Product Details
CompanyThe Union Passenger Railway Company of Philadelphia Certificate TypeCapital Stock Date IssuedMarch 23, 1893CanceledYesPrinterWm. MannSignaturesHand signedApproximate Size11" (w) by 7" (h)ImagesShow the exact certificate you will receiveGuaranteed AuthenticYesAdditional DetailsSigned by Peter AB WidenerReference
Historical Context
The Union Passenger Railway Company of Philadelphia was incorporated 1864.
The company had a presence on Huntingdon Street, Howard Street, Lehigh Avenue, Hancock Street, Mascher Street, Market Street, Front Street and Ninth Street.
In 1884, the company was leased by the Philadelphia Traction Company.
Peter AB Widener
During the Civil War, Widener won a contract to supply mutton to all Union Army troops within 10 miles of Philadelphia. The city was a major transportation hub for troop deployment, and the location of many of the largest Union military hospitals. Widener invested his $50,000 profit in horse-drawn city streetcar lines. He grew to prominence in Philadelphia politics, and had become the City Treasurer by 1871. In 1883, he was a founding partner in the Philadelphia Traction Company, which electrified the city's trolley lines, and expanded into other major cities in the United States.
He and his business partner, William L. Elkins, invested with businessmen such as Charles Tyson Yerkes, the streetcar czar of Chicago. Widener used the great wealth accumulated from public transportation to become a founding organizer of United States Steel and the American Tobacco Company, as well as to acquire substantial holdings in Standard Oil.
Widener died on November 6, 1915 in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. At the time of his death, Widener was considered to have been among the 100 wealthiest Americans, with his fortune of of about $32,000,000 ranking him as the 29th richest man in America at the time.
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