William Barstow Strong (May 16, 1837 – August 3, 1914) served as president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from 1881 to 1889. He is often referred to as either William B. Strong or W. B. Strong.

Life and career

He was born in Brownington, Vermont on May 16, 1837.

Strong graduated from Bell's Business College in Chicago, Illinois, in 1855, and soon launched his career in railroading. His first railroad job was as a station agent for the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, a position that was introduced to him by his older brother James.

He married Abbie J. Moore, October 2, 1859, in Beloit, Wisconsin. They had three children, a girl and two boys.

He worked his way through several railroad jobs successively for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, McGregor Western Railway, Chicago and North Western Railway, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), and as superintendent of the Michigan Central Railroad in the 1870s. In this position, Strong was succeeded by Henry Brockholst Ledyard Jr. in 1876. He returned to the CB&Q after working on the Michigan Central and then joined the management team of the Santa Fe as General Manager, and was promoted to Vice President within a month.

William B. Strong's work with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway is extensively chronicled in the book From the River to the Sea by John Sedgwick.

Other uses of the name William Barstow Strong

William Barstow Strong was the name of an observation car owned by the ATSF and operated in business trains in the latter part of the 20th century.

William B. Strong was included in a list of names that traveled aboard NASA's Stardust spacecraft which visited the comet Wild 2 in 2004.

An observation car on the Royal Gorge Scenic Railway in Colorado is named William B. Strong.

See also

  • List of railroad executives

References

  • ATSF #89 - William Barstow Strong — photos and technical details of the observation car named in Strong's honor.