John Bartholomew McDonald was an American contractor and railway builder.
Background
John Bartholomew McDonald was born on November 7, 1844 in Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland. He was the son of Bartholomew and Mary McDonald. In 1847 his parents emigrated to America and settled on the West side in New York City. From small beginnings the elder McDonald built up a successful contracting business, and with the flair for politics that characterized so many Irish immigrants he became an active worker in Tammany Hall and eventually attained a position of considerable influence, serving as a member of the Board of Aldermen for many years.
Education
John McDonald received a common-school education in the New York public schools.
Career
At eighteen started his business career as a clerk in the office of the register of deeds, a position obtained through his father's influence. In the same manner he obtained somewhat later a position as time-keeper on the construction of the dam at Boyd's Corners, a part of the Croton water-supply project. He rose from this position to inspector on the construction of the Vanderbilt tunnels of the New York Central and Hudson River railroads located above Forty-second Street. He was a keen observer and made the most of his experience on the two construction projects. When still in his early twenties, he resigned his position as inspector to make his first venture in contracting on a small subcontract of the New York Central's improvements at Ninety-sixth Street. In this undertaking he had the benefit of his father's financial backing and business experience, and he completed his contract with marked success. Shortly afterward his father died and McDonald took over his contracting business. While this was a well-established and prosperous business, it was limited in scope, and the younger McDonald had both the ambition and the technical qualifications for success in a larger field. This was the great period of railway expansion in the United States and Canada, and into this field he threw his entire energy, rising during the two decades following 1870 to a position in the front rank of railroad constructors. Among the important projects on which he was engaged during this period were: the line of the West Shore Railroad from Weehawken to Buffalo; the Potomac Valley Railroad; the Illinois Central from Elgin, Ill. , to Dodgeville, Wis. ; the Trenton cut-off of the Pennsylvania Railroad; and the Baltimore & Ohio from Baltimore to Philadelphia. He also executed subcontracts on the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel, & Western Railway, the Georgian Bay branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western line from Binghamton to Buffalo. Between 1890 and 1900 McDonald became identified with several important business ventures in addition to his large contracting business.
He died shortly after completing the New York subway "burned out, " in a manner, by the prolonged and strenuous exactions of the project. He was buried from St. Patrick's Cathedral with all the pomp and circumstance befitting the passing of a great public figure, and as the funeral service began, the power on all subways in the city was turned off for two minutes as a tribute of respect to the man whose skill and energy had been so largely responsible for their completion.
Achievements
McDonald's most remarkable achievement and the one which gained him a national reputation was the Baltimore belt-line railroad a project to connect the Baltimore & Ohio lines by a tunnel, some two miles long, through the heart of the city of Baltimore. This was a most difficult and expensive piece of work, involving a contract in excess of $8, 000, 000. The plan was originated and promoted by McDonald (who had taken residence in Baltimore), and the construction was successfully carried out by him (1890 - 94) through the firm of Ryan & McDonald. He was president of the Eastern Ohio Railroad, 1894-95; of the Maryland Bolt and Nut Company; and of the South Baltimore Car Works. In 1900 he was the successful bidder on the New York subway project ($35, 000, 000) and entered upon the final achievement of his career as a constructor. He was vice-president of the Interborough Rapid Transit Construction Company, especially organized by August Belmont to finance the work, and he took personal charge of the construction from start to finish, and though the project was one of the most difficult in the history of engineering construction, it was completed well within the time limit. He also built the Jerome Park Reservoir in New York City, which, at the time of its completion, was the largest artificial reservoir in the world. With W. J. Oliver of Knoxville, Tenn. , he prepared a bid for the construction of the Panama Canal before it was decided that the United States government should handle the work directly.
Personality
From the late nineties until his death he resided in New York City. He was a quiet, unassuming man, of retiring habit and disposition, and his personality was little known to the world. He was a born executive with a talent for mastering and handling details, however intricate and diverse, which was little short of genius.
Connections
McDonald was married in 1869 to Georgeann Strang, by whom he had a son, born 1870, and a daughter, born 1878.
