Background
Charles Harrah was born on January 1, 1817, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of John and Mary Harrah.
Charles Harrah was born on January 1, 1817, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of John and Mary Harrah.
While Charles was still an infant he was left to the care of his widowed mother and owing to their poor circumstances his attendance at school was limited to three days.
As a boy Charles worked on farms near Philadelphia, but in 1832 he was apprenticed to Jacob Teese, a Philadelphia ship-builder. After the termination of his apprenticeship in 1836 he was employed in shipyards in Philadelphia, New York, and Erie, Pennsylvania, and in 1843 he contracted with Charles Deal of Rio Grande do Sul, in the southern part of Brazil, to build a steamship at that port. He sailed for Brazil on April 10, 1843, established the shipyard, and remained at the port until 1852, when he moved to Rio de Janeiro and established another yard which he maintained until 1857.
At this time the Brazilian government was beginning to realize the need for railroads in the development of the country and Harrah was among the first to grasp the opportunities thus presented. He returned to the United States to make a study of railroad construction and operation and formed a partnership with W. M. Roberts of Philadelphia, Jacob Humbird of Cumberland, Maryland, and Robert Harvey of Richmond, Virginia. Upon his return to Brazil in March 1858 he undertook to build the mountainous portion of the Dom Pedro II railroad, and although the contract was fulfilled in six years, it involved his complete financial ruin.
To regain his fortunes Harrah engaged in a mercantile business with M. Brandon, under the firm name of Brandon & Harrah, and shortly afterward they established a branch house in London, England, a connection which was maintained until 1871. Still interested in transportation, Harrah in 1868 cooperated with a few other Americans in organizing the Botanical Garden Railroad Company, which constructed and operated the first street railroad in Brazil, and in 1872 he organized the company which constructed the Leopoldina Railroad of Minas Geraes, Brazil.
Having won the confidence of the Emperor and the Imperial Government, in 1865 Harrah was sent to the United States to attempt the purchase of gunboats and armament of which Brazil then stood in need, but he could not prevail upon the government to supply them. Two years later he was sent to the Rio de La Plata on a confidential mission to investigate irregularities and abuses in the commissariat department of the Brazilian army, and subsequently he filled other confidential positions.
Returning to the United States in 1873, Harrah became prominently identified with business enterprises in Philadelphia. For a number of years he held the office of president of the People’s Passenger Railway of Philadelphia and served also as president of the Midvale Steel Works. He took an active part in organizations designed for the betterment of community conditions and was a member of various hospital and charity boards. He died in Philadelphia after a long illness.
Charles Harrah amassed a fortune while improving Brazil's infrastructure by building railroads, and its economy by establishing a shipping industry. He also established the first telegraph company in Brazil and served as its president until the enterprise was taken over by the government. He aided materially in the formation of the Brazilian Navigation Company and established at Rio de Janeiro the first public school in the empire.
Harrah married, on April 14, 1839, Anna Margaret Riehl of Philadelphia.
