Anons,
Those of you with me on this Vanderbilt dig,
we started in Rochester with Eastman Kodak, Harris Beach law firm, and Frank Gannett's MSM company,
expanded to Buffalo with Wells Fargo and American Express,
To Cleveland with the Standard Oil Empire,
Detroit and Ford,
and finally, most recently, ended in Chicago with the McCormick owned International Harvester now known as Navistar.
This company purchased Bill Clinton and Mack McLarty founded American Transportation Corporation.
McLarty was BC's first chief of staff, also in business with Henry Kissinger in the aptly named Kissinger McLarty Associates.
Kissinger was a Trustee of the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester,
named after former Secretary of Treasury William E. Simon.
Simon's daughter Mary Beth married Meryl Streeps brother.
There's a lot more here, but that should be enough context.
What I'm requesting is help expanding into the rest of the New York Central/Vanderbilt Rail empire in the NE/MW/Great Lakes area.
From Chicago, the next loci of this railroad system seems to be Peoria Il with the "Nickel-Plate Road" railroad and the "Cleveland Cincinnati and St. Louis Railrway" both having a historic presence there.
Both railroads owned by the Vanderbilt empire.
It just so happens that Peoria is the former long time headquarters for the Caterpillar company.
This is interesting considering the similarity in industry to International Harvester.
I can't seem to find some legacy family history from Caterpillar.
The Best and Holt families formed their respective businesses together to compete against Fordson (owned by ford?)
The only legacy family connection I can find is that HoltCat appears to be a very powerful construction equipment dealer network.
Owned by Peter Holt who is the owner of the San Antonio Spurs.
A common theme among clown actors in the corporate world is the ownership of sports teams.
Anyways, any help from Illinois fags on Peoria and the vanderbilt rail network in your state?
Finally, the two elephants in the room:
St. Louis and Cincinnati.
What influence did the Vanderbilt Railroads have in these cities? Cincinnati seems to have a lot of connections, literally and figuratively.
I would start by looking for what major industries were formed in those cities around the early 1900s.
What legacy families maintain connections to the wealth generated?
What foundations, pol donations, and social connections do those families have?
Cin fags and St.Louis fags, waht do you think when I ask this question:
What is the single most important, major, or well known industry in your city?
Consider long established historic companies, especially originated in the late 1800s, early 1900s.