25 Facts About Alexander Cassatt

Alexander Johnston Cassatt was the seventh president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, serving from June 9,1899, to December 28,1906.

Alexander Cassatt was born on December 8,1839, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Alexander Cassatt was the eldest of seven children born to Robert Simpson Cassat, and his wife Katherine Cassatt, the former Katherine Kelso Johnston.

The elder Cassatt was a successful stockbroker and land speculator who was descended from the French Huguenot Jacques Cossart, who came to New Amsterdam in 1662.

In 1856, Alexander Cassatt entered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to study civil engineering.

Alexander Cassatt was a vice president in 1877 when the Pittsburgh Railway riots broke out, and had become PRR's first vice-president by 1880.

Alexander Cassatt was disappointed to be passed over for the presidency and resigned from the company in 1882.

Alexander Cassatt initiated the PRR's program of electrification which led to the road being the United States' most electrified system.

However the PPR's great accomplishment under Alexander Cassatt's stewardship was the planning and construction of the long awaited tunnels under the Hudson River that brought PRR's trunk line into New York City.

Alexander Cassatt died in 1906, several years before his grand Pennsylvania Station in New York City was completed.

Alexander Cassatt was succeeded as PRR's president by James McCrea.

In 1866, Alexander Cassatt became superintendent of motive power and machinery for the Oil Creek and Allegheny River Railway, recently reorganized in 1864 as the Warren and Franklin Railroad which was growing rapidly due to the discovery of oil in the region and coal mining.

In 1867, Alexander Cassatt was appointed as superintendent of motive power and machinery for the Pennsylvania railroad in Altoona with a salary of $3,000 per year when a trainman made less than $10 a week.

In 1872, Alexander Cassatt was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.

Alexander Cassatt was a horse enthusiast and fox hunter who owned Chesterbrook Farm, outside Berwyn, Pennsylvania, where he bred Thoroughbred racehorses.

Alexander Cassatt initially raced under the pseudonym, Mr Kelso, and his horses as from the Kelso Stable.

Alexander Cassatt owned the 1886 Preakness Stakes winner, The Bard, and the 1889 Belmont Stakes 1889 winner, Eric.

Alexander Cassatt was responsible for the introduction of the Hackney pony to the United States.

Alexander Cassatt had been feeling unwell since early August 1906, while he was vacationing with his family in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Alexander Cassatt's condition became serious, and specialists were called to examine him.

On Christmas Eve, Alexander Cassatt went for a drive and returned insisting that he felt much refreshed, though Musser had his doubts.

Alexander Cassatt's grandchildren visited him before scampering away to the playroom in the Cassatt townhouse.

Alexander Cassatt was interred in the Church of the Redeemer Cemetery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

The New York Times reported that Alexander Cassatt was, relative to other railroad magnates, not an extraordinarily wealthy man, citing officials at the Pennsylvania Railroad who stated at his death that he was worth no more than $5 million.

Evidently, Alexander Cassatt built most of his fortune between 1882 and 1899, when he was no longer employed by the Pennsy, as he had invested in stock of railroad supply manufacturers such as the Union Switch and Signal Company and the United States Metallic Packing Company, the Pennsylvania Steel Company, and the Cambria Steel Company.