In addition to streetcar lines, the Van Sweringen Brothers of Cleveland, Ohio owned a vast network of steam railroads.
98-504: The New York Central Railroad had owned the closely parallel New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad since 1882, soon after its opening. Due to fears of prosecution under the 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act , the NYC sold the line on July 5, 1915 to the newly formed Nickel Plate Securities Corporation , a holding company formed by the Vans. They were at first only interested in the line to provide
196-646: A bronze casting of his original 1908 sculpture, Appeal to the Great Spirit . The replica was erected in Muncie in 1929 and donated to the city. In September 1937 a bronze sculpture named Beneficence was installed on the Ball State University campus in Muncie to honor the Ball brothers' contribution to the community. The five columns of Indiana limestone that surround the sculpture represent
294-561: A right-of-way for their Shaker Heights Rapid Transit to downtown Cleveland. By 1920 the Vans had decided they wanted control of other railroads, including the Lehigh Valley Railroad , Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad , Western Maryland Railway , Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway , Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway , Pere Marquette Railway , Cincinnati Northern Railroad and Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad (Clover Leaf), as well as partial ownership in
392-547: A Young Men's Christian Association ( YMCA ) boys' camp. He was also a member of the Universalist church and a Scottish Rite Mason. Edmund married Bertha Crosley on October 7, 1903, in Indianapolis . They had four children, two sons and two daughters. In 1904 Edmund hired Marshall S. Mahurin , a Fort Wayne, Indiana , architect to design his Gothic-Revival style home in Muncie. The family's home, named Nebosham,
490-488: A bypass around Rochester. The Terminal Railway 's Gardenville Cutoff, allowing through traffic to bypass Buffalo to the southeast, opened in 1898. The Schenectady Detour consisted of two connections to the West Shore Railroad, allowing through trains to bypass downtown Schenectady. The full project opened in 1902. The Cleveland Short Line Railway built a bypass of Cleveland, Ohio, completed in 1912. In 1924,
588-478: A classification yard and livestock pens on 300 acres of land (known as West Albany). Facilities included locomotive shops, freight and passenger car shops, and roundhouse terminals. These were the New York Central's primary back shops until the end of steam in 1957. The Troy and Greenbush Railroad was chartered in 1845 and opened later that year, connecting Troy south to Greenbush (now Rensselaer ) on
686-546: A former schoolteacher, were born in Canada . They met in Greensburg, Ohio , and married on September 1, 1846. Lucius and Maria had a total of eight children, six sons and two daughters: Lucina Amelia, Lucius Lorenzo, William Charles, Edmund Burke, Frank Clayton, Mary Frances, George Alexander, and Clinton Harvey (died in infancy). The children were raised in eastern Ohio and in upstate New York . The boys' sister, Lucina,
784-575: A line between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. It was leased to New York Central Railroad in 1853. Also in 1855 came the merger with the Lewiston Railroad , running from Niagara Falls north to Lewiston . It was chartered in 1836 and opened in 1837, without connections to other railroads. In 1854, a southern extension opened to the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad and the line was leased to the railroad. The Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Railroad
882-517: A manufacturer of equipment and supplier of services to the aerospace industry. In addition to the brothers' manufacturing business, they were also noted for their philanthropy and community service. Earnings from their business ventures provided the financial resources to support a number of other projects in the community of Muncie, Indiana , and elsewhere. Most notably, the brothers became benefactors of several Muncie institutions including Ball State University , Ball Memorial Hospital , Keuka College ,
980-596: A medical practice in Buffalo, New York . He moved to Muncie, Indiana , in 1894. In addition to becoming a shareholder and serving on the board of the Ball brothers' manufacturing company, Lucius practiced medicine in the Muncie community. He was a member of the Scottish Rite and the Universalist church. Lucius also retained memberships in national and state medical societies and served as medical adviser to
1078-576: A network of commuter lines in New York and Massachusetts. Westchester County, New York had the railroad's Hudson, Harlem, and Putnam lines into Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan (Putnam Division trains required a change at High Bridge, New York), while New Jersey and Rockland County, New York were serviced by the West Shore Line between Weehawken and Kingston, New York, on the west side of
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#17328020362941176-461: A number of philanthropic contributions to support the needs of the community and foster the city's growth, which included working with nonprofit agencies to provide aid to local and regional residents. The Ball Brothers Foundation, established in 1926, further expanded the impact of their philanthropic efforts. Eleven years later, in 1937, the George and Frances Ball Foundation was established to further
1274-836: A private liberal arts-based and residential college based in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. After they became financially successful, the Ball brothers expressed their gratitude by donating additional land and providing funds to the college. In 1921 Ball Hall (Ball Memorial Hall) was named in honor of George Harvey Ball and the Ball brothers' contributions to the college. The Ball brothers made other donations to support hospitals, schools, and nonprofit organizations. In Indiana these included funding for James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis; Hanover College , in Hanover, Indiana ; Indiana University ; and
1372-631: A way for freight and especially passengers to avoid the extensive and time-consuming locks on the Erie Canal between Schenectady and Albany. The Mohawk and Hudson opened on September 24, 1831, and changed its name to the Albany and Schenectady Railroad on April 19, 1847. Until the 1840s it used an inclined plane and pulley system at either end of the line to pull passenger cars up the steep hills in Albany and Schenectady. As locomotive technology progressed,
1470-625: The Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge was constructed as part of the Hudson River Connecting Railroad 's Castleton Cut-Off, a 27.5-mile-long freight bypass of the congested West Albany terminal area and West Albany Hill. An unrelated realignment was made in the 1910s at Rome, when the Erie Canal was realigned and widened onto a new alignment south of downtown Rome. The NYC main line was shifted south out of downtown to
1568-924: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in March for the B&;O's part of the W&;LE; the Vans acquired the rest of it from the NYC at the same time). In April 1930 the Alleghany Corporation bought the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad and 46% of the Missouri Pacific Railroad , gaining a majority of the MoPac on May 13. The Hocking Valley Railway merged into the C&;O April 30, 1930. Due to
1666-473: The Bracken Library at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Frank and Edmund Ball founded the Ball brothers' manufacturing business in 1880 in Buffalo, New York . Three other brothers (William, Lucius, and George) soon joined the family business. In 1887–88 the brothers moved their manufacturing operations to Muncie, Indiana , where the firm would be closer to an abundant natural gas supply. As
1764-675: The Great Depression , the planned "Fourth System" failed. The new Midamerica Company bought most of the old assets on September 30, 1935 in an attempt to reorganize. The primary financial backer of the Midamerica Company was George A. Ball, the youngest of the Ball Brothers of Muncie, Indiana . The Pere Marquette Railway merged into the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway on June 6, 1947. The Nickel Plate leased
1862-685: The Harlem Line ). The surviving sections of the West Side Line south of 34th Street reopened as the High Line , a linear park built between 2009 and 2014. In 1867, Cornelius Vanderbilt acquired control of the Albany to Buffalo -running New York Central Railroad, with the help of maneuverings related to the Hudson River Bridge in Albany. On November 1, 1869, he merged the railroad with his Hudson River Railroad to form
1960-646: The Lake Erie and Western Railroad and Philadelphia and Reading Railway . The Vaness Company was incorporated in Delaware on January 9, 1922 as a holding company to own all the other holding companies. The Clover Leaf Company was incorporated February 25 to own the Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad , and the Western Company March 11 for the Lake Erie and Western Railroad . The LE&W
2058-884: The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial at Lincoln City, Indiana . They also contributed to Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan . Grants from the Ball Brothers Foundation are awarded to organizations that demonstrate "better practices" or strive toward "best practice designation" in conducting their business and have continued interests in improving the quality of life for citizens of Indiana. The foundation looks to fund innovation, programs that are just starting, and companies going through expansion. In 1929 Edmund Ball's wife and children commissioned Cyrus Edwin Dallin to create
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#17328020362942156-738: The Minnetrista Cultural Foundation , restoring it in 1990. Aside from his business interests, George was a collector of children's literature, a hobby he shared with his daughter. In 1964 Elisabeth Ball donated a part of their collection to the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. Following her death in 1982, other books that she and her father had collected were donated to the Lilly Library at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana , and
2254-636: The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate) to form a new New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railway . They applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission on February 21, 1925, but were denied March 2, 1926 due to unsound financing . The plan was opposed by many C&O stockholders. On February 3, 1927 the Vans, along with the New York Central Railroad and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , bought
2352-490: The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie and Boston and Albany Railroads in 1887 and 1900, respectively, with both roads remaining as independently-operating subsidiaries. William H. Newman, president of the New York Central lines, resigned in 1909. Newman had been president since 1901, when he replaced Samuel R. Callaway (who had replaced Depew as president in 1898). In 1914, the operations of eleven subsidiaries were merged with
2450-579: The Rochester and Syracuse Direct Railway was chartered and immediately merged into the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad on August 6, 1850. That line opened June 1, 1853, running much more directly between those two cities, roughly parallel to the Erie Canal. The Tonawanda Railroad , to the west of Rochester, was chartered on April 24, 1832, to build from that city to Attica . The first section, from Rochester southwest to Batavia , opened May 5, 1837, and
2548-624: The Western Reserve Life Insurance Company . Lucius married Sarah Rogers in 1893; they relocated from Buffalo to Muncie the following year. The couple had one daughter. Lucius remained a resident of Muncie for thirty years. In the mid-1990s, following the restoration of Oakhurst, George's home, Lucius's residence was renovated to serve as an orientation center for the Oakhurst mansion and its gardens. William Charles Ball (August 13, 1852 – April 30, 1921)
2646-783: The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway on December 1, 1949, and on October 16, 1964 the Nickel Plate was merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway . The Erie merged into the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad on October 17, 1960. This left three pieces of the old system - part of the N&;W, part of the EL, and the C&O. On August 31, 1965 the N&W and C&O announced a planned merger, with a holding company named Dereco to own
2744-547: The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway . Four days later the Vans announced that they would make the C&O the centerpiece of their system, selling the Erie and Pere Marquette to them. The Alleghany Corporation was incorporated January 26, 1929 in Maryland to hold the Vans' stock in the Nickel Plate, Chesapeake Corporation, Erie and C&O, as well as a partial ownership of the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway (traded to
2842-457: The YMCA , Ball stores department store, and Minnetrista . The Ball Brothers Foundation, established in 1926, continues the family's philanthropic interests. The Ball brothers, whose glass company became known for its home canning jars, went into business together in 1880, and made the decision to move their glass manufacturing operations from Buffalo, New York to Muncie, Indiana , in 1886, due to
2940-521: The 1950s that began to deprive NYC of its long-distance passenger trade. The Interstate Highway Act of 1956 helped create a network of government subsidized highways for motor vehicle travel throughout the country, enticing more people to travel by car, as well as haul freight by truck. The 1959 opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway also adversely affected NYC freight business: container shipments could now be directly shipped to ports along
3038-477: The Ball brothers "found a friend and confidant" in their uncle. After the boys' father died in 1878, Uncle George provided financial support and some measure of stability. Later in life, after the Ball brothers had become wealthy businessmen, they became benefactors to their uncle's college. The family descends from an early colonial immigrant, Edward Ball, and several other founders of Newark , New Jersey. Lucius Lorenzo Ball (March 29, 1850 – July 22, 1932),
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3136-479: The Ball brothers, was born in Trumball County, Ohio, and grew up in upstate New York. He attended public schools and Canandaigua Academy. George's interest in his brothers' glass manufacturing company was quickly identified after its inception; he joined the family business in 1883, at the age of twenty-one. George rose through the ranks in the family business. He worked as a bookkeeper and went on to become
3234-546: The Ball family's generosity, the school was named Ball Teachers College in 1922. The school became Ball State Teachers College in 1929 and was renamed Ball State University in 1965. Ball State is one of only a few public colleges in the United States that includes a family name. Although the Ball brothers moved to Indiana early in their careers, they did not forget New York or the early support they received from their uncle, George Harvey Ball, founder of Keuka College ,
3332-700: The Big Four, was formed on June 30, 1889, by the merger of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway , the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago Railway and the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railway. The following year, the company gained control of the former Indiana Bloomington and Western Railway . By 1906, the Big Four was itself acquired by the New York Central Railroad. It operated independently until 1930; it
3430-512: The Boston and Albany. This influenced a great deal about the line, from advertising to locomotive design, built around its flagship New York-Chicago Water Level Route. A number of bypasses and cutoffs were built around congested areas. The Junction Railroad 's Buffalo Belt Line opened in 1871, providing a bypass of Buffalo to the northeast as well as a loop route for passenger trains via downtown. The West Shore Railroad, acquired in 1885, provided
3528-591: The EL and several other lines. Dereco was incorporated March 1, 1968, acquiring the EL April 1. But the planned merger never happened. The C&O has since become part of CSX Transportation , the N&W part of the Norfolk Southern Railway , and the EL part of Conrail , split between CSX and NS in 1998 (at which time most of the former Erie went to NS). New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad ( reporting mark NYC )
3626-490: The Erie Canal and serve Rome, and so the Syracuse and Utica Direct Railroad was chartered on January 26, 1853. Nothing of that line was ever built, though the later West Shore Railroad , acquired by New York Central Railroad in 1885, served the same purpose. The Auburn and Syracuse Railroad was chartered on May 1, 1834, and opened mostly in 1838, the remaining 4 miles (6.4 km) opening on June 4, 1839. A month later, with
3724-576: The Great Lakes, eliminating the railroads' freight hauls between the east and the Midwest. The NYC also carried a substantial tax burden from governments that saw rail infrastructure as a source of property tax revenues – taxes that were not imposed upon interstate highways. To make matters worse, most railroads, including the NYC, were saddled with a World War II-era tax of 15% on passenger fares, which remained until 1962: 17 years after
3822-610: The Hudson River Railroad, the West Side Line was built in 1934 in the borough of Manhattan as an elevated bypass of then-abandoned street running trackage on Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. The elevated section has since been abandoned, and the tunnel north of 35th Street is used only by Amtrak trains to New York Penn Station (all other trains use the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad to reach
3920-604: The Hudson River. The New York Central, like many U.S. railroads, declined after the Second World War. Problems resurfaced that had plagued the railroad industry before the war, such as over-regulation by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which severely regulated the rates charged by the railroad, along with continuing competition from automobiles and trucks. These problems were coupled with even more-formidable forms of competition, such as airline service in
4018-472: The Middle English spelling of a word meaning a pre-arranged "gathering place", trist or tryst . Frank Ball's estate home, which was also called Minnetrista was the first to be built on the site in 1894; it burned in 1967. Frank's property became the site for a new a cultural center for the Muncie community. The center, which was named Minnetrista , opened in 1988. It preserves artifacts that document
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4116-518: The Mohawk River, paralleling the Erie Canal, to Utica . Of the ten early railroads bordering the Erie Canal, the U&;S was the most profitable. It was headed by Erastus Corning , future president of the consolidated New York Central. On May 7, 1844, the railroad was authorized to carry freight with some restrictions, and on May 12, 1847, the ban was fully dropped, but the company still had to pay
4214-590: The NYC from opening. This was a connection between Syracuse and Rochester, running from the main line at Lyons to the Auburn Road at Geneva. It was merged into the NYC in 1890. In 1885, the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railway , a competitor since 1883 with trackage along the west shore of the Hudson River and on to Buffalo closely paralleling the NYC, was taken over by the NYC as the West Shore Railroad and developed passenger, freight, and car float operations at Weehawken Terminal . The NYC assumed control of
4312-459: The NYC's eastern trackage and NS acquiring most of NYC's western trackage. Extensive trackage existed in the states of New York , Pennsylvania , Ohio , Michigan , Indiana , Illinois , Massachusetts and West Virginia , plus additional trackage in portions of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec . At the end of 1925, New York Central Railroad operated 11,584 miles (18,643 km) of road and 26,395 miles (42,479 km) of track; at
4410-436: The New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, re-forming the New York Central Railroad. From the beginning of the merger, the railroad was publicly referred to as the New York Central Lines. In the summer of 1935, the identification was changed to the New York Central System, that name being kept until the merger with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968. The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway , also known as
4508-450: The New York Central Railroad were optimized for speed on that flat raceway of a main line, rather than slow mountain lugging. Famous locomotives of the system included the well-known 4-6-4 Hudsons , particularly the 1937–38 J-3a's; 4-8-2 World War II–era 1940 L-3 and 1942 L-4 Mohawks ; and the 1945–46 S-class Niagaras : fast 4-8-4 locomotives often considered the epitome of their breed by steam locomotive aficionados ( railfans ). For
4606-489: The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. This extended the system south from Albany along the east bank of the Hudson River to New York City, with the leased Troy and Greenbush Railroad running from Albany north to Troy . Vanderbilt's other lines were operated as part of the railroad included the New York and Harlem Railroad, Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway , Canada Southern Railway , and Michigan Central Railroad . The Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad
4704-404: The Syracuse and Utica Railroad by building a more direct route, reducing travel time by a half-hour. The company was merged before any line could be built. Albany industrialist and Mohawk Valley Railroad owner Erastus Corning managed to unite the above railroads together into one system, and on March 17, 1853, executives and stockholders of each company agreed to merge. The merger was approved by
4802-490: The Tonawanda Railroad was authorized to build the connection, and it opened later that year. The Albany and Schenectady Railroad bought all the baggage, mail and emigrant cars of the other railroads between Albany and Buffalo on February 17, 1848, and began operating through cars. On December 7, 1850, the Tonawanda Railroad and Attica and Buffalo Railroad merged to form the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad . A new direct line opened from Buffalo east to Batavia on April 26, 1852, and
4900-462: The Water Level Route, could complete the 960.7-mile trip in 16 hours after its June 15, 1938 streamlining (and did it in 15 1 ⁄ 2 hours for a short period after World War II). Also famous were the NYC's Empire State Express , which traveled from New York City through upstate New York to Buffalo and Cleveland, and the Ohio State Limited , which ran between New York City and Cincinnati. At various times, beginning in 1946 and continuing into
4998-438: The abundance of natural gas in the area. The brothers opened their factory in Muncie in 1888. The Ball company continued to prosper from their mass production of canning jars, known sometimes as "Ball jars". The company has subsequently expanded and diversified. By 1937, the value of the company was estimated at nearly $ 7 million. The Ball brothers' parents, Lucius Styles Ball, a farmer and merchant, and Maria Polly Bingham Ball,
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#17328020362945096-415: The better. Prominent New York Central trains: Trains left from Grand Central Terminal in New York, Weehawken Terminal in Weehawken, New Jersey , South Station in Boston, Cincinnati Union Terminal in Cincinnati, Michigan Central Station in Detroit, St. Louis Union Station , and LaSalle Street Station and Central Station (for some Detroit and CincinnatI trains) in Chicago. The New York Central had
5194-526: The brothers' company continued to prosper and expand, it became especially well known for its glass canning jars, but diversified into other industries. Beginning in the 1950s, the Ball Corporation entered the aerospace sector, and later became a global manufacturer of plastic and metal food and beverage containers. Due to the financial success of the Ball Corporation , the Ball brothers amassed considerable personal wealth and became influential men in Muncie's political and civic affairs. The Ball brothers made
5292-473: The company, and as treasurer and secretary of the Ball brothers' corporation. Edmund was also a humanitarian and heavily involved in Muncie's civic activities. He was chair of Muncie's park board and the city's planning commission. He served on several other boards that included traction companies and banks, Muncie's hospital, and Hillsdale College. Edmund and his wife, Bertha, donated funds to renovate property on Tippecanoe Lake in Kosciusko County, Indiana , for
5390-543: The corporation's secretary, treasurer, vice president, president, and board chairman. In the 1930s George became a partner in a railroad empire that also included steamship lines, grain elevators, bus and truck lines, coal mines, and a fruit orchard in Georgia. In addition, he served on the boards of organizations that included Borg Warner , Nickel Plate Railroad , several banking institutions, Indiana University , Ball State Teachers College (which became Ball State University ), and Ball Memorial Hospital , among others. George
5488-408: The east side of the Hudson River. The Hudson River Railroad was chartered on May 12, 1846, to extend this line south to New York City; the full line opened on October 3, 1851. Prior to completion, on June 1, it leased the Troy and Greenbush. Cornelius Vanderbilt obtained control of the Hudson River Railroad in 1864, soon after he bought the parallel New York and Harlem Railroad . Along the line of
5586-439: The eldest of the brothers was born in Greensburg, Ohio. He grew up in Ohio and moved with the family to upstate New York, where he attended public schools and Canandaigua Academy at Canandaigua, New York . Lucius, whose ambition was to become a doctor, received his medical degree from the University of Buffalo in 1889, at the age of forty, and served as the house physician in Adrian Hospital in Pennsylvania before establishing
5684-414: The end of 1967, the mileages were 9,696 miles (15,604 km) and 18,454 miles (29,699 km). The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was the oldest segment of the railroad's merger and was the first permanent railroad in the state of New York and one of the first railroads in the United States . It was chartered in 1826 to connect the Mohawk River at Schenectady to the Hudson River at Albany, providing
5782-416: The end of the war. Ball Brothers The Ball brothers (Lucius, William, Edmund, Frank, and George) were five American industrialists and philanthropists who established a manufacturing business in New York and Indiana in the 1880s that was renamed the Ball Corporation in 1969. The Ball brothers' firm became a global manufacturer of plastic and metal food and beverage containers as well as
5880-418: The equivalent in canal tolls to the state. The Syracuse and Utica Railroad was chartered on May 11, 1836, and similarly had to pay the state for any freight displaced from the canal. The full line opened July 3, 1839, extending the line further to Syracuse via Rome (and further to Auburn via the already-opened Auburn and Syracuse Railroad ). This line was not direct, going out of its way to stay near
5978-502: The family's philanthropic efforts within Muncie and other locales of interest to the family. Over the years the Ball brothers made financial contributions to establish or strengthen an abundance of institutions: the local branches of the YMCA and the YWCA , the Masonic Temple auditorium, the Art Museum at Ball State, Ball Memorial Hospital , Ball State University , and Minnetrista , Muncie's cultural center, and assisted other groups. One of Ball Brothers Foundation's first projects
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#17328020362946076-465: The family's shingle-style residence, was built in 1895, becoming the second of the Ball brothers' homes to be erected on the family property in Muncie. Indianapolis architect Louis Gibson designed the estate home on Minnetrista Boulevard. At the time of its construction the three-story residence stood on approximately 2 acres (0.81 hectares) of land. George died in 1955 at the age of ninety-two. The Ball Brothers Foundation deeded his home and its grounds to
6174-434: The financial help of George A. Ball, a wealthy manufacturer, the assets of the Muncie National Institute, a former normal school that was then training hotel employees, were purchased and donated to the State of Indiana to become a branch of the Indiana State Normal School at Terre Haute known today as Indiana State University . In 1918 the school opened as the Indiana State Normal School, Eastern Division. In recognition of
6272-417: The first two-thirds of the 20th century, New York Central Railroad had some of the most famous trains in the United States. Its 20th Century Limited ( Century ), begun in 1902, ran between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago , and was its most famous train, known for its red carpet treatment and first-class service. Its last run was made on December 2–3, 1967. In
6370-404: The history of Muncie and east central Indiana , and continues as a gathering place an important part of the Muncie, Indiana, community. Situated on 44 acres (18 hectares), visitors may still visit its gardens and natural areas, which contain an assorted community of native Indiana plant and animal species, for free. Eastern Indiana Normal University, a small, private teacher training school that
6468-422: The line is currently operated as the Falls Road Railroad . The Buffalo and Lockport Railroad was chartered on April 27, 1852, to build a branch of the Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls from Lockport towards Buffalo. It opened in 1854, running from Lockport to Tonawanda , where it joined the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad , opened in 1837, for the rest of the way to Buffalo. The Mohawk Valley Railroad
6566-413: The mainline was extended to the Mohawk River in downtown Schenectady and the Hudson River waterfront in Albany. The Utica and Schenectady Railroad was chartered April 29, 1833; as the railroad paralleled the Erie Canal, it was prohibited from carrying freight . Revenue service began on August 2, 1836, extending the line of the Albany and Schenectady Railroad west from Schenectady along the north side of
6664-477: The mid-1930s, many railroad companies were introducing streamlined locomotives; until the New York Central introduced the Commodore Vanderbilt , all were diesel-electric. The Vanderbilt was the NYC's first streamlined steam locomotive. The railroad hosted the streamlined steam-powered Rexall Train of 1936, which toured 47 states to promote the Rexall chain of drug stores and to provide space for company conventions. The steam-powered Century , which followed
6762-561: The mid-1950s, the Century and other NYC trains exchanged sleeping cars in Chicago with western trains such as the Super Chief and the City of San Francisco . The cars, which contained roomettes , double bedrooms and drawing rooms , provided through sleeper service between New York City and Los Angeles or San Francisco ( Oakland Pier ). Despite having some of the most modern steam locomotives anywhere, NYC's difficult financial position caused it to convert to more-economical diesel-electric power rapidly. The Boston and Albany line
6860-486: The north bank of the White River , outside Muncie, where he built a home designed by Indianapolis architect Louis Gibson. Frank's nineteen-room mansion, named Minnetrista, was the first Ball family home to be built on the site along Minnetrista Boulevard. The home, completed in 1895, was destroyed by fire in 1967. Minnetrista , Muncie's cultural arts center, was built on the site of his former home. George Alexander Ball (November 5, 1862 – October 22, 1955), youngest of
6958-492: The old line between Depew (east of Buffalo) and Attica was sold to the Buffalo and New York City Railroad on November 1. The line was added to the New York and Erie Railroad system and converted to the Erie's 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ) broad gauge . The Schenectady and Troy Railroad was chartered in 1836 and opened in 1842, providing another route between the Hudson River and Schenectady, with its Hudson River terminal at Troy . The Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad
7056-546: The opening of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad, this formed a complete line from Albany west via Syracuse to Auburn. The Auburn and Rochester Railroad was chartered on May 13, 1836, as a further extension via Geneva and Canandaigua to Rochester , opening on November 4, 1841. The two lines merged on August 1, 1850, to form the rather indirect Rochester and Syracuse Railroad (known later as the Auburn Road ). To fix this,
7154-679: The public affairs of the Muncie community. He was president of the Muncie and Portland Traction Company, the Muncie and Western Railroad Company, and the Muncie YMCA. He also served as director the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago , among his other activities in business and civic organizations. Frank was a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Universalist church. Frank married Elizabeth Wolfe Brady in 1893. They had five children, three daughters and two sons. In 1893–94 Frank bought approximately 30 acres (12 hectares) of land along
7252-529: The rest of the line to Attica opened on January 8, 1843. The Attica and Buffalo Railroad was chartered in 1836 and opened on November 24, 1842, running from Buffalo southeast to Attica. When the Auburn and Rochester Railroad opened in 1841, there was no connection at Rochester to the Tonawanda Railroad, but with that exception there was now an all-rail line between Buffalo and Albany. On March 19, 1844,
7350-399: The school. Tuition was cheap compared to modern standards with a ten-week session costing students $ 10. Soon after that first year enrollment dropped to 110 and only 40 new students signed up The Eastern Indiana Normal University would close soon after on September 24, 1901. After the college and subsequent efforts to established an institution of higher learning at Muncie had failed, with
7448-445: The south bank of the new canal. A bridge was built southeast of downtown, roughly where the old main line crossed the path of the canal, to keep access to and from the southeast. West of downtown, the old main line was abandoned, but a brand-new railroad line was built, running north from the NYC main line to the NYC's former Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad , allowing all NYC through traffic to bypass Rome. Steam locomotives of
7546-467: The state legislature on April 2 and, on May 17, 1853, the New York Central Railroad was formed. Soon the Buffalo and State Line Railroad and Erie and North East Railroad converted to 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge from 6 ft ( 1,829 mm ) broad gauge and connected directly with the railroad in Buffalo, providing a through route to Erie, Pennsylvania . The Rochester and Lake Ontario Railroad
7644-690: Was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midwest , along with the intermediate cities of Albany , Buffalo , Cleveland , Cincinnati , Detroit , Rochester and Syracuse . New York Central was headquartered in New York City's New York Central Building , adjacent to its largest station, Grand Central Terminal . The railroad
7742-515: Was a cofounder of the Ball family business with his brother Edmund. Born in Greensburg, Ohio, Frank grew up in Ohio and upstate New York. He attended public schools and Canandaigua Academy. He became company president in 1888 and served in that capacity for fifty five years. Frank was "a born leader" as well as "a strong, dynamic, and shrewd businessman." Like his brothers, Frank took an interest in
7840-470: Was a forerunner to Ball State University , opened in 1899 to help boost the development of the city of M uncie Indiana located in Delaware County, Indiana . The school opened to much fanfare after the dedication of the administration building on August 28, 1899. The school would go onto have a great first year with an enrollment of 250 students who were enrolled in one of eight programs offered by
7938-491: Was also active in politics, serving as a Republican national committeeman from Indiana. He was a Freemason , a Rotary Club member, and joined the Presbyterian church. George married to Frances Woodworth in Buffalo in 1893. The couple had one daughter, Elisabeth, born on December 26, 1897. Elisabeth, who never married, lived in her parents' home until her death on April 29, 1982, at the age of eighty-four. Oakhurst,
8036-519: Was an educator who assisted in the founding of Drexel Institute in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, and served as its financial secretary. Their other sister, Mary Frances, married Joseph W. Mauck, who became a longtime president of Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan . Their uncle, George Harvey Ball , who shared the Ball family dedication to higher education, founded Keuka College in upstate New York in 1890. When their father became ill,
8134-481: Was born in Trumbull County, Ohio , grew up in upstate New York, and attended public school and Canandaigua Academy with his siblings. When two of his brothers, Frank and Edmund, moved to Indiana in the mid-1880s, William remained in Buffalo, New York , to close out business affairs. He moved to Muncie in 1897. William was a Ball company salesman and served as the corporation's secretary. Like his brothers, he
8232-556: Was bought for $ 3 million from the New York Central Railroad on April 26. On July 1, 1923 and LE&W and Clover Leaf were merged into the Nickel Plate. For the next several years, the Vans bought up the stock of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (including its Hocking Valley Railway ), the Pere Marquette Railway and the Erie Railroad . On August 20, 1924 they announced plans to merge the four companies into
8330-511: Was built on Ball family property just east of Oakhurst, George's home. William died at the age of sixty-nine. Edmund Burke Ball (October 27, 1855 – March 8, 1925) was cofounder of the Ball manufacturing business with his brother, Frank. Born in Greensburg, Ohio, he moved with his family to upstate New York, where he attended public schools and Canandaigua Academy. In the mid-1880s Edmund relocated from Buffalo, New York, to Muncie, Indiana, where he served as vice president and general manager of
8428-712: Was chartered in 1851. The first stage opened in 1853 from Canandaigua on the Auburn Road west to Batavia on the main line. A continuation west to North Tonawanda opened later that year and, in 1854, a section opened in Niagara Falls connecting it to the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge . New York Central Railroad bought the company at bankruptcy in 1858 and reorganized it as the Niagara Bridge and Canandaigua Railroad, merging it into itself in 1890. The Saratoga and Hudson River Railroad
8526-467: Was chartered in 1864 and opened in 1866 as a branch of the railroad from Athens Junction, southeast of Schenectady, southeast and south to Athens on the west side of the Hudson River. On September 9, 1876, the company was merged into the railroad, but in 1876 the terminal at Athens burned down and the line was abandoned. The primary repair shops were established in Corning's hometown of Albany along with
8624-502: Was chartered in 1869 and opened in 1871, providing a route on the north side of the Harlem River for trains along the Hudson River to head southeast to the New York and Harlem Railroad. Trains could head toward Grand Central Depot , built by NYC and opened in 1871, or to the freight facilities at Port Morris . From opening, it was leased by the NYC. The Geneva and Lyons Railroad was organized in 1877 and opened in 1878, leased by
8722-467: Was chartered on January 21, 1851, and reorganized on December 28, 1852, to build a railroad on the south side of the Mohawk River from Schenectady to Utica, next to the Erie Canal and opposite the Utica and Schenectady. The company didn't build a line before it was absorbed, though the West Shore Railroad was later built on that location. The Syracuse and Utica Direct Railroad was chartered in 1853 to rival
8820-628: Was completed in 1907 and served as their residence for fifty years. Following Edmund's death, $ 3.3 million in assets from his estate were used to establish the Ball Brothers Foundation. In 1975 the Ball Foundation donated Nebosham to the Ball State University Foundation for use as a continuing education facility. It was named the E. B. and Bertha C. Ball Center for University and Community Programs in 1986. Frank Clayton Ball (November 24, 1857 – March 19, 1943)
8918-482: Was completely dieselized by 1951. All lines east of Cleveland, Ohio were dieselized between August 7, 1953 (east of Buffalo) and September 1953 (Cleveland-Buffalo). Niagaras were all retired by July 1956. On May 3, 1957, H7e class 2-8-2 Mikado type steam locomotive No. 1977 is reported to have been the last steam locomotive to retire from service on the railroad. But, the economics of northeastern railroading became so dire that not even this switch could change things for
9016-518: Was established in 1853, consolidating several existing railroad companies. In 1968, the NYC merged with its former rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad , to form Penn Central . Penn Central went into bankruptcy in 1970 and, with extensive Federal government support, emerged as Conrail in 1976. In 1999, Conrail was broken-up, and portions of its system were transferred to CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), with CSX acquiring most of
9114-512: Was involved in Muncie's political and civic activities. William served on several boards, including the Muncie and Portland Traction Company, Merchants National Bank, and Hillsdale College. He was also a member of the Scottish Rite and the Universalist church. William and his wife, Emma Wood, had one son. Their home in Muncie was a red brick Georgian design that they named Maplewood. Designed by John Scudder Adkins and completed in 1898, it
9212-441: Was organized in 1852 and opened in fall 1853; it was leased to the Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad , which became part of New York Central Railroad, before opening. In 1855, it was merged into the railroad, providing a branch from Rochester north to Charlotte on Lake Ontario . The Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad was also merged into the railroad in 1855. It had been chartered in 1834 and opened in 1837, providing
9310-422: Was originally incorporated on April 24, 1834, to run from Lockport on the Erie Canal west to Niagara Falls ; the line opened in 1838 and was sold on June 2, 1850. On December 14, 1850, it was reorganized as the Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad, and an extension east to Rochester opened on July 1, 1852. The railroad was consolidated into the New York Central Railroad under the act of 1853. A portion of
9408-551: Was switched out from steam to electric at that point as trains approached New York City. The generally level topography of the NYC system had a character distinctively different from the mountainous terrain of its archrival, the Pennsylvania Railroad. Most of its major routes, including New York to Chicago, followed rivers and had no significant grades other than West Albany Hill and the Berkshire Hills on
9506-591: Was then referred to as the Big Four Route. In 1930, New York Central Railroad acquired a 99-year lease of both Michigan Central and the ''Big Four'' (Cleveland, Chicago Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad). The back shops at West Albany, New York were unable to keep up with repairs to rolling stock, so additional shops were established east of Buffalo at Depew (1892), Croton-on-Hudson (Harmon Shops, 1907), and Oak Grove, Pennsylvania (Avis Shops, 1902). The Harmon Shops were particularly important as locomotive power
9604-540: Was to establish Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie. The hospital opened in 1929 and later affiliated with IU Health . In 1893 Frank C. Ball bought approximately 30 acres (12 hectares) of land along the north bank of the White River, outside Muncie, where the Ball family built their homes. His two sisters named the site Minnetrista , a combination of the Native American word for water, mine or minne , and
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