#Onthisday in 1901, it was reported in the Schuylerville Standard that a party of gentlemen well known in financial circles, passed through town on a special car on a tour of inspection of the Powers-Colvin system of electric railroads. The party was composed of the following gentlemen: Congressman James S. Sherman, Utica; Congressman L. N. Littauor, Gloversville; Edward Langdon, president of the Central National bank, of New York city; G. E. Fisher, Frank C. Travera, Michael E. Bannin, P. M. Monrey, Merchants’ Trust company, of New York; Congressman L. W. Emerson, Warrensburg; Senator George E. Green, Binghamton; Hon. John W. Herbert, Helmetta, N. J.; G. Tracey Rogers, president of the New York State Street Railway association; Benjamin Strong, secretary Atlantic Trust company, New York; Joseph A. Powers, Troy; Thomas O’Connor, Waterford. This was a time of consolidations in the Electric Railroad industry. It was reported on September 14, 1901 in Electrical World and Engineer that “A joint agreement of consolidation between the Glens Falls, Sandy Hill & Fort Edward Street Railway Company; Warren County Railway; Stillwater & Mechanicsville Street Railway Company; Greenwich & Schuylerville Electric Railway; Saratoga Traction Company and Saratoga Northern Railway has been filed with the Secretary of State. The capital stock of these companies is $2,600,000. The name of the new company is Hudson Valley Railway Company. The principal office is at Waterford NY which is the southern terminal of the above system of electric railroads heretofore known as the Powers Colvin system. Many of the men on this trip were very notable. Congressman James Sherman (October 24, 1855 – October 30, 1912) was not only the United States Representative from New York but was the 27th Vice President of the United States (1909–12), under President William Howard Taft. He was a member of the inter-related Baldwin, Hoar, and Sherman families, prominent lawyers and politicians of New England. Although not a high-powered administrator, he made a natural committee chairman, and his genial personality eased the workings of the House, so that he was known all his life as ‘Sunny Jim’. He was the first Vice President to fly in a plane (New York, 1911), and also the first to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game. To date, Sherman is the last Vice President to have died in office. Lucius Nathan Littauer (January 20, 1859 – March 2, 1944) served in the United States House of Representatives from New York for five terms between 1897 and 1907. Littauer graduated from Harvard University in 1878 and was the school’s first head football coach, guiding the Crimson to a record of 5–1–2 in 1881. In 1936 his donation of $2 million helped found Harvard’s Graduate School of Public Administration, which later was renamed the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Benjamin Strong, Jr. (December 22, 1872 – October 16, 1928) was an American banker. He served as the first Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for 14 years until his death. Strong exerted great influence over the policy and actions of the entire Federal Reserve System—and indeed over the financial policies of all of the United States and Europe.
Historian at Saratoga - Town of Saratoga 