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Cyrus K. Holliday

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Political People

          Cyrus K. Holliday
   Born April 3, 1826
        Kidderminster, Pennsylvania
   Died 1900

   Colonel Cyrus Kurtz Holliday ( April 3, 1826 – 1900) was one of the
   founders of Topeka, Kansas. He was also the first president of the
   Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, as well as one of the railroad's
   directors for nearly 40 years.

Education and early career

   He was born on April 3, 1826, to David and Mary (Kennedy) Holliday, in
   Kidderminster, Pennsylvania (near Carlisle). The younger Holliday
   received a public school education, graduating from Allegheny College
   in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he studied law, in 1852. Although he
   moved to Kansas in 1854, Allegheny College's alumni records show
   Holliday receiving a Master's Degree in 1855.

   While he was still in Meadville, he was asked to prepare legal
   documentation for a new railroad that would connect to the city. The
   proposed railroad (likely the Pittsburgh and Erie Railroad which was
   sometimes known as "The Meadville Line") would almost connect with a
   larger nearby system (the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad), which
   meant that it could become a feeder route to the larger railroad.
   Holliday saw the potential of the line and instead of asking for a
   standard fee to create the documents, he asked for and was granted a
   partnership in the new railroad. When this railroad was purchased by
   the larger system, Holliday earned $20,000 from the sale.

   After the sale was completed, he married Mary Dillon Jones. He soon
   followed the many others making the migration to settle land west of
   the Mississippi River, but Mary stayed behind in Pennsylvania. The two
   were reunited later in Kansas after the births of their children,
   Lillie and Charles King.

Founding Topeka and military service

   In 1854 he moved to Kansas, leaving his wife behind in Pennsylvania to
   follow later. He first settled in Lawrence in October 1854. On December
   10, 1854, after helping to find a location for the new townsite of
   Topeka, he wrote a letter to his wife saying:

          "I am now thirty miles above Lawrence on the Kansas River
          assisting in starting a new town. We are just about in the
          central portion of the "settled" Territory and with perhaps the
          best landing and the most eligible site for a city in the entire
          country. ... So I think it must be, and in a few years when
          civilization by its magic influence shall have transformed this
          glorious country from what it is now to the brilliant destiny
          awaiting it, the Sun in all his course will visit no land more
          truly lovely and desirable than this. Here, Mary, with God's
          kind permission, we will make our home; and I have every reason
          to believe a home it will truly be."

   In 1855 Holliday received the honorary title of Colonel for supervising
   a regiment during the Wakarusa War. He also served as Adjutant General
   of Kansas during the American Civil War in following decade. Although
   his Colonel title was only honorary, he continued to use it long after
   his military service.

The Santa Fe Railroad

   Once Topeka was founded, it needed transportation to connect it to the
   rest of the country. Holliday's legal skills were called on again to
   create the paperwork for a new railroad. In 1859 he wrote the charter
   for the Atchison and Topeka Railroad Company, which would connect the
   two cities by rail following the route of the Santa Fe Trail. Kansas
   Territory governor Andrew Horatio Reeder approved the charter on
   February 11, 1859. Holliday was named a director and president of the
   new railroad on September 17, 1860, which was renamed in 1863 to the
   Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. During his tenure as president,
   Holliday secured land grants from the federal government that would
   soon be used by the railroad to populate the western portion of Kansas
   in order to build a customer base for the railroad. He stepped down
   from the presidency at the end of 1863, but remained on the board of
   directors until July 27, 1865. He rejoined the board on September 24,
   1868, this time serving until March 29, 1900.

Legacy

   Holliday is buried in Topeka Cemetery, Topeka, Kansas. He is
   memorialized for his contributions to Kansas and the Santa Fe Railroad:
     * In World War II the United States liberty ship SS Cyrus K. Holliday
       was named in his honour.
     * Locomotive #1 on the Disneyland Railroad bore the name "C.K.
       Holliday" since the park's opening in 1955.

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