Charles Tyson Yerkes (June 25, 1837 – December 29, 1905) was an American financier, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He played a major part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London. June 25 is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 189 days remaining. ... Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 2 days remaining. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Nickname: City of Brotherly Love, Philly, the Cradle of Liberty, the City That Loves You Back, the Quaker City, The Birthplace of America Motto: Philadelphia maneto - Let brotherly love continue Location in Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Philadelphia Founded October 27, 1682 Incorporated October 25, 1701 Mayor... This article is about the U.S. State. ... This article is about Illinois largest city. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

Philadelphia

Yerkes was born in the Northern Liberties, a district adjacent to Philadelphia, on June 25, 1837. His mother died of puerperal fever when he was five years old and shortly thereafter his father was expelled from the Society of Friends for marrying a non-Quaker. After finishing a two-year course at Philadelphia's Central High School, Yerkes began his business career at the age of 17 as a clerk in a local grain brokerage. In 1859, aged 22, he opened his own brokerage firm and joined the Philadelphia stock exchange. By 1865 he had moved into banking and specialized in selling municipal, state and government bonds. Relying on his bank president father's connections, his political contacts, and his own business skill, Yerkes gained a name for himself in the local financial and social world. He was on the verge of entering Philadelphia society when disaster struck. Northern Liberties is a neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Puerperal fever, also called childbed fever, is caused by infection of the genital tract shortly after giving birth. ... The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ... Central High School is a common name for high schools in the United States. ... 1859 (MDCCCLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ...

While serving as a financial agent for the City of Philadelphia's treasurer Joseph Marcer, Yerkes risked public money in a colossal stock speculation. Unfortunately for Yerkes, this speculation ended calamitously when the Great Chicago Fire sparked a financial panic. Left insolvent and unable to make payment to the City of Philadelphia, Yerkes was convicted of larceny and sentenced to thirty-three months in the dreaded Eastern State Penitentiary. Scheming to remain out of prison, he attempted to blackmail two influential Pennsylvania politicians but the plan failed. However, the damaging information on these politicians was eventually made public and political leaders like President Ulysses Grant feared that the revelations might harm their prospects in the upcoming elections. Yerkes was promised a pardon if he would deny the accusations he had made. He agreed to these terms and was released after seven months in the Eastern State Penitentiary. Yerkes spent the next ten years rebuilding his fortune. Artists rendering of the fire, by John R Chapin, originally printed in Harpers Weekly The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Oct. ... Eastern State Penitentiary is a former state prison in the United States. ... Ulysses Simpson Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was an American Civil War General and the 18th (1869–1877) President of the United States. ...

Chicago

In 1881 Yerkes traveled to Fargo in the Dakota Territory in order to obtain a divorce from his wife of over twenty-two years. Later that year, he wedded the 24-year-old Mary Adelaide Moore and moved to Chicago. 1881 (MDCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Fargo can refer to Fargo, North Dakota Fargo, Oklahoma The movie Fargo by Joel and Ethan Coen A brand of truck The NATO reporting name of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 fighter aircraft This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share... Dakota Territory was the name of the northernmost part of the Louisiana Purchase of the United States. ... This article is about Illinois largest city. ...

He opened a stock and grain brokerage but soon became involved with the city's public transportation system. In 1886, Yerkes and his business partners used a complex financial deal to take over the North Chicago City Railway and then proceeded to follow this with a string of further take-overs until he controlled a majority of the city's street railway systems on the north and west sides. However, he never achieved his ultimate goal--a monopoly of the city's streetcar lines: the South Side's Chicago City Railway remained forever out of his reach. Yerkes was not averse to using bribery and blackmail to obtain his ends. 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ... a historic postcard showing electric trolley-powered streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, where Frank J. Sprague successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888 A streetcar is a railway vehicle designed to carry passengers on tracks, usually laid in city streets. ... The Chicago City Railway was a cable car system, designed by William Eppelsheimer and opened in Chicago in 1882. ... Bribery is a crime implying a sum or gift given alters the behaviour of the person in ways not consistent with the duties of that person. ... For other uses, see Blackmail (disambiguation). ...

In an effort to polish a badly tarnished public image, Yerkes decided in 1892 to bankroll the world's largest telescope after being lobbied by the astronomer George Ellery Hale and University of Chicago president William Rainey Harper. He had initially intended to finance only a telescope but eventually agreed to foot the bill for an entire observatory. He would contribute nearly $300,000 to the University of Chicago to establish what would become known as the Yerkes Observatory, located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... George Ellery Hale, Sc. ... William Rainey Harper ( 1856- 1906) Noted academic; organizer and first President of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. ... The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ... The Yerkes Observatory is an astronomy observatory of the University of Chicago, in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. ... Official language(s) None Capital Madison Largest city Milwaukee Area  Ranked 23rd  - Total 65,498 sq mi (169,790 km²)  - Width 260 miles (420 km)  - Length 310 miles (500 km)  - % water 17  - Latitude 42°30N to 47°3N  - Longitude 86°49W to 92°54W Population  Ranked...

If Yerkes could have gotten his way, Chicago would never have had any elevated railroads. So it is no small irony that his greatest legacy to the city was The Loop--a rectangle of elevated tracks enclosing Chicago's business district. The Loop is what locals call the historical center of downtown Chicago. ...

Yerkes, hoping to escape from a city he had grown to detest, embarked upon a campaign for longer streetcar franchises in 1895. He offered Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld an enormous bribe for his support, but Altgeld rejected the bribe and vetoed the franchise bills. Yerkes renewed the campaign in 1897, and, after a hard-fought battle, secured from the Illinois Legislature a bill granting city councils the right to approve extended franchises. The so-called franchise war then shifted to the Chicago City Council--an arena in which Yerkes ordinarily thrived. A partially reformed council under Mayor Carter Harrison, Jr., however, ultimately defeated Yerkes, with the swing votes coming from aldermen "Hinky Dink" Kenna and "Bathhouse" John Coughlin. 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... John Peter Altgeld (December 30, 1847 - March 12, 1902) was the governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1893 until 1897. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Chicago City Hall, adjacent to the Richard J. Daley Center, houses the chambers of the Chicago City Council. ... Carter Henry Harrison, Jr. ... Michael Hinky Dink Kenna (1858-1946) was First Ward Alderman in Chicago, Illinois from 1897-1923. ... Bathhouse John Coughlin, born 1860, died 1938 First Ward Alderman in Chicago, Illinois from 1893-1938. ...

In 1899, Yerkes sold the majority of his Chicago transport stocks and moved to New York. 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1613 Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ...

London

On a fateful day in August 1900, Yerkes decided to become involved in the developing London Underground railway system after riding along the route of one proposed line and surveying the City of London from the summit of Hampstead Heath. He then proceeded to take control of the Metropolitan District Railway and the unbuilt Baker Street & Waterloo Railway, Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway and Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway. Yerkes employed complex financial arrangements similar to those that he had used in America to raise the funds necessary to construct the new lines and electrify the District railway. In one of his last great triumphs, Yerkes managed to thwart an attempt by J. P. Morgan to enter the London Underground field. 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, but a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ... The London Underground is an all electric railway system that covers much of the conurbation of Greater London and some neighbouring areas. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Hampstead Heath (locally known as The Heath) is a public open space in the north of London. ... The Metropolitan Railway and the Metropolitan District Railway are inextricably linked. ... The Bakerloo Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. ... The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR), was a deep-level tube railway constructed in London by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited. ... The Piccadilly Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. ... J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan I (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and banker, who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation. ...

He died in New York aged 68 in 1905, a victim of kidney disease, before any of his works on the London railways were completed but with the construction well underway. Though initially estimated to be as high as twenty-two million dollars, Yerkes' fortune ended up being well less than one million dollars thanks to a vast number of debts. 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Trivia

• The events of Yerkes's life formed the bases for the Theodore Dreiser novels, The Financier, The Titan and The Stoic, in which Yerkes was fictionalized as Frank Cowperwood.
• Yerkes crater on the moon is named in his honor.
• Yerkes built a mansion for his protege Emilie Grigsby only a few blocks from his own New York home. Grigsby lived until 1964, dying at the age of eighty-eight.
• Yerkes was a noted art collector. He was the first American to purchase a work by the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin.
• Yerkes died at the Waldorf-Astoria after his estranged wife wouldn't permit him to return to his Fifth Avenue mansion.

Theodore Dreiser, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1933 Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American naturalist author known for dealing with the gritty reality of life. ... The Financier is a novel by Theodore Dreiser, first published in 1912. ... The Titan is a novel written by Theodore Dreiser in 1914. ... The Stoic is a novel by Theodore Dreiser, the final in his trilogy based on the real life of streetcar tycoon Charles Yerkes. ... Yerkes is a lunar crater near the western edge of Mare Crisium. ... Adjective lunar Bulk silicate composition (estimated wt%) SiO2 44. ... Auguste Rodin. ... This article is about the hotel. ... Street sign at Fifth Avenue and East 57th street Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in New York City. ...

External links

• chicago-l.org
  • Detailed history of Charles Yerkes' involvement in the Chicago elevated railways and street car syatem
  • Photograph of Charles Yerkes
• University of Chicago - Biography of Yerkes