Transcribed from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Chicago : Lewis, 1918. 5 v. (lvi, 2731 p., [228] leaves of plates) : ill., maps (some fold.), ports. ; 27 cm.

Alexander Caldwell

ALEXANDER CALDWELL, of Leavenworth, first engaged in transporting military supplies to western posts and building railroads in Kansas, and later a manufacturer, financier and United States senator, was born at Drake's Ferry, Huntington County, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1830. He received a common school education, and in the Mexican war served as a private in the company commanded by his father, Capt. James Caldwell, who was killed in action at the City of Mexico on September 13, 1847. From 1853 to 1861 Mr. Caldwell was an officer in a bank at Columbia, Pennsylvania, and for the next ten years was engaged in the transportation business and the building of Kansas railroads. In 1871 he was elected to the United States Senate to succeed Edmund G. Ross, but resigned in 1873. He then organized the Kansas Manufacturing Company, for the manufacture of wagons and farm implements, and was president of the company from 1877 to 1897. He was one of the organizers of the Oregon Land Improvement Company in 1882, to locate town sites and construct irrigating canals along the Oregon Short Line (now the Union Pacific) Railroad. Since 1897 he has been president of the First National Bank of Leavenworth.

A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918; transcribed October, 1997.