Invisible Giants: The Empires of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers

by Herbert H. Harwood, Jr.

Overview

Invisible Giants is the Horatio Alger-esque tale of a pair of reclusive Cleveland brothers, Oris Paxton and Mantis James Van Sweringen, who rose from poverty to become two of the most powerful men in America. They controlled the country's largest railroad system—a network of track reaching from the Atlantic to Salt Lake City and from Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico. On the eve of the Great Depression they were close to controlling the country's first coast-to-coast rail system—a goal that still eludes us. They created the model upper-class suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio, with its unique rapid transit access. They built Cleveland's landmark Terminal Tower and its innovative "city within a city" complex. Indisputably, they created modern Cleveland.

Yet beyond a small, closely knit circle, the bachelor Van Sweringen brothers were enigmas. Their actions were aggressive, creative, and bold, but their manner was modest, mild, and retiring. Dismissed by many as mere shoestring financial manipulators, they created enduring works, which remain strong today. The Van Sweringen story begins in early-20th-century Cleveland suburban real estate and reaches its zenith in the heady late 1920s, amid the turmoil of national transportation power politics and unprecedented empire-building. As the Great Depression destroyed many of their fellow financiers, the "Vans" survived through imaginative stubbornness—until tragedy ended their careers almost simultaneously. Invisible Giants is the first comprehensive biography of these two remarkable if mysterious men.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253341631
Publisher:	Indiana University Press (Ips)
Publication date:	02/07/2003
Series:	Ohio
Pages:	360
Sales rank:	506,670
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.05(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Herbert H. Harwood, Jr., has concurrently been a railroad historian, writer, photographer, and working railroader. A history graduate of Princeton University, he received his MBA from Columbia University and then spent 30 years in various management positions at the Chesapeake & Ohio and Baltimore & Ohio and their successor, CSX Transportation. He has written 11 books on railroad and electric railway history.

Table of Contents

Contents:
Introduction
Oasis in a Gritty City
The Ideal Suburb
Mr. Smith Sells a Farm
Mr. Smith Sells a Railroad
Shaping Solid Forms
A Difficult Birth at the Public Square
The Beginnings of an Empire
To the South, East, and North
Taking Stock: 1924
A Horseback Ride in the Park
Building, Rebuilding, and Juggling
Consolidation Anarchy (I): The General and the Bear
Consolidation Anarchy (II): The Street Fighter
The Summit (I): An Appalachian Peak in the Rockies
The Summit (II): Filling Out the Railroad Map
The Summit (III): Consummation in Cleveland—and a Jolt
Completions and Complications
Taking Stock: 1930
Sudden Darkness
The Rails Head Downgrade
A New World
The Cruelest Year
The Last Train
Epilogue (I): New Empires from Old
Epilogue (II): The Ghosts
Notes
Sources and Acknowledgments
Index