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Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad Co. signed by Stuyvesant Fish - 1903 dated Autograph Railway Stock Certificate

Inv# AG1926   Stock
Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad Co. signed by Stuyvesant Fish - 1903 dated Autograph Railway Stock Certificate
State(s): Iowa
Years: 1903
Color: Brown and Black

Stock signed by Stuyvesant Fish as president. Rare!

Stuyvesant Fish (1851-1923) Stuyvesant Fish was president of the Illinois Central Railroad. Fish was born in New York City, the son of Hamilton Fish and his wife Julia Ursin Niemcewicz, née Kean. A graduate of Columbia College, he was later an executive of the Illinois Central Railroad, and as its president from 1887 to 1906 oversaw its period of greatest expansion. In 1906, he was removed from his position by E. H. Harriman, probably because of Fish's cooperation and participation with the state government in investigating the Mutual Life Insurance Company. Stuyvesant Fish also served on the board of directors of the National Park Bank. He married Marion Graves Anthon on June 1, 1896. Marion, known as "Mamie", was a leader in New York and Newport society. She lived in a grand but plain Colonial Revival house, "Crossways", where her Harvest Festival Ball in August signaled the end of the Newport social season. When Grand Duke Boris of Russia visited Newport, Mrs. Fish issued invitations for a dinner and ball in his honor; the night of the ball the Duke was detained by Mrs. Ogden Goelet, Mrs. Fish's rival as social leader, at whose home he was staying. About 200 guests had assembled in the hall at Crossways, and when the hour for dinner approached and there was no sign of the Duke, Mrs. Fish announced that the Duke was unable to come, but the Czar of Russia had agreed to be her guest. Suddenly the doors of the room were flung open and in walked His Imperial Majesty, dressed in his royal robes, wearing the Imperial Crown and carrying a scepter. The guests, including Senator Chauncey Depew, Pierpont Morgan, and Lord Charles Beresford, sank in a court curtsy, only to recover themselves with shrieks of laughter when they realized they were paying homage to Harry Lehr." (Rhode Island: a Guide to the Smallest State, 1937) The house on Gramercy Park that was designed by Stanford White for Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish still stands. Stuyvesant Fish was a vestryman at Trinity Church, New York. They maintained his grandmother's Federal-style house at 21 Stuyvesant Street, but their New York house was a brick and limestone Italianate structure at 25 East 78th Street at Madison Avenue. The house is still standing; it too was designed by McKim, Mead, and White.

The Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad was incorporated on August 1, 1860 after Morris K. Jesup forced the DUBUQUE AND PACIFIC RAILROAD into receivership. Jesup held many of the railroad's defaulted bonds and wanted to put the line on a firm financial basis. Jesup controlled the company for twenty-seven years and held the presidency from 1866 to 1887. The railroad reached Cedar Falls, Iowa in 1861 where the celebration included the placing of a cedar lei or crown around the balloon stack of the locomotive. The construction was made possible by pledging the company's most valuable land in the Des Moines River valley for two dollars an acre. The CIVIL WAR ended all further construction except for a feeder line called the Cedar Falls and Minnesota Railroad. This line had been incorporated on April 16, 1858 by Platt SMITH and others who were also involved with the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad.

In 1863 the Dubuque and Sioux City constructed Dubuque's first major passenger railroad station. Located at Iowa and Jones STREETS, the 32' by 275' passenger shelter on the west side of the tracks contained passenger and baggage rooms, ticket office and two additional offices. Located on either side of the entrance to the passenger room were rose windows. Freight and passenger cars were stored in the south end. The company also sold 107,000 acres along the Des Moines River in November 1863. The railroad's freight depot by 1864 was too small to handle the volume of business. A contractor was hired to build an addition 250 feet long, forty feet wider, and ten feet higher on the southern end of the present building. Work was to start during early March. On April 16, 1866 the first train reached Iowa Falls from Dubuque. A large crowd of people met the train at its arrival and a three-day celebration was held with a special excursion train running between the two cities. Both the Dubuque Herald and Dubuque Times carried stories of the celebration including evening entertainment, dinner and dancing were held at Sayer's Hall. The following day the excursion returned to Dubuque where another grand celebration was held.

Despite the celebration, the fact remained that the Dubuque and Sioux City was only half way across the state. Other lines were making much greater progress. Concerned that the ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD would lose interest in the Dubuque and Sioux City line, Platt Smith suggested to John Douglas, the first president of the Illinois Central, a way of increasing their joint traffic in livestock to Chicago. On October 1, 1867 the Illinois Central leased the Dubuque and Sioux City for twenty years. The lease included the 143-mile line west of Iowa Falls and the 15-mile branch north to Waverly. At that time, Platt Smith was instrumental in forming the IOWA FALLS & SIOUX CITY RAILROAD acquiring the franchise, right-of-way, and land grants belonging to the Dubuque and Sioux City west of Iowa Falls to Sioux City. The corporate history of the Dubuque and Sioux City involved 10 predecessor companies. The property of the Dubuque and Sioux City was operated by the Illinois Central continuously since October 1, 1867, with the exception of the period between October 1, 1887, and March 15, 1888. (From www.encyclopediadubuque.org)

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Condition: Excellent

A stock certificate is issued by businesses, usually companies. A stock is part of the permanent finance of a business. Normally, they are never repaid, and the investor can recover his/her money only by selling to another investor. Most stocks, or also called shares, earn dividends, at the business's discretion, depending on how well it has traded. A stockholder or shareholder is a part-owner of the business that issued the stock certificates.

Item ordered may not be exact piece shown. All original and authentic.
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