The Railroad Tycoon Who Built Chicago: A Biography of William B. Ogden

by Jack Harpster

William Butler Ogden was a pioneer railroad magnate, one of the earliest founders and developers of the city of Chicago, and an important influence on U.S. westward expansion. His career as a businessman stretched from the streets of Chicago to the wilds of the Wisconsin lumber forests, from the iron mines of Pennsylvania to the financial capitals in New York and beyond. Jack Harpster’s The Railroad Tycoon Who Built A Biography of William B. Ogden is the first chronicle of one of the most notable figures in nineteenth-century America. Harpster traces the life of Ogden from his early experiences as a boy and young businessman in upstate New York to his migration to Chicago, where he invested in land, canal construction, and steamboat companies. He became Chicago’s first mayor, built the city’s first railway system, and suffered through the Great Chicago Fire. His diverse business interests included real estate, land development, city planning, urban transportation, manufacturing, beer brewing, mining, and banking, to name a few. Harpster, however, does not simply focus on Ogden’s role as business mogul; he delves into the heart and soul of the man himself. The Railroad Tycoon Who Built Chicago is a meticulously researched and nuanced biography set against the backdrop of the historical and societal themes of the nineteenth century. It is a sweeping story about one man’s impact on the birth of commerce in America. Ogden’s private life proves to be as varied and interesting as his public persona, and Harpster weaves the two into a colorful tapestry of a life well and usefully lived.

Genres: Biography, History

328 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 2009

About the author

I was born in 1937, attended high school in Memphis, TN, and graduated with a degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin in 1959. I moved to Southern California and spent 27 years in the newspaper business there, moving to Las Vegas in 1986 where I rounded out my career with a 17-year stint on that city's two newspapers on the business management side of the industry. I retired in 2002 and moved to Reno, Nevada with my wife in 2006, where I currently live.

I have seven books published, and another coming out next April. I have also written dozens of essays and articles on history and biography for magazines and journals.

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harpsters biography of William B. Ogden offers a view on the life of - as Harpster puts it on the last page of the book - "...a towering figure in nineteenth-century America who is today virtually a forgotten man." The work provides acounts on all parts of Ogden's life, family, work, pleasure and character. This, combined with a full-sacle bibliography make this book a well-researched biography. However, in my opinion the author, from time to time, strayes too far from the topic. So, when Harpster writes at some length of the architectual history of Chicago, it is clear to me that he tries to provide a connection between Ogden and the building of the city. With the lengthy excursions the author achives the opposite: At some time I just started wondering: "What has all that to do with William Ogden?". That's why this relatively small book took me quite a while to read. So I evaluate it as an important pice of Chicago history (as it is the only modern biography of William Ogdon) but much less entertaining than it could be.

[Mike Felten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative. Timeline a little jumbled. Deeds and actions documented, but still feel that the man eludes us.