Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, (February 3, 1843September 11, 1915) is most famous for overseeing the construction of the first Canadian

transcontinental railway A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

, a project that was completed in 1885, in under half the projected time. He succeeded

Lord Mount Stephen George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen, (5 June 1829 – 29 November 1921), known as Sir George Stephen, Bt, between 1886 and 1891, was a Canadian businessman. Originally from Scotland, he made his fame in Montreal and was the first Canadian ...

as president of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

(CPR) in 1888. He was responsible for launching the sea transport division of the CPR, which inaugurated regular service between

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

in 1891. He also presided over the expansion of the CPR into the luxury hotel business in the 1890s. He was also a prominent member of the syndicate that created the Cuba Railroad Company in 1900. He lived at the Van Horne Mansion in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Golden Square Mile / ''Mille carré doré'' , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = List of neighbourhoods in Montreal, Neighbourhood , image_skyline = Ravenscrag.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = ''Rave ...

Ancestry and early life

Born in 1843 in rural

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, Van Horne moved with his family to

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will County, Illinois, Will and Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the cit ...

, when he was eight years old. He was the eldest child of Cornelius Covenhoven Van Horne (1794–1854) by his second wife Mary Minier Richards of

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( wes ...

.genealogy.com: "Cornelius Covenhoven Van Horn (b. 13 Apr 1794, d. 07 Jul 1854)"
/ref> Cornelius studied law at

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

, but took his family out west to seek his fortune farming. Misfortune followed as his house, barns and law books were destroyed by fire, and his first wife died shortly afterwards. Abandoning farming, he returned to the law and became Recorder of

Will County, Illinois Will County is a county in the northeastern part of the state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 696,355, an increase of 2.8% from 677,560 in 2010, making it Illinois's fourth-most populous county. The county seat ...

, moving his family to

. Cornelius was active in getting the city its first

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

, and because of this he was elected Joliet's first

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

. When the city later built a new bridge it was named the Van Horne Bridge. Van Horne's grandfather, Abraham Van Horne, graduated from Queens College (now

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

) with avocation for the ministry, and received his license to preach in 1792 from the

Reformed Church of America The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 152,317 members. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reforme ...

. He held three pastorates, one at Wawarsing, one near

Kingston, New York Kingston is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with t ...

and his last at Caughnawaga (now

Fonda, New York Fonda is a village in and the county seat of Montgomery County, New York, United States. The population was 795 at the 2010 census. The village is named after Douw Fonda, a Dutch-American settler who was killed and scalped in 1780, during a Mohawk ...

), from 1796 to 1833.

Career

At the age of fourteen, Van Horne began working on railroads, serving in various capacities on the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

until 1864. He went on to work for the Chicago and Alton Railway, serving as general superintendent 1878–1879. In 1882, he was appointed

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 ...

of the

, becoming its vice-president in 1884 and president in 1888, finally becoming chairman of the board in 1899. He is most famous for overseeing the major construction of the first Canadian

, a project that, under his leadership, was completed in under half the projected time. Édifice Bovril

Van Horne considered the railway an integrated

communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

and

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

ation system and convinced the directors and

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...

s to create a

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

service and an express freight delivery service as a complement to the railway. Van Horne was knowledgeable in nearly every element of the railway industry, including operating a

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

. A wealthy man, he later became an investor of the Cuba Railroad Company, which built the first trans-country railway connecting

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

with the two eastern provinces (Camaguey and Oriente) and the city of

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

in 1901. From 1885 onward he was more and more associated with every branch of Canadian mercantile and financial life, and as a publicist gave expression to his views on political and economic questions. He was responsible for launching the sea transport division of the Canadian Pacific Railway, inaugurating a regular service between

and

in 1891 on the ''Empress'' luxury liners. He also presided over the expansion of the CPR into the luxury hotel business and participated in the design of two of the most famous ones in the chain, the

Château Frontenac The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, commonly referred to as the Château Frontenac, is a historic hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The hotel is situated in Old Quebec, within the historic district's Upper Town, on the southern side of Place d ...

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

and

Chateau Lake Louise The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is a Fairmont hotel on the eastern shore of Lake Louise, near Banff, Alberta. The original hotel was gradually developed at the turn of the 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway and was thus "kin" to its ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Personal life

Van Horne married Lucy Hurd in 1867, and the couple had three children. The elder son, William Cornelius Van Horne Jr., died at the age of five, while their daughter, Lucy Adeline "Addie" Van Horne, and younger son, Richard Benedict "Benny" Van Horne, survived into adulthood. Benny married Edith Molson, of the Montreal Molsons, and the couple had a son, named William for his grandfather. Sir William purchased and enlarged a house in 1889 later known as the Van Horne Mansion in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

. In 1891 he began building his summer estate, which he named "Covenhoven", on

Minister's Island Ministers Island is an historic Canadian island in New Brunswick's Passamaquoddy Bay near the town of St. Andrews. The island stands several hundred metres offshore immediately northeast of the town and is a geographical novelty in that it is ...

, adjacent to CPR's resort town of St. Andrews, New Brunswick. The island estate is accessible by a natural sandbar road during the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is the hi ...

's low tide. Van Horne served as a governor of

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

from 1895 to 1915 and was one of the first in Canada to acquire artworks by members of the French

impressionist movement Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. He was himself a painter, with his surviving works now residing in museums such as the Montreal Museum of Fine Art and Covenhoven itself. His other talents included sculpture, architecture, playing the violin, fossil collection, farming, botany and gardening. Following Van Horne's death at the Royal Victoria Hospital, in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in 1915 at the age of 72, his remains were interred at Oakwood Cemetery in

. His

home in the

was controversially demolished in 1973.

Honours

Van Horne was made an honorary Knight Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

's 1894 Birthday Honours. As an American citizen, he was technically not entitled to the prefix "Sir"; nonetheless, he was thereafter addressed as "Sir William". The Van Horne Institute, based in Calgary, Alberta, is affiliated with the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

Athabasca University Athabasca University (AU) is a Canadian public research university that primarily operates through online distance education. Founded in 1970, it is one of four comprehensive academic and research universities in Alberta, and was the first ...

and the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

and conducts research and policy studies related to all things carriage related, including rail, air, shipping and road transportation, pipelines, electricity and information networks.

Sir William Van Horne Elementary School Sir William Van Horne Elementary School is a public elementary school located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located at 5855 Ontario Street in School District 39 Vancouver, the school was built in 1911. Location It is located in the O ...

in Vancouver, B.C., is named after Van Horne, in honour of his contributions to

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. There are streets named for Van Horne in several Canadian cities including Montreal, Toronto, Sudbury, Winnipeg, Brandon, and Regina. In

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, a borough (near to the railways) of the city of Camaguey, a street in front of the Camaguey railways station, and a small town in the province of

Holguín Holguín () is a municipality and city in Cuba, and the capital of Province of Holguín. After Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Camagüey, it is the fourth largest city in Cuba. History Before Columbus, the Taino people settled in huts made fro ...

are named after Van Horne. Van Horne's summer estate on

was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...

in 1996. In 1999
William Van Horne
was inducted into the

North America Railway Hall of Fame North America Railway Hall of Fame (NARHF) is a not-for-profit organization housed in the recently restored Canada Southern Railway Station in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. It was founded to maintain, preserve and honor railway history with the i ...

in the category of "National: Railway Workers & Builders." In 2011, Van Horne was featured in ''

Rocky Mountain Express ''Rocky Mountain Express'' is a 45-minute IMAX film released in the fall of 2011. Directed by Canadian filmmaker Stephen Low, it features the Canadian Pacific Railway’s restored 4-6-4 H1b Hudson steam locomotive 2816. Shooting began in 200 ...

'', a 45-minute

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

film about the construction of the CPR.

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''

Walter Vaughan, ''The Life and Work of Sir William Van Horne''
(New York : Century Co, 1920)
Photograph: Sir William Van Horne in 1902. McCord MuseumPhotograph: Sir William Van Horne circa 1905. McCord MuseumMinisters IslandVan Horne Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanhorne, William Cornelius 1843 births 1915 deaths Canadian Pacific Railway executives American expatriates in Canada Canadian art collectors Canadian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Canadian Unitarians Mayors of Joliet, Illinois People from Joliet, Illinois People from Montreal Anglophone Quebec people Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Canadian business executives American railroaders American people of Dutch descent Canadian people of Dutch descent