[19] After falling into a coma, he died in his home in St. Paul, Minnesota, on May 29, 1916. First, Hill turned his personal ownership of the mines over to his railroad, a move that Hills more reverential biographers cite as proof of his honor and generosity. Ownership of the Iron Range mines will now pass to energy company Conoco-Phillips. It only had 10 employees. Between 1883 and 1889, Hill built his railroads across Minnesota, into Wisconsin, and across North Dakota to Montana. "When we are all dead and gone," he said, "the sun will still shine, the rain will fall, and this railroad will run as usual.". After working as a clerk in Kentucky (during which he learned bookkeeping), Hill decided to permanently move to the United States and settled in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the age of 18. In 1873, he entered the steamboat business and by 1879 he had a local monopoly by merging (with Norman Kittson). He tactfully entered the coal business during the time of the Civil War in 1867, where he supplied coal instead of wood, which was undergoing heavy shortage. Constantly updated. The move was politically unpopular and in clear violation of Minnesota statutes. That includes the Mahoning. [9], In 1898 Hill purchased control of large parts of the Mesabi Range iron mining district in Minnesota, along with its rail lines. Guides lead tours that help you imagine family and servant life in the Gilded Age mansion, the setting of the public and private lives of the Hill family. James J. Hill III is one of 10 children of James J. Hill, a Canadian-American railroad executive who built the Great Northern Railway which connecte St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington. Instead, it's for his lesser-known role as an iron ore magnate. When there was not enough industry in the areas Hill was building, Hill brought the industry in, often by buying out a company and placing plants along his railroad lines. The Supreme Court in 1904 ordered it to be dissolved as a monopoly. Upon completion of the Summit Avenue residence, Hill had the family's old house, which he had constructed in 1878, razed. The Great Northern began large-scale shipment of ore to the steel mills of the Midwest. The Hill family has shared some of that wealth with St. Paul and the region, through foundations that continue to this day. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The key to the Great Northern line was Hill's use of the previously unmapped Marias Pass first discovered by Santiago Jameson. James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railroad director. The house has many early electrical and mechanical systems that predate widespread adoption in modern domestic structures. Categories: Eramosa Township, Upper Canada | Great Northern Railway | Persons of National Historic Significance | Namesakes US Counties | Notables, WIKITREE HOME | ABOUT | G2G FORUM | HELP | SEARCH. Wars " below / Louis Warren Hill (May 19, 1872- April 27, 1948), was an American railroad executive. At Hills insistence, the case was tried in St. Paul at the Federal Courts Building (now Landmark Center). He was eyed as a great competitor by the successful and dominant E.H Harriman, who owned Union Pacific Railway. When there was not enough industry in the areas Hill was building, Hill brought the industry in, often by buying out a company and placing plants along his railroad lines. Born into an impoverished family, he reshaped his own destiny with sheer dedication and foresight. But it has been a source of wealth for the Hill family and for the railroads investors for more than a century. Hill County, Montana is named in his honor. Hillsboro, North Dakota; Hill County, Montana; and Hillyard, Washington[23] (now a neighborhood of Spokane), are named for him. Upon completion of the Summit Avenue residence, Hill had the family's old house, which he had constructed in 1878, razed. 651-297-2555 Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. 2008 - 2022 INTERESTING.COM, INC. s W. Hill, James Norman Hill, Unknown Hill, Clara Ann Lindley (born Hill), Katherine Theresa Hill, Unknown Hill, Ruth Beard (born Hill), Sep 16 1838 - Wellington, Guelph, Rockwood, Eramosa Township, Ontario, Canada, Mary Elizabeth Brooks (born Hill), Alexander Samuel Dunbar Hill. [6] He wanted people to settle along his rail lines, so he sold homesteads to immigrants while transporting them to their new homes using his rail lines. After the death of Hill's wife in 1921, the house was donated to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Most people didnt know anything about it, unless they were investors themselves and worked for investment companies. [27] The Hill library owns 75 shares. 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. He even sold wood to farmers in order to encourage them to buy his wheat. His first goal was to expand and upgrade even more. Therefore, Hill turned to his confidant and esteemed financer J.P Morgan. ; and Pittsburgh. Northern Pacific stock was forced up to $1,000 per share. Because Hill created a property-holding trust, it had to follow laws insuring that property is controlled by the living, not the dead. Still, historians agree that the Hills role on the Iron Range was definitely not a matter of just cashing royalty checks. In 1995, Burlington Northern merged with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to become the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. In 1929, the Great Northern Railway inaugurated a long-distance passenger train extending from Chicago to Seattle, and named it the Empire Builder in his honor. 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. In 1929, the Great Northern Railway named its flagship passenger train the Empire Builder in his honor. 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. That ore movement was absolutely critical. And it began with Hills hunger to build a rail line across northern Minnesota in the 1890s, to haul grain more directly from the Red River Valley to Lake Superior. But unlike his legendary Great Northern Railway, which was wrestled into being by Hills iron will, his iron ore holdings were something of an accident. (photo courtesy Minnesota Historical Society). 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. Hill was a member of the Jekyll Island Club (aka The Millionaires Club) on Jekyll Island, Georgia, along with J. P. Morgan and William Rockefeller. He may have considered himself fortunate to receive good education, but destiny spat misfortune his way, when his father passed away. His pains turned unbearable and his health deteriorated. James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 - May 29, 1916), was a Canadian-American railroad executive. ) Hill, James Norman Hill, Louis W. Hill, Clara Anne Lindley (born Hill), Katherine Theresa Hill, Charlotte Elizabeth Slade (born Hill), Sep 16 1838 - Eramosa Township, Ontario, Canada, Mary Elizabeth Hill, Alexander Samuel Dunbar Hill. [14] Mary Hill died in 1922 and was buried next to her husband by the shore of Pleasant Lake on their North Oaks farm. Avenue in the Library in his 70th year, was born on 25 September 1956 at little Falls N! During this period, Hill began to work for himself for the first time. Hill sent Mary to finishing school in Milwaukee before their marriage in 1867 to prepare her for the impending change of stature in her life. The Hill foundations that exist today, none of them have the Hill name on them, McCormack said. The pass had been discovered by John Frank Stevens, principal engineer of the Great Northern Railway, in December 1889, and offered an easier route across the Rockies than that taken by the Northern Pacific. Roosevelt sent his Justice Department to sue the Northern Securities Company in 1902. [25] Hill had seen the devastation done downtown by the Great Chicago Fire. 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. ", White, W. Thomas. That, and his hard micromanaging practices, eventually led to a railway-wide strike and the workers' unionization under the leadership of Eugene V. Debs. Hill did much of the route planning himself, travelling over proposed routes on horseback. In February 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt began prosecution of the Northern Securities Company under the Sherman Antitrust Act. On November 1, 1901, Hill, Morgan, and Harriman announced the formation of the Northern Securities Company, a holding company formed to control the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, and the Burlington lines. They frequently entertained Rachel's parents at their home and Rachel and her daughters lived at 240 Summit for a few years ca 1918-1922. Hill was a supporter of free trade and was one of the few supporters of free trade with Canada. He bought out plenty of bankrupt businesses during this time, reformed them and sold them off at great profit. Hill's historic home is located next to the cathedral, largely due to the special relationship Hill's wife, a practicing Catholic, had with the Diocese. 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. By 1860, he was working for wholesale grocers, for whom he handled freight transfers, especially dealing with railroads and steamboats. She attended finishing school at St. Mary's Institute (Milwaukee, Wis., 1864-1867) and married James J. Hill on August 19, 1867. He didnt seem to have a large interest in getting land along the railroad, or (investing) in any of the speculation or the business activities along the railroad.. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/james-j-hill-138.php. Because of the size of this region and the economic dominance exerted by the Hill lines, Hill became known during his lifetime as "The Empire Builder". From the start, the iron ore trust had its headquarters in St. Paul, as did Hills more famous Great Northern Railway. On March 14, the Northern Securities Company was ordered to be dissolved under the Sherman Antitrust Act. She received education at St. Marys Institute of Notre Dame. [3] By 1879 he had a local monopoly by merging with Norman Kittson. 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