Product Details

Historical Context

To perfect control over his vast Philadelphia interests, Thomas E. Mitten formed the Philadelphia Investment Company on December 1, 1925, and then renamed it the Mitten Bank Securities Corporation on June 28, 1927. The Mitten Building was opened at Broad and Locust Streets on June 1, 1927, to serve as the headquarters for all of the Mitten enterprises, which included the Peoples Rapid Transit Company, the Philadelphia Rural Transit Company, the Montgomery Bus Company, the Pennjersey Rapid Transit Company, the Yellow Cab Company of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Suburban Transit Company.

As trolley ridership began to contract after 1926, and the system became more unstable, Mitten began to sell assets to raise money. A 75 percent interest in Peoples Rapid Transit Company and the western bus lines was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company late in 1928, although they remained under Mitten Management. The Pennsylvania Rapid Transit Company was sold to Public Service Co-ordinated Transport of New Jersey in 1929. Negotiations for the sale of PRT to the city commenced in 1927.

In September 1929, the City of Philadelphia began a suit against Mitten and the PRT, charging Mitten Management with excessive fees and diversion of funds and demanding an independent audit. On the morning of October 1, 1929, Mitten was found drowned in a lake at his Pocono summer home. Ruling on the city's allegations, the court ordered the appointment of trustees for PRT on April 11, 1931. On the same date, the contract with Mitten Management, Inc., was cancelled at an annual saving of $3 million, as was the lease of the Mitten Building from the Mitten Bank Securities Corporation. The independent audit revealed a number of irregularities, and accounting practices were revised. Most of Mitten's estate was attached for the benefit of PRT. The company filed for bankruptcy on October 1, 1934.

After Mitten's death, the remaining interest in the Peoples Rapid Transit Company was sold to the PRR's Pennsylvania Greyhound Lines, Inc., in 1930, and the Yellow Cab Company of Philadelphia was sold on February 15, 1936. The Mitten Bank Securities Corporation was renamed the Transit Investment Corporation on February 9, 1938, and liquidated on July 7, 1948.

Related Collections