Nickel Plate Background

The Commodore - Cornelius Vanderbuilt

A group of investors headed by New York banker George Seney and known as the Seney Syndicate joined together during the 1880s to participate in the railroad industry. Unlike the investors in many of the short lines that grew up quickly along the eastern seaboard and in the midwest, these men were not developers or builders, they were people with financial means and a desire to invest their wealth in a business they believed would earn them more money. An investment broker, a banker, a tea importer, a fur dealer, and a government supplier composed some of the syndicate. They invested in the building of a new rail system that would break the monopoly owned by the Vanderbilt family.

William H. Vanderbuilt

Cornelius Vanderbilt, the Commodore, as he was known, was the most wealthy individual in America. He amassed a fortune developing the shipping industry in and around New York City. His ferry service was surpassed by his railroad investments when trains became the new means of transporting goods long distances. During his lifetime he developed rail systems that ran from New York to Illinois. When he died, his son William H. Vanderbilt inherited the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway. William Vanderbilt expanded his railroad holdings when he purchased the Michigan Central Railroad and the Canada Southern. The acquisition of these roads provided Vanderbilt with complete control of goods moving between Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland. It was this empire the Seney Syndicate threatened when they proposed building a new rail line.

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