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32-519: Created in 1902, the Radnor Trail first served as a part of the Philadelphia & Western Railway Company (P&W). The railway, developed by Jay Gould , a historic American leader in railway development, was initially planned to be a part of a grand intercontinental electric railway system. However, Gould's innovative and progressive plan was methodically scaled back, including the railway's length. At

64-677: A director of the Erie Railroad, and Tweed arranged favorable legislation. In 1869, Tweed and Gould became the subjects of critical political cartoons by Thomas Nast . Gould was the chief bondsman in October 1871 when Tweed was held on $ 1 million bail. Tweed was eventually convicted of corruption and died in jail. Due to the struggle to keep Cornelius Vanderbilt from taking over their interests in railroad, Gould and James Fisk engaged in financial manipulations. In August 1869, Gould and Fisk conspired to begin to buy gold in an attempt to illegally corner

96-416: A nearby school with fifty cents and a sack of clothes. Gould's school principal was credited with getting him a job as a bookkeeper for a blacksmith. A year later, the blacksmith offered Gould a half-interest in the blacksmith shop, which he sold to his father during the early part of 1854. Gould devoted himself to private study, emphasizing surveying and mathematics. In 1854, he surveyed and created maps of

128-610: A perpetual rent-free lease of the franchise rights east of Salem of the Troy and Rutland Railroad , which had been chartered in that state on July 2, 1849. The remainder of the Troy and Rutland, from Salem west to Eagle Bridge, was completed in 1852 and leased to the Rutland and Washington effective July 2. After the Panic of 1857 , a majority of the company's bonds were acquired by Jay Gould at 10 cents on

160-522: A viable railroad that depended on shipments from farmers and ranchers. He immersed himself in every operational and financial detail of the Union Pacific system, building an encyclopedic knowledge of the network and acting decisively to shape its destiny. Biographer Maury Klein states that "he revised its financial structure, waged its competitive struggles, captained its political battles, revamped its administration, formulated its rate policies, and promoted

192-471: Is paved and approximately ten feet wide. There is only a slight grade between Brookside Avenue and Radnor-Chester Road. The entry points are equipped with ramps allowing for wheel-chair accessibility. The trail is also lined with benches. There are free parking and restrooms located at the Conestoga Road entry point. There is also parking along Brookside Road and Gallagher Avenue. Dog-walking is permitted on

224-595: The Gould business dynasty . He is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age . His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him one of the wealthiest men of the late nineteenth century. Gould was an unpopular figure during his life and remains controversial. Gould was born in Roxbury, New York , to Mary More (1798–1841) and John Burr Gould (1792–1866). His maternal grandfather, Alexander T. More,

256-617: The North-West Mounted Police before they could return to the US. Canadian authorities put them in prison and refused them bail, which led to an international dispute between the United States and Canada. When he learned that they had been denied bail, Governor Horace Austin of Minnesota demanded their return, and he put the local militia on full readiness. Thousands of Minnesotans volunteered for an invasion of Canada. After negotiations,

288-727: The Rutland and Washington Railroad , during the Panic of 1857 . Gould purchased stock for 10 cents on the dollar, which left him in control of the company. He engaged in more speculation on railroad stocks in New York City throughout the Civil War , and he was appointed manager of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad in 1863. The Erie Railroad encountered financial troubles in the 1850s, despite receiving loans from financiers Cornelius Vanderbilt and Daniel Drew . It entered receivership in 1859 and

320-540: The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis , which acquired a bottleneck in east–west railroad traffic at St. Louis but, after Gould died, the government brought an antitrust suit to eliminate the bottleneck control. Gould was extensively criticized during his lifetime, on the basis that he was a trader rather than a builder of businesses, and of being unscrupulous, although more recent appraisal has suggested that his business ethics were not unusual for

352-537: The Ulster County, New York , area. In 1856, he published History of Delaware County, and Border Wars of New York, which he had spent several years writing. While engaged in surveying, he started a side activity financing operators making wood ash , which is used with tannin in leather making . In 1856, Gould entered a partnership with Zadock Pratt to create a tanning business in Pennsylvania, in an area that

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384-562: The Canadian authorities released the men on bail. Gordon-Gordon was eventually ordered to be deported, but committed suicide before the order could be carried out. After being forced out of the Erie Railroad, Gould started to build up a system of railroads in the Midwest and West. He took control of the Union Pacific in 1873, after its stock had been depressed by the Panic of 1873 , and he built

416-689: The case went to trial in March 1873. In court, Gordon-Gordon gave the names of the Europeans whom he claimed to represent, and was granted bail while the references were checked. He immediately fled to Canada , where he convinced authorities that the charges were false. Having failed to convince Canadian authorities to hand over Gordon-Gordon, Gould attempted to kidnap him, with the help of his associates, and future members of Congress, Loren Fletcher , John Gilfillan , and Eugene McLanahan Wilson . The group did capture Gordon-Gordon, but they were stopped and arrested by

448-596: The development of resources along its lines." By 1879, Gould had gained control of two important Western railroads, including the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Denver and Rio Grande Railway . He controlled 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of railway, about one-ninth of the rail network in the United States at that time. He obtained a controlling interest in the Western Union telegraph company and, after 1881, in

480-475: The dollar, which left him in control of the company. Gould is identified as the company's superintendent in a July 1863 newspaper article. The company's property (Salem to Rutland) was sold at foreclosure in 1865, the portions in New York and Vermont being sold on March 15 and May 23, respectively, to holders of the Rutland and Washington's securities . The property of the Troy and Rutland (Eagle Bridge to Salem)

512-430: The elevated railways in New York City, and he had a controlling interest in 15 percent of the country's railway tracks by 1882. The railroads were making profits and could set their own rates, so his wealth increased dramatically. Gould withdrew from management of the Union Pacific in 1883, amid political controversy over its debts to the federal government, but he realized a large profit for himself. In 1889, he organized

544-553: The end of completion, the railway traveled from Philadelphia's 69th Street Terminal to suburban Strafford. In 1956, this section of the P&;W became inactive and the route was replaced with bus transportation. (The former P&W line from 69th Street to Norristown still operates as the Norristown High-Speed Line under SEPTA ). Radnor Township acquired rights to build a trail where the abandoned railway line existed. In 2005,

576-449: The large Gouldsboro Lake. In the winter, ice was harvested and stored in large ice houses on the lakeside. He had a railroad line installed next to the lake and he supplied New York City with ice during the summer months. The Gouldsboro Tannery became a disputed property after Leupp's death. Leupp's brother-in-law, David W. Lee, was also a partner in Leupp and Gould, and he took armed control of

608-474: The market . Gould used contacts with President Ulysses S. Grant 's brother-in-law, Abel Corbin , to influence the president and his Secretary General, Horace Porter . These speculations culminated in the financial panic of Black Friday on September 24, 1869, when the greenback (cash) premium over face value of a gold double eagle fell from 62 percent to 35 percent. Gould made a small profit from that operation by hedging against his own attempted corner as it

640-473: The most venerable financial institutions on Wall Street . In 1873, Gould attempted to take control of the Erie Railroad by recruiting foreign investments from Lord Gordon-Gordon , supposedly a cousin of the wealthy Campbell clan , who was buying land for immigrants. He bribed Gordon-Gordon with a million dollars in stock, but Gordon-Gordon was an impostor and cashed the stock immediately. Gould sued him and

672-446: The tannery. He believed that Gould had cheated the Leupp and Lee families during the collapse of the business. Gould eventually took physical possession, but he was later forced to sell his shares in the company to Lee's brother. In 1859, Gould began speculative investing by buying stock in small railways. His father-in-law, Daniel S. Miller, introduced him to the railroad industry by suggesting that Gould help him save his investment in

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704-766: The time of his death, Gould was a benefactor in the reconstruction of the Reformed Church of Roxbury, New York , now known as the Jay Gould Memorial Reformed Church. It is located within the Main Street Historic District and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The family mausoleum was designed by Francis O'Hara. Gould married Helen Day Miller (1838–1889) in 1863. Their children were: Rutland and Washington Railroad The Rutland and Washington Railroad

736-592: The time. Anarcho-capitalist economist Murray Rothbard claimed that Gould's business practices were unfairly maligned, because he was supposedly one of the only railroad financiers who consistently undermined the railroad cartels' proposed rate fixing by starting new railroad lines, thus driving rates down for consumers. Gould was a member of West Presbyterian Church at 31 West 42nd Street. It later merged with Park Presbyterian to form West-Park Presbyterian . He married Helen Day Miller (1838–1889) in 1863 and they had six children. Together with his son George, Gould

768-468: The township celebrated the opening of the fully paved, multi-purpose trail. In August 2011, bicycle coalitions and trail advocates proposed a plan to extend and connect the Radnor Trail to existing trails. The plan has not yet been approved, but if approval is given, the trail will become a portion of a 24-mile-long (39 km) trail that runs through the Delaware, Philadelphia, and Chester counties. The trail

800-497: The trail as long as they are leashed. There are dog waste bins throughout the trail where owners can dispose of garbage. The Radnor Trail is maintained and supported by Radnor Township's Department of Parks and Recreation, along with the Radnor Historic Society. Jay Gould Jason Gould ( / ɡ uː l d / ; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded

832-594: Was a railroad company based in Rutland , Vermont which was chartered in Vermont on November 13, 1847, and built between Rutland and Eagle Bridge in Rensselaer County , New York in 1851 and 1852. One of the company's founders was Merritt Clark , a Vermont politician, and another was Thomas Canfield , later involved with the Northern Pacific . In order to build in New York, the company, on June 24, 1850, took

864-540: Was a businessman, and his great-grandfather, John More, was a Scottish immigrant who founded the town of Moresville, New York . Gould, however, grew up in poverty and had to work at his family's small dairy farm. Gould studied at the Hobart Academy in Hobart, New York , paying his way by bookkeeping. As a young boy, he decided that he wanted nothing to do with farming, his father's occupation, so his father dropped him off at

896-655: Was a founding member of American Yacht Club . He owned the steam yacht Atalanta (1883) . In 1880, he purchased the Gothic Revival mansion Lyndhurst (sometimes spelled "Lindhurst"), to use as a country house. On December 2, 1892, Gould died of tuberculosis , then referred to as consumption, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York . For tax purposes, his fortune was conservatively estimated at $ 72 million (equivalent to $ 2.44 billion in 2024 ), which he willed in its entirety to his family. At

928-410: Was about to collapse, but lost it in subsequent lawsuits. The gold corner established Gould's reputation in the press as an all-powerful figure who could drive the market up and down at will. Favored by Tweed Ring judges, the conspiratorial partners escaped prosecution, but the months of economic turmoil that rocked the nation following the failed corner proved ruinous to farmers and bankrupted some of

960-502: Was later named Gouldsboro . He eventually bought out Pratt, who retired. In 1856, Gould entered a partnership with Charles Mortimer Leupp, a son-in-law of Gideon Lee and one of the leading leather merchants in the United States. The partnership was successful, until the Panic of 1857 . Leupp lost all his money in that financial crisis, but Gould took advantage of the depreciation in property value and bought up former partnership properties. Gould also started an ice harvesting industry on

992-671: Was reorganized as the Erie Railway. Gould, Drew, and James Fisk engaged in stock manipulations, known as the Erie War , and Drew, Fisk, and Vanderbilt lost control of the Erie in the summer of 1868, while Gould became its president. During the same period, Gould and Fisk became involved with Tammany Hall , the Democratic Party political machine that largely ran New York City at the time. They made its "boss", notorious William M. "Boss" Tweed ,

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1024-543: Was sold on July 11, 1863, to Jay Gould. The property in New York was conveyed to the Troy, Salem and Rutland Railroad (incorporated June 3, 1865) on June 3 (Eagle Bridge to Salem) and June 30 (Salem to state line). On February 1, 1867, the Salem and Rutland Railroad was incorporated and received the portion in Vermont. The Troy, Salem and Rutland leased the Salem and Rutland on March 19, and subsequently acquired its entire stock, allowing

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