Benjamin Franklin Bush (July 5, 1860July 28, 1927) was an American railroad executive. At various times he served as the president of the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...

, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway (later part of the Missouri Pacific), the

Western Maryland Railway The Western Maryland Railway was a small American Class I railroad (1852–1983) that operated in 3 Southern United States, Southern US States, Maryland (Western Maryland, Western Region), West Virginia (Potomac Highlands of West Virginia, Easte ...

, the

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south fr ...

, and the

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

. His entry in the 1913 edition of '' The Biographical Directory of the Railway Officials of America'' reads: "President, Missouri Pacific; St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern; Denver and Rio Grande.
Office:

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

.
Born: July 5, 1860, at

Wellsboro, Pennsylvania Wellsboro is a borough in and the county seat of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough was founded by Benjamin Wistar Morris. It is located northwest of Williamsport. The population was 3,472 at the 2020 census. Early in the ...

.
Education: Public schools, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, and State Normal School,

Mansfield, Pennsylvania Mansfield is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough located in east-central Tioga County, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Tioga River (Chemung River), Tioga River valley. It is situated at the intersection of U.S. Route 6 in Pennsylvania, U.S. Rou ...

.
Entered railway service: 1882, as rodman on the

Northern Pacific Northern Pacific may refer to: * Northern Pacific Airways, an upcoming airline * Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference, an NCAA Division I conference * Northern Pacific Hockey League, an American Tier III junior ice hockey league * Northern Paci ...

, since which he has been consecutively locating and division engineer, same road; 1887 to 1889, division engineer,

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

; 1889 to 1896, chief engineer and general superintendent, Oregon Improvement Company, controlling

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

properties of Northern Pacific; February, 1903, to 1907, fuel agent, Missouri Pacific; 1907 to 1908, president, Western Maryland; 1908, appointed receiver, same road, and upon reorganization again elected president; May 1, 1911, to date, president, Missouri Pacific; St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern; January 4, 1912, to date, also president, Denver and Rio Grande." The village of Bush, Illinois, is named in his honor.Edward Callary,
Place Names of Illinois
' (University of Illinois Press, 2010), p. 52.

References

* Lane, Harold Francis, editor. '' The Biographical Directory of the Railway Officials of America, 1913 Edition''. New York: Simmons-Boardman, 1913, p. 78. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, Benjamin Franklin 1860 births 1927 deaths 19th-century American railroad executives 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Pennsylvania Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Mansfield University of Pennsylvania alumni Businesspeople from St. Louis People from Wellsboro, Pennsylvania Northern Pacific Railway people Union Pacific Railroad people Western Maryland Railway Western Pacific Railroad

See also

References