Businessman and industrialist. Founder of the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company and founder of the American Steel Wire Company; member of the board of United States Steel. In 1870 he patented a machine to produce barbed wire, previously made only by hand, and started a company at St. Louis, Missouri, to manufacture the product. In the late 1870s he contracted to make wire for telephones and telegraph systems, gaining a monopoly for doing so. In 1901 he sold the company to J. P. Morgan for $100 million in one of the largest corporate transfers in American history up to that date. In 1897 he established the Louisiana Railroad and Navigation Company which operated rail, barge, and steamboat lines throughout Louisiana and the south. In later years he focused his attention almost exclusively on the running of this company, residing in New Orleans, Louisiana, and at his estate, "Emden," near Shreveport, Louisiana. At his death he was counted among the nation's wealthiest men by the Wall Street Journal. His funeral is believed to have been the largest in the history of Forest Park Cemetery with twelve truckloads of floral offerings and a vehicle procession extending fifteen blocks. Edenborn Avenue in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, Louisiana, is named for him.
Businessman and industrialist. Founder of the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company and founder of the American Steel Wire Company; member of the board of United States Steel. In 1870 he patented a machine to produce barbed wire, previously made only by hand, and started a company at St. Louis, Missouri, to manufacture the product. In the late 1870s he contracted to make wire for telephones and telegraph systems, gaining a monopoly for doing so. In 1901 he sold the company to J. P. Morgan for $100 million in one of the largest corporate transfers in American history up to that date. In 1897 he established the Louisiana Railroad and Navigation Company which operated rail, barge, and steamboat lines throughout Louisiana and the south. In later years he focused his attention almost exclusively on the running of this company, residing in New Orleans, Louisiana, and at his estate, "Emden," near Shreveport, Louisiana. At his death he was counted among the nation's wealthiest men by the Wall Street Journal. His funeral is believed to have been the largest in the history of Forest Park Cemetery with twelve truckloads of floral offerings and a vehicle procession extending fifteen blocks. Edenborn Avenue in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, Louisiana, is named for him.
Bio by: Eric J. Brock
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