EVERgreen PLANTING FIELDS FOUNDATION SPRING 2013 NEWSLETTER PLANTING FIELDS ARBORETUM, OYSTER BAY, NEW YORK ALL ABOARD! A RAILWAY FORTUNE AT PLANTING FIELDS This s pring’s e xhibition, o pening a t t he M anor H ouse S aturday, Ap ril 6 th, i s a bout o ne o f t he l ast great chapters in the history of America’s love affair with railroads, which began in the 1850s and changed the United States forever. It is the story of the Virginian Railway, built between 1907 and 1909 by robber baron H.H. Rogers, father of Mai Coe, Planting Fields co-owner with her husband W.R. Coe who gave the mansion and the park to the State of New York in 1949. Ten years after her father’s death in 1909, Rogers’ trust was released to Mai, and her shares of the Virginian were valued at $6.8 million ($167 million today). ALL ABOARD! (continued) SUE STURGESS t was Mai’s fortune that made it possible f or the Coes to build MISSION STATEMENT such a luxurious house. For inst ance, the use of ver y expensive Indiana Planting Fields Foundation collaborates with the New York Ilimestone for Coe Hall was an e xtravagance for what was essentially a State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to spring and fall residence. No expense was spared inside the beautifully preserve and interpret Planting decorated mansion, or in the planning of the Olmsted Brother s’ very large Fields Arboretum State Historic Park as a premier Long Island 409 acre park and its huge greenhouses, as well as other amenities, Gold Coast estate and arboretum including the Carshalton Gates, brought here from England. by providing educational and enriching experiences. The Virginian Railway was built by Henry Huttleston Rogers as a business enterprise BOARD OF TRUSTEES to haul coal from the remote West Michael D. Coe Virginia coal fields, nearly five hundred Chairman miles away, to the docks of eastern Sarah Coe Virginia in Sewells Point. From that Vice President location, it went by ship up north to New England, New York, and Canada, Peter Tilles where coal was in great demand for use in industry as well as for domestic Vice President consumption. The railroad was most profitable in the first twenty five years of Peter Tiberio its existence, and used some of the most advanced equipment for its Treasurer operations. Electrification took over partially in the 1920s and diesel in the 1950s. The Virginian Railway increased in power and productivity until 1959, Margaret Hayes Secretary when it merged with the Norfolk & Western Railway, which became a powerhouse in railroads for decades to come. Renee Bradley Gib Chapman G. Morgan Browne Hal Davidson Sharon Lyon Emmanuel Robert Foschi Richard W. Gibney Anne Coe Hayes* Constance Haydock Bruce Herlich Count Ernesto Vitetti* *Emeritus Ex Officio Henry B. Joyce Executive Director, Planting Fields Foundation Vincent A. Simeone Director, Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park Map routes of the Virginian Railway, 1948, Planting Fields Foundation Archives COVER PHOTO: COURTESY OF NORFOLK & WESTERN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2 H.H. Rogers’ son-in-law, William Rogers’ involvement with railroads Stationmaster, O. Winston Robertson Coe, became a director of was largely due to the network of Link, 1955, O. Winston the railroad in 1912 and was industrialists who were Link Museum appointed to the Executive interconnected with his interests in Committee in 1915; he was elected oil, gas, copper, and many other This photograph shows Vice President in 1925 and Chairman industrial pursuits that thrived in the Train No. 4, the last of the Executive Committee in 1938. United States between about 1870 Virginian Railway His son, William Rogers Coe (father and 1910. There was not an passenger service train to of Planting Fields Foundation industry that Rogers did not have a operate. Its service was Chairman Michael D. Coe) was a hand in, but his main claim to fame terminated in 1956. member of the Board of Directors was as a partner of J.D. Rockefeller’s beginning in 1927 until the merger Standard Oil. The Terminal Station in with the Norfolk & Western in 1959, Norfolk, shown here, and served as Vice-President and H. H. Rogers, of sturdy frame with was later demolished. Treasurer from 1942 until his thick white locks of hair and a neat resignation in 1956. handlebar mustache, cane, and derby hat, possessed a striking H.H. Rogers’ railroad pursuits were figure. Women admired him and not just confined to the Virginian. men often feared him. Called “Hell- He held Directorates in the United Hound Rogers” for his sometimes States Steel Corporation, Atchison, scurrilous business practices, he built Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad the Virginian Railway using $40 Company, the Chicago Milwaukee & million of his own money. St. Paul Railroad Company, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western In 1907, the year construction Railroad Company, and the Union started, there was a nationwide Pacific Railroad Company. He also financial panic. Though his health largely owned the railroad on Staten was compromised and doctors Island before attempting his greatest warned him against involving himself effort of industry—the successful too deeply, Rogers persisted. Trestle financing and construction of the bridges of dizzying heights were Virginian Railway. constructed to open deep chasms in 3 ALL ABOARD! (continued) the landscape; tunnels were blown out with dynamite resulting sometimes in terrible fatal accidents; coal mines were dug into the bowels of the ear th; tracks were laid with steep grades up and down mountains. The 42 powerful locomotives purchased to haul coal were some of the mightiest of their time, and were engineered with special equipment for 8,000- 10,000 ton loads. No e xpense was spared so that the Virginian could run efficiently as a new and pr ofit-driven railroad. Mining towns sprung up overnight, and in those days of the railroad, coal was king. It pr ovided the critical foundation for American industry and the railroad was responsible for assuring its successful transportation. The Virginian hauled coal, though it did maintain a modest passenger service for many of its years. In April of 1909, the Vir ginian Railway opened with a lavish party in Norfolk, Virginia at the Monticello Hotel. H.H. Rogers’ close friend, Mark Twain, was by his side. Within a month, Roger s had died, never to see the pr ofits from his railway. After his death, the estate trust was willed to his childr en, including Mai Coe, making her an extremely wealthy woman. Prior to the merger with the Norfolk & Western Railway in 1959, there was one last effort by the Virginian Railway Board to improve efficiency. In June 1956, the Virginian commissioned Jakobsen Shipyard of Oyster Bay to build a harbor t ugboat. The 105-foot, 1500 horsepower diesel-electric drive tug, named “W.R. O. Winston Link and George Thom with flash equipment, New York, Coe”, moved ships around Piers 1 and New York, O. Winston Link, 1956, O. Winston Link Museum 2 at Sewells Point. The tug is now owned on Long Island and can sometimes be seen cruising the Sound Brooklyn born photographer Link took o ver 2,400 photos of in Oyster Bay and nearby. the Virginian and Norfolk & Western Railways. His interest in photography stemmed from seeing the Long Island Railroad pass Join us for the exciting new All Aboard! behind his workplace at Mineola’s Columbia Instruments Laboratory. exhibition and immerse yourself in 4 this bygone era when the emerging new technologies. All Aboard! is Built in Oyster Bay in railroad industry literally changed comprised of objects and images 1956, the “W.R. Coe” not only landscapes but also the from museums and private tug passed through economic, social, and cultural collections on the East Coast, New York waters on its climate of America. Explore stories including the collections at Planting of the origin of the Vir ginian Fields and a small-scale working way to Sewells Point, Railway and the people who built model of the Virginian Railway Virginia. Photograph it; railroad advertisements, toys of made by the Trainmasters of courtesy of Norfolk & the era as well as writers and artists Babylon club, which is sure to Western Historical who were inspired by the railroad’s delight children and adults alike. Society. Trainmasters of Babylon (TMB) Create a Model of the Virginian Railway Over the last few Formed in March 1994, the Trainmasters of Babylon months, Trainmasters (TMB) is an O gauge model r ailroad club based in of Babylon members Lindenhurst, NY. The club has oper ated a 3,000 square visited Planting Fields foot layout capable of running f our trains independently regularly, and could on two different main lines. In addition to this permanent be seen working layout, the club also maintains a modular design that they diligently on their transport to schools, hospitals, and home care facilities, O scale layout of the where they educate and entertain groups of all ages. Virginian Railway as part of the All Aboard! TMB is currently in the middle of moving to a different exhibition in the Manor House beginning April 6, 2013. location, but hope to be on track with the new space Their model features many aspects of the unique coal shortly. Please visit www.tmbmodeltrainclub.com for country terrain of the Virginian, and will appeal to the more information about club activities, events calendar, young and young at heart. and membership. 5 ‘Anita Gehnrich’ Celebrating a Rich History at Planting Fields BY VINCENT A. SIMEONE Since the Coe family purchased During the early 1960s the collection adding new species and hybrids to Planting Fields in 1913, looked its very best.