In August 1900, Yerkes decided to become involved in the development of the London Underground railway system after riding along the route of one proposed line and surveying the City of London from the summit of Hampstead Heath. He established the Underground Electric Railways Company of London to take control of the Metropolitan District Railwayand the partly built Baker Street & Waterloo Railway; Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway; and Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway. Yerkes employed complex financial arrangements similar to those that he had used in America to raise the funds necessary to construct the new lines and electrify the District railway. In one of his last great triumphs, Yerkes managed to thwart an attempt by J. P. Morgan to enter the London Underground field.
Source[Wikipedia]
Yerkes
- Born in Philadelphia
- 1850's went to jail
- 1870's went to Chicago
- 1880's he built a transport system in Chicago, he made many enemies
- Forced into semi retirement in New York
- At this point he looked to London and assisting with the construction of the Underground
- He bought Golders Green as it was cheap land to build on
- Hired Leslie Green as his architect so that all of his tube stations looked alike
- Yerkes died before any of his developments were built though they were in development
- He died in New York in 1905, a victim of kidney disease
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