duties greatly needed in the Southern army's limited industrial railroad experience. He was wounded seven times and suffered shattering injuries to his left arm which necessitated a lengthy healing process.

Post-war railroading engineering/construction career (1865-1874)

After the war, Hood worked as an engineer on construction projects for several railroads in the mid-Atlantic states region, beginning on the

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad that operated independently from 1836 to 1881. It was formed in 1836 by the merger of four state-chartered railroads in three Middle Atlantic states to create a ...

(P.W.& B.), the

Delaware Railroad The Delaware Railroad was the major railroad in the US state of Delaware, traversing almost the entire state north to south. It was planned in 1836 and built in the 1850s. It began in Porter and was extended south through Dover, Seaford and fin ...

, followed by the

Eastern Shore Railroad The Eastern Shore Railroad, Inc. was a Class III short-line railroad that began operations in October 1981 on the former Virginia and Maryland Railroad line on the Delmarva Peninsula. The line ran between Pocomoke City, Maryland, and Norfolk, ...

on the

Delmarva peninsula The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a large peninsula and proposed state on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the vast majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore regions of Maryland and Virginia ...

and later including the

Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad The Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad (P&BC) was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania and Maryland in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It operated a main line between West Philadelphia and Octoraro Junction, Maryland (near Port Dep ...

, where he was appointed Superintendent and Chief Engineer.

Western Maryland Railway (1874-1901)

Hood joined the Western Maryland Railway as Vice President and General Manager in March 1874,, and later that year he became President of the company at the age of 31. During his career at the WM he led the company in its transformation from a local carrier to a major regional railroad. The year after he assumed leadership, the railway built and opened its headquarters offices and main eastern terminal in 1875 at the "Hillen Station" on the north side of the 900 block of Hillen Street near Front Street and High Street, near the east bank of the

Jones Falls The Jones Falls is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 stream in Maryland. It is impounded to create Lake Roland before running through the city of Baltim ...

stream. An important new connection was made with the first passenger rail line in America since beginning 1827 and now a major railroad line in the

Northeast United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic list of regions of the United States, region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast ...

of the

Baltimore and 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 ...

, which was also headquartered in its home of "The Monumental City". As befits its name, it was a most important transportation service for the western part of the "Old Line State" and surrounding areas in the Appalachian, Blue Ridge and

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

range. He oversaw a major improvement in the railway's financial condition. During his quarter-century long tenure, the W.M. Company's annual gross

earnings Earnings are the net benefits of a corporation's operation. Earnings is also the amount on which corporate tax is due. For an analysis of specific aspects of corporate operations several more specific terms are used as EBIT (earnings before interes ...

increased from about $218,000 in 1874 to $2.1 million in 1902.

United Railways and Electric Company (1901-1906)

Hood joined the

(U.R.E.C.), the newly merged

system for the metropolitan area in Baltimore, in 1901. At that time the company's

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

was significantly deteriorated from the combining of various smaller lines which had begun in the 1850s and only in the last decade had converted from horsecars pulling power to electric. Hood oversaw the beginnings of extensive renovations as well as expansions of the system. He managed a rebuilding of the system and its newly constructed

located on the south edge waterfront of the downtown area after the

Great Baltimore Fire The Great Baltimore Fire raged in Baltimore, Maryland from Sunday, February 7, to Monday, February 8, 1904. More than 1,500 buildings were completely leveled, and some 1,000 severely damaged, bringing property loss from the disaster to an estimate ...

of February 1904. The fire had destroyed over 1,500 buildings and devastated most of central downtown Baltimore. He worked extensively to reconstruct the damaged rail lines and power generating houses of the "Burnt District" in the center city and got the coal-fired boilers of the Power Plant on Pier 4 back online. A bronze statue of Hood on a stone pedestal was erected around 1911 by his friends in the old Hopkins Place. After 1963 it was relocated to the terraced "Preston Gardens".

References