John Brooks Yale (1845 – 1904) was an American telegraph and railroad entrepreneur, treasurer of the Yale Lock Company. He was an early founder and secretary-treasurer of the Bankers and Merchants Telegraph Company, competing against financier Jay Gould, the robber baron of the Western Union. They operated over 400 offices, and controlled about 100,000 miles of wiring across the country, including lines of the Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Stock Exchange. Yale's company would be bankrupted by Gould's schemes, and be acquired by industrialist John W. Mackay, one of the Bonanza Kings, and be merged with the Postcal Telegraph Co.. Yale was also the son of Yale lock inventor Linus Yale Jr., and the son-in-law of millionaire Hugh McCulloch, the last U.S. Treasury Secretary of Abraham Lincoln.
Early life and education
Yale was born on October 26, 1845, in Newport, New York, to Linus Yale Jr. and Catherine Brooks, members of the Yale family. He was the brother of railroad entrepreneur Julian L. Yale, and craft artist Madeline Yale Wynne, who married to Senator Henry Winn. His uncle was Congressman and General Halbert S. Greenleaf, and his cousin, architect Merton Yale Cady, was the son-in-law of John Deere. Yale was also the cousin of Gov. Bryant Butler Brooks, and his mother was an abolitionist teacher, cousin of Bishop Phillips Brooks. Yale was educated at Eagleswood Military Academy in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. He didn't attend college and started working early on in the steel industry. Yale was an expert mechanic, and was connected with number of steel and iron corporations. For number of years, he was the New York agent of the largest steel producer in the country, the Illinois Steel Company, seated at the Empire Building, an enterprise that would later acquire Carnegie Steel with J.P. Morgan to form US Steel. He was also assistant sales agent to his brother, Julian L. Yale, who was general sales agent of the company, and purchasing representative of the Big Four Railroad and Carnegie Steel Co., serving the Vanderbilts and Andrew Carnegie. Yale became Treasurer of the Yale Lock Company from 1867 to 1873, founded by his grandfather Linus Yale Sr., and father Linus Yale Jr.. Under the presidency of Henry R. Towne, Yale and Towne would build and scale the company into a global conglomerate, with thousands of employees. In 1871, Yale is named of the trustees of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad, with Congressman Joseph M. Warren, and Congressman John A. Griswold, of the Griswold family. In 1874, he cofounded and was made board director of the Timber Brook Railroad Company, along with his brother Julian L. Yale, and Gen. Edward A. Wild. The railroad would be 12 miles long, connecting New Jersey to the iron mines, and used to transport coal and iron ore. About 10 years later, Yale would be involved in the telegraph industry, mainly through the Bankers and Merchants Telegraph Company, by founding number of branches, and becoming board director, secretary, treasurer and shareholder.
Bankers and Merchants Telegraph Co.
The Bankers and Merchants Telegraph Co. was incorporated in April 1881, with a capital stock of $1,000,000, and started operating 12 wires from Boston to Washington, D.C. through New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore, with additional charters for New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Their line between New York and Washington would make them very successful for a time, and have them acquire and control the American Rapid Telegraph Company, who had lines between New York and Boston, Hartford, New Haven, Providence, Buffalo, as well as in the oil region in Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, New Castle and Cleveland. They kept both companies as separated entities, but under the same president and general manager, with Yale being the companies's treasurer and board director. The Rapid Co. had about 3 million dollars in capital stock, and the scheme allowed them to not pay in double the rents to the cities and towns where they operated. The company was created to allow businessmen to communicate between major cities, with most shareholders coming from New York and Philadelphia. While the business was mostly owned and operated by bankers and merchants, it could also be used by the public. They initially had their office at 26 Broad Street, Manhattan, next to the New York Stock Exchange, where they also had an office inside the building, seated at 18 Broad Street. At the time, America was ahead of Britain, having twice as many telegraph offices and twice the amount of mileage in railroads. In 1882, they received the exclusive rights to build, maintain, repair and operate wire lines for the south of Chicago, using the underground conduits of the Chicago Sectional Electric Underground Co. of president Elisha Gray. The company used wires from the Kerite Company in their iron pipes. They later sold their rights to the Postal Telegraph Company. They then acquired the Southern Telegraph Co., adding lines between Washington, New Orleans and Atlanta. In 1883, Yale founded with his brother, Julian L. Yale, and others, the Bankers and Merchants Telegraph Company of Cleveland, and filed the papers with the Secretary of State, James W. Newman. They will construct, maintain and operate telegraph lines from Cleveland to Cincinnati, Toledo and others places in Ohio. In the same year, Yale founded with four others the Bankers and Merchants Telegraph Co. of Detroit, building lines through Michigan, Columbus, Indianapolis, Chicago, Detroit, and other places. He then cofounded the Bankers and Merchants Telegraph Co. of Chicago, operating telegraph and telephone lines in Illinois and other places.
In 1884, Yale joined the retail business Nave & McCord Mercantile Company of millionaire Nave McCord. He then became board director, secretary and treasurer of the Bankers and Merchants Telegraph Company, along with vice president John Rogers Hegeman, who was also president of MetLife Co., seated at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower in Manhattan. They added various lines connecting to Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and St. Louis, and in 1884, they acquired and took control of the telegraph lines of the Chicago Board of Trade, operating in the landmarked Chicago Board of Trade Building.
Commercial Telegram Co.
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