One of the most famous financiers of the second half of the nineteenth century was born in the City of Brotherly Love. Charles Yerkes Jr. started working being a teenager and actively developed his entrepreneurial plans. On the way to success, he did not select methods and thought only about the final goal. Read more about the interesting story of an entrepreneur from Philadelphia on philadelphiaski.
The beginning and development of an entrepreneur’s career
Charles Tyson Yerkes Jr. was born on June 25, 1837, in a family of European immigrants. Since childhood, the boy was raised by his father because of the tragic death of his mother during childbirth. Despite the difficult times, Charles Jr. graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia and began to take the first steps in entrepreneurial activity.
Seventeen-year-old Charles Yerkes made his debut as a salesman businessman in one of the Philadelphia grain firms. He devoted all his free time to work and revealed considerable talent and perseverance. After five years, he became the owner of the company. The businessman ran a brokerage office that helped him join the Philadelphia stock exchange.
Subsequently, the native of the City of Brotherly Love reformatted his business to focus on the area of finance. In a short time, the banks of Charles Yerkes’s company flooded Philadelphia and became common in other cities of the United States of America.
The Philadelphian financier competently formed the responsibilities and strategy of the firm. His father became its director. Charles Yerkes Sr. took over relations with political and other influential structures, while his son was engaged in the internal improvement of the company.
At the beginning of the formation of the financial empire of Charles Jr. in Philadelphia, things were going quite well. Later, during the Great Chicago Fire, due to his large-scale speculation in government stocks, the court found the businessman guilty of stealing money.
How did the businessman revive his career?
Charles Yerkes spent seven years in prison. Then, he tried to restore the lost capital. However, he lost his reputation in Philadelphia. Since the man had the stigma of a criminal, local companies did not want to hire him or help him. Therefore, the Philadelphian decided to leave his native city.
At the end of the nineteenth century, he lived in Chicago and tried to revive his entrepreneurial activities there. This ended quickly without large-scale success. The situation improved only when Charles Jr. invested the last funds in the purchase of the Chicago railroad. Thus, the native of the City of Brotherly Love controlled almost the entire local railroad.
To achieve his goals, the Philadelphian used various methods, including blackmail, bribery, etc. He financed the construction of the Yerkes Observatory to gain a reputation as a philanthropist. A periodical Chicago Inter Ocean also constantly advertised its owner.
In 1899, Yerkes sold most of his transportation stock in Chicago and moved to New York. Charles Jr. became quite famous not only there but also in the capital of Great Britain. In London, the American entrepreneur was remembered for working on the creation of the subway.
On December 29, 1905, Charles Yerkes died in New York. His professional and life path inspired many creative people in the world. Yerkes was most accurately described by the famous writer Theodore Dreiser in the novel The Financier.