Background
Pitcairn was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland.
Pitcairn was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland.
Foreign the Scottish antiquary, see Robert Pitcairn (antiquary). And for the Scottish diplomat and judge, see Robert Pitcairn (commendator). Robert Pitcairn (May 6, 1836 – July 25, 1909) was a Scottish-American railroad executive who headed the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the late 19th century.
His first job was as a messenger boy for the Eastern Telegraph Company where he worked alongside future steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.
In 1853, when Carnegie left to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad, he got Pitcairn a job as a ticket agent at the Mountain House at Hollidaysburg, from there he was transferred to Altoona. Both men worked their way up the corporate ranks rapidly.
On July 26, 1856, Robert Pitcairn married Elizabeth Erb Rigg of Altoona, Pennsylvania. Their children were: Agnes Laurene Pitcairn (born in 1857), Lillian Pitcairn (born in 1859), Susan Blanche Pitcairn (born in 1868) and Robert Pitcairn, Junior. (born on October 2, 1874).
In later years (1906) Mr. and Mistress
Robert Pitcairn Junior. built a house in Pasadena California designed by the outstanding architectural firm Greene and Greene. The Pitcairn family home was at the corner of Ellsworth and Amberson Avenues in Shadyside. Before the congregation built its current building, for many years, Pitcairn served as its choir director
Pitcairn ordered construction of a rail yard along Turtle Creek near Pittsburgh that would become the largest rail yard in the world.
The borough of Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, located adjacent to the yard, was named in his honor. The club, founded by Henry Clay Frick and composed of wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists including Carnegie, Andrew Mellon and Philander Knox, owned the South Fork Dam which collapsed on May 31, 1889 causing the Johnstown Flood.
Pitcairn was responsible for sending the first relief train to Johnstown to assist flood victims. A Republican, Pitcairn served as a Presidential Elector for Pennsylvania in 1904.
While serving as superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Pitcairn was instrumental in implementing a policy that every worker who had been with the company at least 25 years should be pensioned upon reaching the age of 70.
Ironically and unwillingly, he was to become the first recipient of this policy. When he reached 70, President A.J. Cassatt required that Pitcairn, then serving as Resident Assistant to the President, retire. From this point on, Pitcairn"s health declined, and in 1909 he died from a "general breakdown".
Pitcairn was a member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club.