William Parker Halliday (July 21, 1827 – September 22, 1899) was an American steamboat captain, banker, printer, hotel owner, vast landowner and businessman. Halliday began his professional career working on steamboats on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and eventually became a captain of a steamboat based out of Louisville, Kentucky. A pioneer in the river and railroad transportation businesses, Halliday was responsible for the expansion of Cairo, Illinois, following the American Civil War.
Before the war, Halliday predicted that it would greatly impact river and railroad transportation and moved to Cairo, Illinois, a town at a critical position, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Soon after relocating, Halliday established many businesses that focused on river transportation and general merchandise. During the war, Halliday became good friends with General Ulysses S. Grant, and this relationship increased his personal fortune considerably through favorable military contracts.
After the Civil War, Halliday, his four brothers, and other family members rapidly expanded their business interests in the region. Halliday purchased real estate, businesses, hotels, mines, railroads, lumber yards, steamboats, and furniture companies, and took advantage of many other business opportunities. His business success led to the advancement of the region and specifically contributed to the development of Cairo, Illinois, and Hallidayboro, Illinois.
Halliday was born to Samuel Halliday and Eliza Parker in Ohio in 1827, the eldest of seven children. His father, an immigrant from Scotland, had graduated from the University of Edinburgh at the age of 19 and immigrated to America in 1818 to receive a professorship at the University of Ohio. However, his travel was difficult, and he became stranded in the small village of Rutland, where he was convinced to stay and open a school. Eventually, Samuel surveyed and planned a town with William Parker, Halliday's grandfather. Samuel held the position of county auditor in Meigs County, Ohio, for 25 years.
Halliday received a general education in Ohio and was first employed as a printer. His first job was as proprietor of Meigs County Gazette and later he worked at the Cincinnati Gazette. Sometime before 1857 Halliday became a surveyor working for the United States Department of the Interior under Marcus Baker and other surveyors. The purpose of the surveying group was to determine the northwestern most boundary of the United States. Halliday worked on the surveying teams that surveyed the Poteau Mountain Quadrangle (Arkansas-Indian Territory), Tuskahoma Quadrangle, Antlers Quadrangle, Clarksville Quadrangle (Indian Territory-Texas), and other areas.
After a short time he switched careers and became a clerk on a steamboat, frequently working alongside Charles T. Hinde, who later married his sister. Halliday gradually advanced in the steamboat business until he was made a captain. In 1860, he relocated with his family to Cairo and initially worked as a commission merchant. Later, he was a merchant, cotton planter, lumberman, banker, miller, coal mine operator, owned of vast tracts of coal and farm lands, owned salt mines in Illinois, and was a pioneer lumber dealer in Cairo. Halliday was a very successful businessman and by the end of his life was a multimillionaire. He owned steamboats, hotels, commercial shipping businesses, and other investments.
Before the Civil War, Halliday lived in Louisville, Kentucky, and owned a grain business. In 1860, Halliday moved to Cairo, Illinois, predicting that war would come to Cairo thanks to its strategic location, and he set up businesses to benefit from the conflict. By February 1861, Halliday had established Halliday, Graham, and Co. and moved his "mammoth wharf boat" from Mound City, Illinois, down river to Cairo. Once the wharf boat arrived, journalists predicted that Halliday's company would be the most extensive forwarder in the Mississippi Valley, and Halliday organized a citywide celebration to mark the boat's arrival.
Halliday and his partner, N. W. Graham, signed a contract with Ulysses S. Grant for the Union Army's use of the wharf boat during the war. The contract compensated Halliday and Graham $1,000 per month and did not have an expiration date. Some commentators have suggested that the contract was a result of the close personal friendship of General Grant and Halliday, instead of sound military strategy. For a short time, General Grant made his military headquarters in the Halliday hotel in Cairo, Illinois.
During the war, Halliday and Grant became close friends. Grant commandeered one of Halliday's wharf boats for use in the Union Commissary Department, and soon after the boat was commandeered Halliday signed up to work as the commissary agent. Halliday gained the trust of Grant and, though he never enlisted in the army, Halliday accompanied General Grant to numerous battles and expeditions. In addition to the military uses Halliday's wharf boats were also used to connect the Mobile and Ohio Railroad with the Illinois Central Railroad at Cairo.
In 1865, at the close of the Civil War, Halliday established several railroads with his close associates. On February 15, 1865, Halliday, Asa Eastman, S. Staats Taylor, N. R. Casey, Isham N. Haynie, Henry W. Webb, and John Q. Harman were granted a charter by the State of Illinois legislature to incorporate the Cairo and Mound City Railroad and were authorized to have $200,000 in capital stock. The next day the Illinois legislature approved the railroad charter for the Cairo and St. Louis Railroad on February 16, 1865 and Sharon Tyndale, Isham N. Haynie, Samuel Staats Taylor, John Thomas, William H. Logan, Halliday, and Tilman B. Cantrell were the original incorporators and were authorized to have $3,000,000 in capital stock. Also in 1865, Halliday and his brothers established the First Bank and Trust Company and bought the largest hotel in Cairo, renaming it after the family name.
Halliday built the Riverlore Mansion in 1865 in Cairo, Illinois, across the street from the Magnolia Manor. The brick mansion has 11 rooms, three floors, and a basement. When the mansion was completed in 1865, it spanned the entire city block.
The first floor of the mansion has the front entry, sitting area, family room, parlor, kitchen, sunroom, dining room, hallway and powder room. An oval central stairway with a curved cherry balustrade winds more than three stories, encompassing some 38 feet to the slate mansard roof, which is capped by an ornamental iron railing. The second floor has three guest bedrooms, a guest bath, a sitting room, a master bedroom, and a luxurious bath complete with a sunken tub. The third floor has a sitting area, an office, a library, and a theater complete with a stage and 18 movie seats.
Part of the original design of the Riverlore is the distinctive river boat theme of the house. There is a glassed-in pilothouse with a sliding hatch that serves as the entrance to the roof. The roof was designed to be flat and resemble the deck of a steamboat, so that Halliday could view the river and reminisce about his early days working as a steamboat captain while standing on his roof. Captain Halliday lived at the Riverlore for 34 years.
Halliday and his brothers achieved substantial business success following the Civil War through a variety of businesses and investments. One commentator has stated that by the 1880s the Halliday family was among the most powerful in the region, and Halliday was the significant figure in the family. Halliday the driving force behind the firm of Halliday Bros in Cairo had four brothers, the brothers together operated as members of the firm Halliday Bros. The brother's character in business and personal life has been noted in many writings, publications, and books, one such book A History of the City of Cairo Illinois by John M. Lansden speaks of the brothers:
There were five of them, a somewhat exceptional number: William P. Halliday, Samuel B. Halliday, Edwin W. Halliday, Henry L. Halliday, and Thomas W. Halliday. Of them all, I may be permitted to say that while they all differed from each other, they all exhibited features of character and conduct that would have given them prominence anywhere in the business world. No doubt in some one or two important respects, each one excelled the others. This was shown in those matters and things to which they gave their chief attention. Speaking of them and their families, so well represented here with us and elsewhere, it can be said that they have always stood for better things, not with assumption or pharisaically, but openly and firmly. They pushed their business enterprises with diligence, and had there been more of such men it would have been better for the city and for them also, I have no doubt.
The Halliday business empire following the Civil War comprised numerous businesses in Cairo, cotton lands in Arkansas, a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, furniture companies in Memphis and New Orleans, coal mines in southern Illinois, salt wells in southern Illinois and Indiana, numerous large farms, and many other investments. Halliday and his brothers dealt heavily in flour following the Civil War.
In order to keep updated on their daily business activities Halliday and his brothers installed private telegraph lines between their residences and their business offices. In the early 1870s Halliday held the public office of city councilman for the city of Cairo Illinois, for the city at large ward with Daniel Hurd.
On March 5, 1867, Halliday, David J. Baker Jr., Alfred B. Safford, Daniel Hurd, and George D. Williamson were granted permission by the Illinois legislature to incorporate The Valley Iron Company.
The capital stock of the company was $200,000 and the company headquarters were in Cairo, Illinois. The company's purpose was to mine and manufacture iron and other metals, with the stated purpose of supplying railroads. Also at this time, Halliday, Hurd, Safford, and others served on the transportation committee of the Illinois Central Railroad.
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