Charles Yerkes: Difference between revisions

| name = Charles Yerkes

| image = File:Yerkes002.jpg

| birth_name = Charles Tyson Yerkes

| birth_date = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1837|6|25}}

| birth_place = [[Northern Liberties]], [[Pennsylvania]], USU.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1905|12|29|1837|6|25}}

| occupation = [[Entrepreneur]] and [[investor]]

| known_for = urbanUrban transit finance

'''Charles Tyson Yerkes Jr.''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|j|ɜːr|k|iː|z}} {{respell|YUR|keez}}; June 25, 1837 – December 29, 1905) was an American financier. He played a major part in developing mass-transit systems in [[Chicago]] and [[London]].

Yerkes was born into a [[Quaker]] family{{sfnp|''The Economist''|2014}} in the [[Northern Liberties]], a district adjacent to [[Philadelphia]], on June 25, 1837.{{sfnp|Hall|1896}} His mother, Elizabeth Link Yerkes, died of [[puerperal fever]] when he was five years old, and shortlysoon thereafter his father Charles Tyson Yerkes Sr. remarried a non-Quaker and was therefore expelled from the [[Society of Friends]] for marrying a non-Quaker. After finishing a two-year course at Philadelphia's [[Central High School (Philadelphia)|Central High School]], Yerkes began his business career at the age of 17 as a clerk infor a local grain brokerage. In 1859, aged 22, he openedbegan his own brokerage firmbusiness and joinedregistered with the Philadelphia [[stockPhiladelphia Stock exchangeExchange]].

By 1865, he had moved intobegun banking and specialized in selling municipal, state, and government bonds. Relying on his bank president father's connectionsassociations, his political contactsacquaintances, and his own acumen, Yerkes gainedbecame awell-known nameas fora himself in the local financial and social worldbusinessman. However, whileWhile serving as a financial agent for the City of Philadelphia's treasurer, Joseph Marcer, Yerkes risked public money in a large-scale stock speculation. This speculation ended calamitously when the [[Great Chicago Fire]] sparkedstarted 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 [[Eastern State Penitentiary]].

In an attempt to remain out of prison, he attempted to [[blackmail]] two influential Pennsylvania politicians. The blackmail plan initially failed, however; the damaging information onconcerning thesethe politicians was eventually made public and political leaderspoliticians, including then-President [[Ulysses S. Grant]], feared that the revelations might harm their prospects induring 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 serving seven months in prison.<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Tyson-Yerkes|title=Charles Tyson Yerkes - American financier|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=April 16, 2024 }}</ref>

[[File:Carter Henry Harrison caricature cph.3g06778.jpg|thumb|upright|Caricature from 1899 showing Chicago mayor [[Carter Harrison, Jr.]] fighting against the "Allen bill", signed by Governor [[John Riley Tanner]], that gave control of Chicago's intra-city transportation system to Yerkes.]]

In 1881 Yerkes traveled to [[Fargo, North Dakota|Fargo]] in the [[Dakota Territory]] in order to obtain a divorce from his wife. Later that year, he remarried and movedrelocated to [[Chicago]]. There, he opened a stock and grain brokerage but soon became involved with planning the city's public transportation system. In 1886, Yerkes and his business partners used a complex financial deal to takeacquire overcontrol of the [[North Chicago Street Railway]] and then proceeded to followfollowed this with a stringseries of further take-overstakeovers until he controlled a majority of Chicago's [[street railway]] systems on the north and west sides. Yerkes was not averse to using [[bribery]] and [[blackmail]] to obtain his endsobjectives.<ref name="britannica.com"/>

Yerkes embarked uponbegan a campaign for longer streetcar franchises in 1895, howeverbut Illinois governor [[John Peter Altgeld]] vetoed the franchise bills. Yerkes renewed the campaign in 1897, and, after a hard-fought battlestruggle, 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— a venue in which Yerkes ordinarily thrived. A partially reformed council underand Mayor [[Carter Harrison, Jr.]], however, ultimately defeated Yerkes, with the swing votes coming from aldermen [[Michael Kenna (politician)|"Hinky Dink" Kenna]] and [[John Coughlin (alderman)|"Bathhouse" John Coughlin]].

In 1899, Yerkes sold the majority of his Chicago transport stocks and movedrelocated to [[New York City|New York]].{{sfnp|''The Economist''|2014}}

[[File:Bouguereau 1892 painting "Invading Cupid's Realm".jpg|thumb|upright|[[William-Adolphe Bouguereau|Bouguereau]]'s 1892 painting "Invading Cupid's Realm", purchased after the [[World's Columbian Exposition|Columbian Exposition of 1893]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/dreamcity/00044012.html|title=The Dream City: Invasion of Cupid's Realm ("The Wasp's Nest")|website=columbus.gl.iit.edu}}</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/stream/catalogueofpaint02yerk#page/74/mode/2up Catalog nr. 13] in Yerkes art catalog (Volume II)</ref>.]]

While living in Chicago, Yerkes became an avid art collector, relying on [[Sarah Tyson Hallowell]] (1846–1924) to advise him onfor his purchases. After the [[World's Columbian Exposition|Chicago World's Fair in 1893]], she tried to interest him in the works of [[Auguste Rodin]], which were part of the loan exhibitorexhibition of French art. Because the subject matter was controversial, Yerkes initially turnedrefused the works down, but he soon changed his mind and acquired two Rodin marbles, ''Orpheus''Cupid and Psyche''Cupid and Psyche''Orpheus'', for his Chicago mansion, the first two of Rodin's works known to have been sold to an American collector. Yerkes' art collection also included paintings by [[Frans Hals]], works by the [[Académie Française|French academic]] painters, such as ''[[Pygmalion and Galatea (Gérôme painting)|Pygmalion and Galatea]]'' by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]] and works by [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]] and members of the [[Barbizon school|Barbizon School]]. In 1904, he published a two volume catalog of his collection, which by that time was in New York:

In August 1900, Yerkes became involved inwith the development of the [[London Underground|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 established the [[Underground Electric Railways Company of London]] to take control of the [[District Railway]] and the partly built [[Baker Street and Waterloo Railway]];, [[Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway]];, and [[Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway]].{{sfnp|''The Economist''|2014}} Yerkes employed complex financial arrangements similar to those that he had used in Americathe United States to raise the funds necessary to construct the new lines and electrify the District Railway (today known presently as the [[District line]]). In one of his last great triumphs, Yerkes managed to thwart an attempt by [[J. P. Morgan]] to enterbecome involved with the London underground railway field.{{sfnp|''The Economist''|2014}} Yerkes did not live to see his London tube lines in operation. The now [[Bakerloo line|Bakerloo]] and [[Piccadilly line]]s opened in 1906, a few months after his death, and the Charing Cross line (todaynow part of the [[Northern line]]) the followingnext summer.

[[File:Charles Tyson Yerkes by Jan van Beers.jpg|thumb|upright|Charles Tyson Yerkes by [[Jan van Beers (artist)|Jan van Beers]], c. {{circa|1893}}.]]

Yerkes died in the hotel [[Waldorf Astoria New York|Waldorf Astoria]] in New York on December 29, 1905, of [[kidney disease]].{{sfnp|''The Baltimore Sun''|1905}} The events of Yerkes's life served as a blueprintmodel for the [[Theodore Dreiser]]'s novels, ''[[The Financier]]'', ''[[The Titan (novel)|The Titan]]'', and ''[[The Stoic]]'',<ref name="britannica.com"/> in which Yerkes was fictionalized as Frank Cowperwood.

Pictures of Yerkes and his second wife Mary were painted by his favorite artist Jan van Beers (National Portrait Gallery, [[Washington, D.C.]]). His wife, the daughter of Thomas Moore of Philadelphia, was also painted in 1892 by the Swiss-born American artist [[Adolfo Müller-Ury]] (1862–1947). In 1893 Müller-Ury painted from miniatures portraits of Yerkes's Quaker grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Silas Yerkes. A year after Yerkes'In death1906, his widow Mary Adelaide married playwright and raconteur [[Wilson Mizner]]; they were divorced the next year.

* {{cite webnews |lastnewspaper=[[The Economist]] |title=Conquistador of Metroland |website=www.economist.com |date=December 20, 2014 |publisher=The Economist Newspaper Limited |url=https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21636509-how-vision-and-cunning-unknown-american-changed-shape |access-date=January 7, 2016 |ref={{harvid|''The Economist''|2014}}}}

* {{cite book | first=Homer Charles |last=Harlan |title=Charles Tyson Yerkes and the Chicago Transportation System |publisher=University of Chicago, Department of History |year=1975 |oclc=31237397 |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Charles_Tyson_Yerkes_and_the_Chicago_Tra.html?id=35h2HwAACAAJ }}

**{{ltmcollectionLTM archive|mo/i0000omo.jpg1998-57854|Charles Yerkes in his office, 1900}}

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