John Brooks Yale (October 26, 1845 – August 28, 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.Transcript-Telegram, March 26, 1900, Mon ·Page 2I Have Pretty Work : Madeline Yale Wynne and the American Craft Revival, Early American Culture, University of Delaware, Jessica H. Beels, 1995, p.13
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.Directory to the Iron and Steel Works of the United States, American Iron and Steel Association, University of Michigan, 1892, p. 172 Yale became Treasurer of the Yale Lock Company from 1867 to 1873, founded by his grandfather Linus Yale Sr., and father Linus Yale Jr..Linus Yale Papers (MS 872). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, Accessed March 3, 2024, See more section.The Yale Lock Picked, October 16, 1869, Vol. 9, No. 225, p. 484Hartford Courant, December 11, 1869, Sat ·Page 4 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.White & Kembles Atlas and Digest of Railroad Mortgages, Railsandtrails.com, p. 3, Accessed March 2, 2024 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.Railroad Age Gazette, Volume 6, August 1874, p. 296 The railroad would be 12 miles long, connecting New Jersey to the iron mines, and used to transport coal and iron ore.Railroad Age Gazette, Volume 6, August 1, 1874, p. 297 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.Detroit Free Press, April 17, 1881, Sun ·Page 2 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.The Operator Book, Supplement to the Operator and Electrical World, Vol. 13, W. J. Johnston, New York, January 13, 1883, p. 50-59-227-369-689 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.History of Chicago; From the fire of 1871 until 1885, Alfred Theodore Andreas, Volume III, A. T. Andrewas Co., Chicago, 1886, p. 594 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.Andrews, J. Cutler. “The Southern Telegraph Company, 1861-1865: A Chapter in the History of Wartime Communication.” The Journal of Southern History, vol. 30, no. 3, 1964, pp. 319–44. JSTOR, Accessed March 2, 2024.
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.Detroit Free Press, October 23, 1883, Tue ·Page 1 They will construct, maintain and operate telegraph lines from Cleveland to Cincinnati, Toledo and others places in Ohio.Detroit Free Press, November 17, 1883, Sat ·Page 2 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.St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 12, 1883, Fri ·Page 1
In 1884, Yale joined the retail business Nave & McCord Mercantile Company of millionaire Nave McCord.The Beatrice Daily Express, June 24, 1898, Fri ·Page 3St. Joseph Gazette, January 1, 1884, Tue ·Page 4 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.The New York Supplement, Vol. 39, West Publishing Co., New York, June 4 – July 23, 1896, p. 503New York Court of Appeals. Records and Briefs, New York (State). Court of Appeals, 1884, p. 1266Reports of Cases, Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Marcus T. Hun, Volume IV, Banks & Brothers, Albany, New York, 1896, p. 305-306-307-623New York Supreme Court, First Judicial Department, Francis E. Parker, Burgoyne's Quick Printing House, New York, 1886, p. 22-55Chicago Tribune, February 12, 1884, Tue ·Page 8 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.
In February 1884, they acquired the Lehigh Telegraph line, adding 300 miles and 90 new offices in Eastern Pennsylvania. They acquired control of the Commercial Telegram Company, and established branches for the stock quotations of the Boston Stock Exchange and Philadelphia Stock Exchange.The Boston Globe, January 15, 1886, Fri ·Page 2 Yale was elected a board director of the Commercial Telegraph Co. in January, along with the president of Bankers and Merchants Co., A. W. Dimock, and the president of the Chicago Board of Trade Telegraph Co., Charles W. Brega.New-York Tribune, January 17, 1884, Thu ·Page 2 Another board director with Yale was inventor Stephen D. Field, nephew of pioneer Cyrus W. Field, and founder of the first electric railroad operated as a business.The Independent-Record, May 28, 1891, Thu ·Page 4Boston Evening Transcript, February 29, 1884, Fri ·Page 8 Field also challenged Thomas Edison's monopoly on stock exchange quotations.Boston Evening Transcript, February 29, 1884, Fri ·Page 8
In April 1884, Yale was elected Secretary of the Bankers and Merchants Telegraph Co., and the company had now 6,697 miles of poles, and 46,347 miles of wire, connecting New York all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and the Missouri River.The Boston Globe, April 5, 1884, Sat ·Page 5Evening Gazette, April 5, 1884, Sat ·Page 1 Yale was a friend and assistant of president Dimock, and would introduce, with other board directors, the second stock indicator of the Chicago Board of Trade, adding new telegraph lines, and challenging the monopoly of the Western Union.St. Louis Globe-Democrat, February 13, 1884, Wed ·Page 12Chicago Tribune, September 23, 1884, Tue ·Page 5 The Commercial Telegram Co. used the ticker tape technology, and broke the monopoly of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. of inventor Edward A. Calahan, on the New York Stock Exchange.Wall Street, 1889: The Telegraph Ramps Up Trading Speed, The Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2014
The stock ticker was a telegraph whose message was only securities prices. By having exclusivity, the Gold & Stock Co. was the only company who had the rights to have clerks on the NYSE trading floor to record and communicate the latest quotes to their private customers. They grew their business and technology with the young Thomas Edison as partner, who would later invent the phonograph and light bulb.of Thomas Alva Edison, Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies, Library of Congress, Accessed March 2, 2024 In 1890, the Commercial Co. was acquired by the New York Stock Exchange, which they renamed the New York Quotation Company, and used it to supply exclusive ticker tape services to its official members.Handel, John. "The Material Politics of Finance: The Ticker Tape and the London Stock Exchange, 1860s–1890s." Enterprise & Society, vol. 23 no. 3, 2022, p. 857-887. Project MUSE The Bankers and Merchants Co. became quoted on the New York Stock Exchange, and in June 1884, the Panic of 1884 on Wall Street caused their stock price to fall from 119 to 45, bringing financial difficulties.The New York Stock Exchange : its History, its Contribution to National Prosperity, Stock Exchange Historical Company, Boston College, New York, 1905, p. 318History of Crises Under the National Banking System, Sprague, O. M. W, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1910, p. 112