1839-1906. Graduate Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1859. First vice president Pennsylvania Railroad, 1880-82; president, Lancaster Ave. Improvement Co. (Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary) to collect tolls, prevent trolley competition. Supervisor roads for Lower Merion Township, promoting macadamized roads, granite curb stones, etc. Built 66-room mansion, “Cheswold,” designed by Furness and Evans, c. 1878, Haverford (house razed 1936). Other railroad executives followed his lead in building homes along the “main line.” President, Pennsylvania Railroad, 1899-1906. Instrumental in enacting state law for classifying townships. The only monument to a Lower Merion resident in township is bas-relief, corner Grays Lane and Montgomery Ave., Haverford, showing Cassatt on horseback. Mary Cassatt, 1845-1926, Impressionist painter, was his sister. Lower Merion Historical Society
