Background
Alexander Ector Orr was born on March 2, 1831, in Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, the son of William and Mary (Moore) Orr. His father's family had migrated there in the seventeenth century from Scotland.
Alexander Ector Orr was born on March 2, 1831, in Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, the son of William and Mary (Moore) Orr. His father's family had migrated there in the seventeenth century from Scotland.
Alexander, while traveling in the United States in 1850, was so favorably impressed that he returned the next year to New York City to live. He worked as a clerk in several commission houses before forming, in 1858, a connection with David Dows & Company, at that time possibly the largest grain dealers in the United States. He became a partner in 1861 and the firm's representative on the floor of the Produce Exchange in 1863. Intense interest in the business and a remarkable energy soon made him the dominant member of the firm, a force in the Exchange, and a recognized authority in his field. He helped reorganize the Produce Exchange, 1871-72, was long chairman of its important arbitration committee, a leading organizer of its Benefit Assurance Society and its Gratuity Association, secretary of the building committee which erected the Exchange's three-million-dollar home, and served as president, 1887-88. He gave similar service to the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, aided in the erection of its new building, and served as vice-president, 1889-94, and as president, 1894-99.
In 1894 Orr was appointed a member of the Rapid Transit Commission, created by the state legislature to draw up plans for a comprehensive transit system in New York City and to contract for its construction and operation. At the first meeting he was elected president, and he served in this capacity until 1907 when the Commission's duties were transferred to the Public Service Commission. After four years of study, plans were completed for a subway as the central feature of the system. The contracts were let in 1900 and the first trains were operated in 1904, Orr making the chief address at the opening of service. "It is a cheerful fact, " commented the World's Work editorially, "that the costliest municipal convenience ever constructed has been free from corruption and free from political management has been built without scandal; and very much of the credit for this historic achievement belongs to Mr. Alexander E. Orr. "
In 1875-76 Orr served, by Governor Tilden's appointment, as one of the four members of the commission which, in investigating the management of New York's state canals, exposed the operations of the notorious "canal ring. " He was frequently called before the state legislature to advise on transportation and marketing problems. He served as chairman of the "citizen's movement" which elected Seth Low mayor of Brooklyn in 1881, and he took a leading part in other reform movements in local New York politics. When president of the Chamber of Commerce during Cleveland's second term, he gave encouragement and powerful support to the president's sound money policies. Orr's knowledge and ability were sought for by many banks, insurance companies, and railways; and, though at one time he was a member of no less than twenty-nine boards of directors, he gave conscientious service to each.
When the Hughes Investigation shattered public faith in the New York Life Insurance Company, he was persuaded to become its president, and in eighteen months he had the company completely reorganized and restored to its former standing. In addition, he found time to serve in official capacities for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Long Island State Hospital, the Long Island Historical Society, and the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, and he was a trustee of many similar institutions. He was treasurer for nearly fifty years of the Long Island Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church, managing its many complicated funds, and contributing large amounts to them.
Alexander Orr died on March 2, 1831, in New York City.
Alexander Orr served as director of the Long Island Historical Society and the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents.
Alexander Orr married his first wife, Juliet Buckingham Dows, in 1857. She died in 1872. His second wife was Margaret Shippen Luquer, whom he married in 1873.