Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, (February 3, 1843 – September 11, 1915) was an American businessman, industrialist and railroad magnate who spent most of his career in Canada. He is famous for overseeing the construction of the first Canadian transcontinental railway, a project that was completed in 1885, in under half the projected time. Van Horne succeeded Lord Mount Stephen as president of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1888, and was responsible for launching the sea transport division of the CPR, which inaugurated regular service between Vancouver and Hong Kong in 1891. He also presided over the expansion of the CPR into the luxury hotel business in the 1890s. Van Horne was also a prominent member of the syndicate that created the Cuba Railroad Company in 1900. He lived at the Van Horne Mansion in Montreal's Golden Square Mile.
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Ancestry and early life
Born on February 3, 1843, in rural Illinois, Van Horne moved with his family to Joliet, Illinois, at age eight. He was the eldest child of Cornelius Covenhoven Van Horne (1794–1854) by his second wife Mary Minier Richards of Sandusky, Ohio. Cornelius studied law at Union College, but took his family out west to seek his fortune farming. Misfortune followed as his house, barns, and law books were destroyed by fire, and his first wife died shortly afterwards. Abandoning farming, Cornelius returned to the law and became Recorder of Will County, Illinois, moving his family to Joliet, Illinois. He was active in getting the city its first charter, and because of this, Cornelius was elected Joliet's first mayor. When the city later built a new bridge it was named the Van Horne Bridge.