Skip to main content

William Cornelius Van Horne signed Cuba Railroad Co - 1909-1915 dated Autograph Railway Stock Certificate

Inv# AG1008   Stock
State(s): New Jersey
Years: 1909-1915
Color: Orange
Stock signed by William C. Van Horne as president of the Cuba Railroad Co. Van Horne built the Canadian-Pacific Railway! He also built the Cuba Railroad. The certificate is beautifully engraved by American Bank Note Co.
 

Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, (February 3, 1843 – September 11, 1915) succeeded Lord Mount Stephen as president of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1888. He was a prominent member of the Whitney syndicate that created the Cuba Railroad Company, incorporated at Trenton, New Jersey, in 1900 with a capitalization of $8,000,000. He lived at the Van Horne Mansion in Montreal's Golden Square Mile. Born in 1843 in rural Illinois, Van Horne moved with his family to Joliet, Illinois, when he was eight years old. Van Horne considered the railway an integrated communications and transportation system and convinced the directors and shareholders to create a telegraph service and an express freight delivery service as a complement to the railway. Van Horne was knowledgeable in nearly every element of the railway industry, including operating a locomotive. A wealthy man, he later became an investor of the Cuba Railroad Company, which built the first trans-country railway connecting Havana with the two eastern provinces (Camaguey and Oriente) and the city of Santiago de Cuba in 1901.

From 1885 onward he was more and more associated with every branch of Canadian mercantile and financial life, and as a publicist gave expression to his views on political and economic questions. He was responsible for launching the sea transport division of the Canadian Pacific Railway, inaugurating a regular service between Vancouver and Hong Kong in 1891 on the Empress luxury liners. He also presided over the expansion of the CPR into the luxury hotel business and participated in the design of two of the most famous ones in the chain, the Château Frontenac in Quebec City and Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cornelius_Van_Horne

Ferrocarriles de Cuba (FCC) or Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Cuba (English: National Railway Company of Cuba), provides passenger and freight services for Cuba. American-born Canadian railway builder Sir William Cornelius Van Horne helped expand Cuba's railway network in the early 20th century. He was an investor in the Cuba Railroad Company (founded 1900). In 1924 Ferrocarriles Consolidados de Cuba was created from a dispute between Ferrocarriles Consolidados de Cuba and Ferrocarriles de Cuba. Other railway companies formed and merged in the 1920s:

  • Ferrocarriles del Norte de Cuba 1916
  • Ferrocarril Espirituano Tunas de Zaza
  • Ferrocarril Guantánamo y Occidente

From 1940 to 1959, Cuba's railway system was modernized by the acquisition of train stock from Budd and Fiat. These trains provided medium-speed self-propelled (diesel) four-car service on the main line between Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Also after World War II, a large network of diesel intercity buses was created with four or five major carriers competing in the east–west corridor between Havana and the provinces to the east. A few sugar factories switched over to diesel-electric locomotives to haul freight. In 1958, Cuba had more railway trackage per square mile than any other country. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Railway_Company_of_Cuba

Read More

Read Less

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.
Price: $130.00