{{Short description|American businessman (1837–1914)}} {{Infobox person| name=William Barstow Strong| image=William Barstow Strong.jpg| caption=| | spouse = Abbie J. Moore | birth_date={{Birth date|1837|5|16|mf=y}}| birth_place=[[Brownington, Vermont]], U.S.| death_date={{death date and age|1914|8|3|1837|5|16|mf=y}}| death_place=[[Los Angeles, California]], U.S.}} '''William Barstow Strong''' (May 16, 1837 – August 3, 1914) served as president of the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] from 1881 to 1889.<ref>{{White - America's most noteworthy railroaders}}</ref><ref name="Waters">{{cite book| author=Waters, Laurence Leslie| title=Steel Trails to Santa Fe| year=1950| publisher=University of Kansas Press| location=Lawrence, Kansas| page=54 }}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ukMKAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA6 The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway and Auxiliary Companies - Annual Meetings, and Directors and Officers; January 1, 1902]</ref> He is often referred to as either '''William B. Strong''' or '''W. B. Strong'''.
== Life and career == He was born in [[Brownington, Vermont]] on May 16, 1837.<ref name="Waters" /><ref>{{cite web | title=Infoplease.com | work=William Barstow Strong | url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0772575.html | accessdate=2007-01-10}}</ref> Strong graduated from [[Bell's Business College]] in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], in 1855, and soon launched his career in railroading. His first railroad job was as a station agent for the [[Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad]],<ref name="Pearson">{{cite web| author=Pearson Education| year=2005| url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0772575.html| title=William Barstow Strong| accessdate=2005-06-02 }}</ref> a position that was introduced to him by his older brother [[James Strong (college president)|James]].
He married Abbie J. Moore, October 2, 1859, in [[Beloit, Wisconsin]]. They had three children, a girl and two boys.<ref>{{cite web | title=Rootsweb - WI Rock-L Archives | work=William Barstow Strong | url=http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/WIROCK/2002-08/1028934319 | accessdate=2007-01-10 | archive-date=2013-02-01 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201120914/http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WIROCK/2002-08/1028934319 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
He worked his way through several railroad jobs successively for the [[Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway]], [[McGregor Western Railway]], [[Chicago and North Western Railway]], [[Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad]] (CB&Q), and as superintendent of the [[Michigan Central Railroad]] in the 1870s. In this position, Strong was succeeded by [[Henry Brockholst Ledyard Jr.]] in 1876.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Burton, Clarence M. |author2=Burton, M. Agnes |name-list-style=amp |year=1930 |title=History of Wayne County and the City of Detroit, Michigan, Vol III; |url=http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Stories/HenryBrockholstLedyardBiography.htm |publisher=The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company |access-date=2005-06-02 |archive-date=2005-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050315092731/http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Stories/HenryBrockholstLedyardBiography.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> He returned to the CB&Q after working on the Michigan Central and then joined the management team of the Santa Fe as General Manager, and was promoted to Vice President within a month.<ref name="Waters" />
On July 12, 1881, he succeeded [[T. Jefferson Coolidge]] as president of the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] (ATSF).<ref name="Waters" /> Under his tenure, the ATSF expanded to about 7,000 miles (11,265 km) of [[Right-of-way (railroad)|right-of-way]], which at the time made the ATSF the largest railroad in [[North America]].<ref name="Pearson" /> He held the presidency until his retirement in 1889.<ref name="Waters" />
The city of [[Barstow, California]], where the ATSF maintained extensive shop and equipment construction and repair facilities, the town of [[Strong City, Kansas]], and [[Stronghurst, Illinois]] are named in his honor.<ref>{{cite web| work=Legends of America.com| year=2005| url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/CA-Barstow.html| title=Barstow, California - Crossroads of opportunity| accessdate=2005-06-02| url-status=dead| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050525102618/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/CA-Barstow.html| archivedate=2005-05-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.lasr.net/pages/city.php?City_ID=KS0102028| title=Strong City, Kansas| accessdate=2005-06-02 }}</ref>
William B. Strong's work with the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] is extensively chronicled in the book [http://johnsedgwick.biz/from-the-river-to-the-sea.html From the River to the Sea] by [http://johnsedgwick.biz/index.html John Sedgwick].
== Other uses of the name ''William Barstow Strong'' == ''William Barstow Strong'' was the name of an [[observation car]] owned by the ATSF and operated in business trains in the latter part of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.qstation.org/ATSF_89/| title=ATSF #89, William Barstow Strong| year=2003| accessdate=2007-01-11 }}</ref>
''William B. Strong'' was included in a list of names that traveled aboard [[NASA]]'s [[Stardust (spacecraft)|Stardust]] spacecraft which visited the [[comet Wild 2]] in 2004.<ref>{{cite web| author=NASA| date=July 16, 2001| url=http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/microchip/names2s38.html| title=Stardust Project - Microchip Names (S)| accessdate=2005-06-02 }}</ref>
An observation car on the Royal Gorge Scenic Railway in Colorado is named ''William B. Strong''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/OAIPColorado/permalink/1412707958880642/|title=Heath Gay|website=www.facebook.com|language=en|access-date=2019-11-19}}</ref>
==See also== *[[List of railroad executives]]
== References == {{Reflist|2}}
== External links == * [http://www.qstation.org/ATSF_89/ ATSF #89 - William Barstow Strong] — photos and technical details of the observation car named in Strong's honor.
{{s-start}} {{succession box| before=| title=Superintendent of the [[Michigan Central Railroad]]| years=–1876| after=[[Henry B. Ledyard Jr.|Henry Brockholst Ledyard]]}} {{succession box| before=[[T. Jefferson Coolidge]]| title=President of the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]]| years=1881–1889| after=[[Allen Manvel]]}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, William Barstow}} [[Category:Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway presidents]] [[Category:1837 births]] [[Category:1914 deaths]] [[Category:Railroad Wars]] [[Category:People from Orleans County, Vermont]] [[Category:Barstow, California]] [[Category:People from Brownington, Vermont]] [[Category:People of the American Old West]] [[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]