Invisible Giants

The Empires of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers

Herbert H. Harwood

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Year: 2003
• ISBN:
  9780253110602
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Biographies
• Index: Business

A comprehensive biography of the rise of the famous railroad barons who developed Shaker Heights, Ohio. Invisible Giants is the Horatio Alger-esque tale of a pair of reclusive Cleveland brothers, Oris Paxton and Mantis James Van Sweringen, who rose from poverty to become two of the most powerful men in America. They controlled the country's largest railroad system—a network of track reaching from the Atlantic to Salt Lake City and from Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico. On the eve of the Great Depression they were close to controlling the country's first coast-to-coast rail system—a goal that still eludes us. They created the model upper-class suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio, with its unique rapid transit access. They built Cleveland's landmark Terminal Tower and its innovative "city within a city" complex. Indisputably, they created modern Cleveland. Yet beyond a small, closely knit circle, the bachelor Van Sweringen brothers were enigmas. Their actions were aggressive, creative, and bold, but their manner was modest, mild, and retiring. Dismissed by many as mere shoestring financial manipulators, they created enduring works, which remain strong today. The Van Sweringen story begins in early-twentieth-century Cleveland suburban real estate and reaches its zenith in the heady late 1920s, amid the turmoil of national transportation power politics and unprecedented empire-building. As the Great Depression destroyed many of their fellow financiers, the "Vans" survived through imaginative stubbornness—until tragedy ended their careers almost simultaneously. Invisible Giants is the first comprehensive biography of these two remarkable if mysterious men.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 • Oasis in a Gritty City
• 2 • The Ideal Suburb
• 3 • Mr. Smith Sells a Farm
• 4 • Mr. Smith Sells a Railroad
• 5 • Shaping Solid Forms
• 6 • A Difficult Birth at the Public Square
• 7 • The Beginnings of an Empire
• 8 • To the South, East, and North
• 9 • Taking Stock: 1924
• 10 • Some Shadows Fleet By
• 11 • Building, Rebuilding, and Juggling
• 12 • Consolidation Anarchy I: The Maverick and the General
• 13 • Consolidation Anarchy II: The Street Fighter
• 14 • The Summit I: An Appalachian Peak in the Rockies
• 15 • The Summit II: Filling Out the Railroad Map
• 16 • The Summit III: Consummation in Cleveland—and a Jolt
• 17 • Completions and Complications
• 18 • Taking Stock: 1930
• 19 • Sudden Darkness
• 20 • The Rails Roll Downgrade
• 21 • A New World
• 22 • The Cruelest Year
• 23 • The Last Train
• 24 • Epilogue I: New Empires from Old
• 25 • Epilogue II: The Ghosts
• Notes
• Sources and Acknowledgments
• Index