Hugh M. Wilson

As printed in 1909

HUGH M. WILSON.

Dayton recently received an addition to her business circles when Hugh M. Wilson entered upon active association with the Barney & Smith Car Company as vice president and director. For a considerable period he was president of The Wilson Company, Chicago, publishers of The Railway Age and the Electric Railway Review, and he is especially fitted for the duties of his present position because of his wide acquaintance with railroad men and his understanding of matters pertaining to railway administration and operation.

Mr. Wilson was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, June 29, 1866, and is a son of Hugh and Isabella (Smith) Wilson, both of whom were natives of Scotland. He attended the public schools of Jacksonville and in 1882 he entered Illinois College, located in his native town, from which he was graduated in 1887 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He was active in the student life of his college, was associate editor and business manager of the college paper and was orator of his class. He is a trustee of his alma water and in 1904 on the occasion of the celebration of its seventy-fifth anniversary the college conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.

Hugh M. Wilson received his early business training under the direction of his father, who was an architect, contractor and builder and also conducted a planing mill, door, sash and blind factory. The son gained varied experience by doing many kinds of work about the factory and the office, acting for a time as bookkeeper, and he also attended a business college, so that he received the training in fundamentals which qualified him for business life. He spent a year in his father's business between his sophomore and junior years in college. It was his intention at that time to study law but a disastrous fire, which destroyed his father’s business, so limited the financial resources of the family that it was necessary for him to provide for his own support. He secured the position of city editor of the Jacksonville Daily Journal.

In March, 1888, Mr. Wilson went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and became a reporter on the Minneapolis Evening Star. A year later he became associated with the Mississippi Valley Lumberman, a weekly commercial journal, at Minneapolis. It was during his residence there that Mr. Wilson was married on the 9th of October, 1890, to Miss Olive Mary Williams, of Red Wing, Minnesota. In May, 1801, he became associate editor on the Northwestern Railroader at Minneapolis. During his business career up to this time his energies were divided

HUGH M. WILSON between editorial work and business management. Even in his college days he was both associate editor and business manager of the college paper. The tendency he early manifested to gravitate from editorial to business life has continued up to the present. Within two weeks after he went to the Northwestern Railroader as associate editor he was in the business department straightening out the company’s books.

Although Mr. Wilson spent a good many years in successful editorial work he has always been more of a business man than an editor. Hie attended the conventions of the Master Car Builders’ and Master Mechanics’ Associations for the first time at Cape May, New Jersey, in June, 1891. On the 15th of September of that year he moved to Chicago, for at that time the Northwestern Railroader was consolidated with the Railway Age, and he continued with the consolidated company as secretary-treasurer. He handled not only the office work of the business department but also a great deal of the news of the paper, especially that relating to equipment and supplies. He subsequently became manager and associate editor, still retaining the title and duties of secretary-treasurer. He was elected president of the Railway Age Company in 1899. In 1905 that company published a daily at the International Railway Congress in Washington, which was the official journal of the congress. This daily was printed in both French and English and was considered by railway officials of many nations to be a considerable undertaking. For the successful issuance of this journal, Mr. Wilson was decorated Chevalier of the Order of Leopold by the King of Belgium. In May, 1906, The Wilson Company was organized with Mr. Wilson as president. This company continued to publish The Railway Age and also bought the Electric Railway Review, which it changed from a monthly to* a weekly. Mr. Wilson’s active and energetic work for years in behalf of the railway supply interests is well known. He was secretary of the Railway Supply Manufacturers' Association from 1893 until 1897, inclusive, and thus the greater part of his experiences up to the present time was such as to qualify him for the duties of the position which he has recently assumed — that of vice president of the Barnev & Smith Car Company.

Mr. Wilson is not unknown in social life. In fact, he is a popular member of the Lffiion League Club of Chicago, the Chicago Athletic Club, the Chicago Engineers Club, the City Club, the Caxton Club and the Glenview Country Club, all of Chicago. Already he has a somewhat extended acquaintance in Dayton, his reputation having insured him a warm reception in the business circles of the city.

As printed in History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio (1909). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.