# Webster Wagner > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Webster_Wagner > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Webster_Wagner.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster_Wagner > Source revision: 1313566663 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox person | name = Webster Wagner | image = Sen. Webster Wagner 1882.jpg | alt = A black and white photograph of a standing elderly bespectacled man wearing a bow tie and dark frock coat with his right hand in between the seam. His body is angled to the right while he looks straight at the camera. | caption = Wagner shortly before his death in 1882 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1817|10|02}} | birth_place = [Palatine Bridge, New York](/source/Palatine_Bridge%2C_New_York), U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1882|01|13|1817|10|02}} | death_place = [Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx](/source/Spuyten_Duyvil%2C_Bronx), New York | occupation = Inventor, businessman, politician | years_active = 1853-82 | known_for = Inventing early railroad [sleeper car](/source/Sleeping_car) }} '''Webster Wagner''' (October 2, 1817 – January 13, 1882) was an American inventor, manufacturer and politician from [New York](/source/New_York_(state)). ==Life== Wagner was born near [Palatine Bridge, New York](/source/Palatine_Bridge%2C_New_York). He developed a wagon-making business with his brother James. The business had folded by 1842, largely due to the [Panic of 1837](/source/Panic_of_1837).{{Cite web|url = http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc1044.htm|title = Webster Wagner Wagon-making Papers, 1837-1842 (finding aid)|date = |accessdate = 5 January 2016|website = New York State Library Website|publisher = [New York State Library](/source/New_York_State_Library)|last = |first = }} After serving as an employee for the [New York Central Railroad](/source/New_York_Central_Railroad), Wagner invented the sleeping car and luxurious parlor car. He also perfected a system of ventilating railroad cars. His inventions were first used on the NY Central and later spread to other lines. He founded the Wagner Palace Car Company, located in [Buffalo, New York](/source/Buffalo%2C_New_York). Several legal battles with the [Pullman Company](/source/Pullman_Company) failed to put him and his partners out of business; at the time of his death the two companies were completing a merger. He was married to Susan Davis, and they had five children. He was a Republican member of the [New York State Assembly](/source/New_York_State_Assembly) (Montgomery Co.) in [1871](/source/94th_New_York_State_Legislature); and of the [New York State Senate](/source/New_York_State_Senate) from 1872 until his death, sitting in the [95th](/source/95th_New_York_State_Legislature), [96th](/source/96th_New_York_State_Legislature), [97th](/source/97th_New_York_State_Legislature), [98th](/source/98th_New_York_State_Legislature), [99th](/source/99th_New_York_State_Legislature), [100th](/source/100th_New_York_State_Legislature), [101st](/source/101st_New_York_State_Legislature), [102nd](/source/102nd_New_York_State_Legislature) (all eight 15th D.), [103rd](/source/103rd_New_York_State_Legislature), [104th](/source/104th_New_York_State_Legislature) and [105th New York State Legislature](/source/105th_New_York_State_Legislature)s (all three 18th D.). Wagner was killed in the [1882 Spuyten Duyvil train wreck](/source/1882_Spuyten_Duyvil_train_wreck) while returning from Albany to New York City when two trains of the [New York Central and Hudson River Railroad](/source/New_York_Central_and_Hudson_River_Railroad) collided in between the Kingsbridge and [Spuyten Duyvil](/source/Spuyten_Duyvil_(Metro-North_station)) stations in [The Bronx](/source/The_Bronx), two weeks into his sixth Senate term, on January 13, 1882. His body was found crushed between two of his company's cars.{{cite news|title=Meeting a Terrible Fate – Nine Persons Crushed and Burned in a Collision – A Train Crashing Into the Rear of the Atlantic Express – Nine, Perhaps Twelve, Victims Caught in the Burning Cars – State Senator Wagner Among the Dead – Narrow Escape of Many Others – Terrible Scene at the Wreck|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1882/01/14/98579188.html?pageNumber=1|accessdate=16 October 2016|work=New York Times|date=January 14, 1882|page=1}} [Webster Wagner House](/source/Webster_Wagner_House) at Palatine Bridge was added to the [National Register of Historic Places](/source/National_Register_of_Historic_Places) in 1973.{{NRISref|2009a}} == See also == * [List of inventors killed by their own invention](/source/List_of_inventors_killed_by_their_own_invention) * [Rail Car Grand Isle](/source/Rail_Car_Grand_Isle): A preserved Wagner Palace car ==Notes== {{reflist}} == References == * {{White - America's most noteworthy railroaders}} == External links == * [http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/wagner.htm Webster Palace Car Company] *[http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/wksdfl.Html Accident at Spuyten Duyvil] * {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Wagner, Webster|year=1889 |short=x |notaref=x}} * [http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc1044.htm Finding Aid to Webster Wagner Wagon-making Papers, 1837-1842] at the [New York State Library](/source/New_York_State_Library), accessed January 5, 2016 {{s-start}} {{s-par|us-ny-hs}} {{succession box | before = [James Shanahan](/source/James_Shanahan_(assemblyman)) | title = [New York State Assembly](/source/New_York_State_Assembly)
Montgomery County | years = 1871 | after = [William J. Van Dusen](/source/William_J._Van_Dusen)}} {{s-par|us-ny-sen}} {{succession box | before = [Isaiah Blood](/source/Isaiah_Blood) | title = [New York State Senate](/source/New_York_State_Senate)
15th District | years = 1872–1879 | after = [Stephen H. Wendover](/source/Stephen_H._Wendover)}} {{succession box | before = [Henry E. Turner](/source/Henry_E._Turner_(New_York)) | title = [New York State Senate](/source/New_York_State_Senate)
18th District | years = 1880–1882 | after = [Alexander B. Baucus](/source/Alexander_B._Baucus)}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Webster}} Category:1817 births Category:1882 deaths Category:Republican Party New York (state) state senators Category:Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly Category:Politicians from Buffalo, New York Category:American people in rail transportation Category:American railway entrepreneurs Category:Railway accident deaths in the United States Category:Accidental deaths in New York (state) Category:People from Palatine Bridge, New York Category:Businesspeople from Buffalo, New York Category:19th-century American businesspeople Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Webster Wagner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster_Wagner) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster_Wagner?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.