Enter a grandparent's name. By 1889, Hill decided that his future lay in expanding into a transcontinental railroad. As with his business dealings, Hill supervised the construction and design himself, hiring and firing several architects in the process. It is just amazing that one mine complex produced as much ore as it has., The mines have been lucrative for a very long time. The Great Northern Iron Ore Properties trust finally terminated on April 6, 2015, a century after Hills death, and its shares stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Ownership of the Iron Range mines will now pass to energy company Conoco-Phillips. The 14-story building cost $14 million to construct. He wrote that by 1946, that single mine had produced 40 million tons of iron ore and generated $37 million in freight revenue for the railroad and $22.5 million in royalties that flowed into the trust. In 1867, Mary Theresa Mehegan, the daughter of Irish immigrants, wed James Jerome Hill, a Canadian immigrant who went on to achieve incredible success. To that end, Hill was a major figure in the effort launched by J.P. Morgan to float the Anglo-French Bond drive of 1915, which allowed the Allies to purchase much-needed foodstuffs and other supplies. As a result, one feature Hill integrated into the construction of the 1887 company headquarters (the Great Northern General Office Building) was barrel-vaulted ceilings constructed of brick and railroad steel rails that held up a layer of sand several inches deep. In order to generate business for his railroad, Hill encouraged European immigrants to settle along his line, often paying for Russian and Scandinavian settlers to travel from Europe. In his room, in the southeast corner on the second floor of the brownstone house, overlooking the city to which he came sixty years ago as a clerk, the end came. Half brother of James Jerome Hill. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. The Hills' children included: Mary Francis, known as "Mamie" (Mrs. Samuel Hill, 1868-); James Norman Hill (1870-1932); Louis Warren Hill (1872-1948); Clara Anne, or Anna (Mrs. Erasmus C. Lindley, 1873-1947); Charlotte (Mrs. George T. Slade, [ca.1876]-1923); Ruth (Mrs. Anson Beard, 1879-); Rachel (Mrs. Egil Boeckmann, [ca.1882]-1967); Gertrude (Mrs. Michael Gavin, [ca.1884]-1961); and Walter J. Hill (1885-1944). The house has many early electrical and mechanical systems that predate widespread adoption in modern domestic structures. A bust of Hill is located on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington. The key to the Great Northern line was Hill's use of the previously unmapped Marias Pass first discovered by Santiago Jameson. Hill was born in Eramosa Township, Wellington County, Upper Canada (now Ontario). He also took strong measures to economizein just one year, Hill cut the railway's expense of carrying a ton of freight by 13%. He even sold wood to farmers in order to encourage them to buy his wheat. Las Cruces Police Department. James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railroad director. In honour of his legacy, his heirs founded the James J. Hill Reference Library, which provides practical business information to businesses in the entire nation. He also took strong measures to economizein just one year, Hill cut the railway's expense of carrying a ton of freight by thirteen percent. Hill was a supporter of free trade and was one of the few supporters of free trade with Canada. james j hill descendants today. Opened as the James . Hills son Louis persuaded him to buy it, Brunfelt said. Thus, the knowledge he amassed in the academy was put to use in order to establish his business later in life. The 1893 depression saw the collapse of many businesses, including railroads, throughout the United States. Neither side could win a distinct advantage, and the parties soon realized that a truce would have to be called. In 1891, after three years of building, construction was completed on a new Hill family home on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. uis Warren Hill, Clara Anne Lindley (born Hill), Katherine Theresa Hill, Charlotte Elizabeth Slade (born Hill), Ruth Beard Heidsieck Lori James Jerome Hill, Anne Ann Hill (born Dunbar), James Hill, Mary Elizabeth Brooks (born Hill), Alexander Samuel Dunbar Hill, Louis Warren Hill. [1] He was forced to leave school in 1852 due to the death of his father. Categories: Eramosa Township, Upper Canada | Great Northern Railway | Persons of National Historic Significance | Namesakes US Counties | Notables, WIKITREE HOME | ABOUT | G2G FORUM | HELP | SEARCH. In this way, he continued the relationship developed by his grandfather, James J. Hill, between St. Paul and Japan. Though a Protestant, Hill maintained a strong philanthropic relationship with the Catholic Church in St. Paul and through the northwest. People commented on his piercing gaze and said he held their attention with his quick, animated speech, gesturing expansively and jabbing the air with a hand or finger to make his point. Hill pursued a broad range of other business interests: coal and iron ore mining, Great Lakes and Pacific Ocean shipping, banking and finance, agriculture, and milling. His first goal was to expand and upgrade even more. Much of his collection is hanging in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the majority of pieces having been donated by his heirs. [25] Hill had seen the devastation done downtown by the Great Chicago Fire. [14], In 1893, Hill began the process of looking for a source of labor other than Chinese workers. Hill was intimately involved in the planning and construction (19141916) of a new company headquarters in St. Paul (to be known as the Great Northern Office Building), which was to house the corporate staffs of the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific and Hill's banking enterprises. As it turned out, Hill had personally bought the great Mahoning mine, the motherlode that would feed Americas steel age and play major roles during two World Wars. During the winter months when the Mississippi River was frozen and steamboats could not run, Hill started bidding on other contracts and won quite a few. James Jerome Hill was born near Guelph, Ontario on September 16, 1838. [13] Hill's leadership became a case study in the successful management of a capital-intensive business during the economic downturn. He had nine years of formal schooling. Concomitantly, the resulting trade in munitions with England and France carried the United States from a depression in 1914 to boom years in 1915 and 1916.[22]. The Great Northern reached Seattle on January 7, 1893. Sep 16 1838 - Eramosa Township, Upper Canada, British North America, May 29 1916 - Saint Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota, United States, James Jerome Hill, Ann Hill (born Dunbar), Sep 16 1838? During his lifetime, Hill referenced it a number of times, to show that he wasnt a robber baron, that he was a little altruistic, that he was doing it for the stockholders of the Great Northern Railway, McCormack said. The main room of the James J. Hill Center in downtown St. Paul on Tuesday, June 11, 2019. Jameson discovered the pass 1889 and it shortened the Great Northern's route by almost one hundred miles. They lived at 366 Summit Avenue in a home that is still standing. Rachel Hill married physician Egil Boeckmann in 1913 at the Hill House at 240 Summit. Hill did much of the route planning himself, travelling over proposed routes on horseback. After the death of Hill's wife in 1921, the house was donated to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. But getting the freight revenue required a massive investment in track, machinery, land and manpower. By the time of his death in 1916, James J. Hill was worth more than $53 million[ (almost $2.5 billion (2007) dollars). The following year James J. Hill built a rail along the Marian Pass without constructing a tunnel and altered the name of the company from St. Give me Swedes, snuff and whiskey, and I'll build a railroad through hell. It is currently situated in front of More Hall, which is adjacent to the former on campus nuclear reactor building. In 1897, Hill grudgingly bought the small Duluth, Superior & Winnipeg Railroad, which came with 10,000 acres of Mesabi Range land. James Jerome Hill, a Canadian-American railroad executive and the greatest pioneer in the field of transcontinental railroads, was a visionary who transcended the dreams of a common man and went on to become The Empire Builder. It was his relentless hard work and business prowess that led to further railroad development in Northwest America. ", White, W. Thomas. [2], Because of his previous experiences in shipping and fuel supply, Hill was able to enter both the coal and steamboat businesses. Its a tale of high finance and amazing fortune, befitting St. Pauls larger-than-life railroad baron. Hill always saw his railroads mission as moving goods, not producing them; mining wasnt part of the Great Northern Railway charter; and above all, by 1906 it became illegal for railroads to haul commodities that the railroads themselves had produced. He was a voracious reader of nonfiction, although there are references to Hill lustily singing ballads based on the poems of Robert Burns. The result was chaos on Wall Street. cameron mcinnes salary; May 21, 2022; In 1995, Burlington Northern merged with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to become the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. J. Hill was young, he moved to Kyiv, Ukraine when Hill born. In addition, he donated to numerous schools, including the Saint Paul Seminary. Because of these measures, Hill not only stayed in business, but also increased the net worth of his railroad by nearly $10,000,000 (equal to $301,592,593 today). James Jerome Hill (1838 - 1916) James Jerome Hill Born 16 Sep 1838 in Eramosa Township, Upper Canada, British North America Son of James Hill Sr. and Ann (Dunbar) Hill [sibling (s) unknown] Husband of Mary Theresa (Mehegan) Hill married 19 Aug 1867 in Saint Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota, United States Descendants Hill teamed up with Norman Kittson (the man he had merged steamboat businesses with), Donald Smith, George Stephen and John Stewart Kennedy. It was obtained by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1978 and today is operated as a museum and gallery. In 1856 at seventeen, James Hill found work as a clerk in Minnesota, for a firm of shipping agents who traded and worked with steamboats. During the late 1880s,he aimed to build a rail route through the Rockies to the Pacific. It was there that he studied algebra, mathematics, geometry, land surveying and English. It is also true that he used to survey the areas where rails were to be laid himself on horseback. It was a bitter blow to Hill, and the decision marked the role the federal government would often take in breaking up corporate monopolies in the 20th century. Folks already knew the region had iron ore. "[7] Hill got what he wanted, and in January 1893 his Great Northern Railway, running from St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington a distance of more than 1,700 miles (2,700km) was completed. Minnesota-EASy, "Minnesota, Marriages, 1849-1950," index and database. However, Hill, without the benefit of a central company, managed to acquire the Colorado and Southern Railway lines into Texas, and to build the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest. James J. Hill. [18] Hill also wanted control of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad because of its Midwestern lines and access to Chicago. The Hill family has shared some of that wealth with St. Paul and the region, through foundations that continue to this day. Memorial donations to the Canadian Cancer Society would be appreciated by the family. 291 Pins 5y J Collection by Jessie Cochran Rachel Hill J Hill Mary Frances Gilded Age House On A Hill Downstairs Historical Sites Matilda Minnesota But as the decades pass, the legacy has become harder to see. In 1907 he made his son the owner of his business, yet his grit and determination led him to work daily, until just a week before he died. [14] Mary Hill died in 1922 and was buried next to her husband by the shore of Pleasant Lake on their North Oaks farm. This ended Hill's ability to maintain competitive rates in Asian countries and in the subsequent two years American trade with Japan and China dropped 40% (or $41 million). Hill avoided this by investing a large portion of the railroad's profit back into the railroad itselfand charged those investments to operating expense. The theory was that if a fire broke out and the ceiling caved in, the sand would drop and retard or suppress the fire. (Ironically, the Burlington Route, Northern Pacific, and Great Northern would later merge in 1970 to form the Burlington Northern Railroad.) Louis Jr. was just 4 years old when the trust was created. The key to the Great Northern line was Hill's use of the previously unmapped Marias Pass. Those iron ore holdings had grown so lucrative that Hill wanted to avoid the charge of earning too much money, according to an authorized company history, The Great Northern Railway.. To sea as a clerk for a few years CA 1918-1922 1826 in Broadoak, Cornwall, ;. He began his career in transportation in 1856 as a 17-year-old clerk on the St. Paul levee. The reading room at the James J. Hill Center is seen from the second-floor balcony inside the nearly 100-year-old building on Thursday. WIKITREE PROTECTS MOST SENSITIVE INFORMATION BUT ONLY TO THE EXTENT STATED IN THE TERMS OF SERVICE AND PRIVACY POLICY. Hillwas acknowledged for his discreet business skills but he also had a deep regard for art. In later years, he explained his economic philosophy in the book Highways of Progress and continued the campaign to convert the farmers of the Northwest to the principles of scientific agriculture, often testing breeds of cattle and strains of grain at his own farms. "Minnesota, Death Records, 1866-1916," index and database. From 1937 to 1951, Mr. Hill served in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Hillsboro, North Dakota; Hill County, Montana; and Hillyard, Washington (now a neighborhood of Spokane) - are named for him. As one of the trusts current officials, Robert Stein, testified last November, It was set up uniquely by James J. Hill as part of the political circumstances of the time to avoid a federal statute that was passed. [27] The Hill library owns 75 shares. One of his challenges at this point was the avoidance of federal action against railroads. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest. Experience Christmas, 1910both upstairs and downstairsin the sumptuous Gilded Age mansion of railroad titan James J. Hill. His ability to ride out the depression garnered him fame and admiration. In 1860 he was already managing cargo transfers by railway and steamboats for wholesale grocers. With 1901 and the start of the new century, James Hill now had control of both the Great Northern Railway, and the Northern Pacific (which he had obtained with the help of his friend J. P. Morgan, when that railroad went bankrupt in the depression of the mid-1890s). Funding provided by the State of Minnesota, the Legacy Amendment through the vote of Minnesotans on Nov. 4, 2008, and our generous donors and members. During this period, Hill began to work for himself for the first time. (Canadian-American railroad executive, Businessman) James Jerome Hill, a Canadian-American railroad executive and the greatest pioneer in the field of transcontinental railroads, was a visionary who transcended the dreams of a common man and went on to become 'The Empire Builder.'. His particular talents for English and mathematics would be helpful in his career. Mr. Hill will be resting at the Mackey Funeral Home, 33 Peel Street, Lindsay on Friday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral service in the chapel on Saturday, May 31st at 10:00 a.m. Interment at Riverside Cemetery, Lindsay. Yet, he was adamant to build the straightest route, with the shortest distance across the Northwest. Hill was represented by, among others, the law firm headed by Frank B. Kellogg. Copyright Privacy Information Policy Ticketing Policy. Two years later, Hill wrote a $2 million personal check half the purchase price for 25,000 acres of logged-off land, which had a small rail line to Hibbing for carrying logs. James Jerome Hill Mary Theresa Mehegan Hill Mary Frances (Mamie) James Norman (Jimmy) Louis Warren Clara Ann The result was restoration of the workers' wages to pre-depression levels. So the trust came with an expiration date: it would terminate 20 years after the last original founder had died. His philanthropy included generous gifts to colleges and universities, and prompt responses to victims of disasters, such as the sinking of the Titanic, the Hinckley fire, and the San Francisco earthquake. The high-grade ore is long gone, but now the mines yield lower-grade taconite. Many speculators, who had sold Northern Pacific "short" in the anticipation of a drop in the railroad's price, faced ruin. In 1864 Hill met a waitress who was working at the Merchants Hotel in St. Paul, where he often ate. In St. Paul, the city's main library building and the adjoining Hill Business Library were funded by him. In 1873, he entered the steamboat business and by 1879 he had a local monopoly by merging (with Norman Kittson). [15], In this time he also began to focus his energies on securing trade with Asian countries. She died on November 22, 1921. 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