RAINEY

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sIURCE:

The following was posted to the Caswell County Historical Association Message Board 29 March 2009:

https://ncccha.blogspot.com/2009/12/thomas-rainey-1824-1910.html

Thomas Rainey (1824-1910)

The following was posted to the Caswell County Historical Association Message Board 29 March 2009:

Tomorrow, 30 March 2009, marks the 100th anniversary of the day the first cars officially crossed the Queensboro Bridge in New York, New York. One might ask: "So what does this have to do with Caswell County?" Now for the rest of the story.
Thomas Rainey was born 9 December 1824 in Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina, one of the many children of James Glenn Rainey and Sophia Hendrick Rainey. Apparently schooled in engineering and eventually becoming Dr. Thomas Rainey, he led a colorful life. Rainey taught school, wrote a book, became involved in Republican party politics, and studied steam navigation in Europe. At one time he owned a fleet of sixteen steam ferry boats in Brazil, and his brother Dabney Rainey is buried there. His fortune was made in Brazil, but it was a bridge that became his life's passion. This is the bridge being celebrated tomorrow.

Beginning after the Civil War, Rainey spent twenty-five years of his life and most of his fortune (purportedly some $600,000) advancing the construction of a bridge across the East River between Manhattan and Long Island City. Originally, it was to be named the Blackwell Island (now Roosevelt Island) Bridge. Leading citizens who supported the bridge (including piano manufacturer William Steinway) formed the New York and Queens County Bridge Company, with Rainey first as treasurer and eventually as president. Funding was difficult to find, and another bridge was receiving most of the attention -- the Brooklyn Bridge. The company even began construction of towers on the west side, but the project was aborted when funds were depleted.

However, adequate funding eventually was secured, and the bridge completed in 1909. On opening day, Dr. Thomas Rainey from Yanceyville crossed the bridge with New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes. Rainey received a gold medal inscribed: "Father of the Bridge." That day Rainey told the New York Times:

"This is my bridge. At least it is the child of my thought, of my long years of arduous toil and sacrifice. Just over there, are the old towers of my bridge, which I began to build many years ago. I spent all I owned on the project . . . It is a grand bridge, much greater than the one I had in mind. It will be in service to thousands in the years to come, when Dr. Rainey and his bridge projects will long have been gathered into the archives of the past."

Although the structure was named the Queensboro Bridge, Rainey's contribution was not forgotten. On April 18, 1904, the City of New York acquired several acres of waterfront property through condemnation procedures. The concrete sea wall, built where the park meets the East River, was completed in 1912, by which time Rainey had passed away. To honor his public spirit, the city named the property Rainey Park. An exchange of properties with a local landowner in 1917 added nearly 3 acres to the northern part of the park. Located in Ravenswood, it is often referred to as one of the prettiest and most popular parks in the New York park system.
Dr. Rainey's pride in the structure was so great that he reportedly attempted to walk the length of the span the year before he died at age 84 in 1910.

Thomas Rainey and Grace P. Ogden appeared on the census of 1880 in Long Island, Queens, New York County, New York. Thomas Rainey, civil engineer, was fifty-five years old and besides his wife Grace P. Rainey, the household contained niece Florence O. Rainey, age six, attending school, and three servants. Florence was probably the niece of wife Grace, and her last name was probably Ogden, rather than Rainey.

Thomas Rainey and Grace P. Ogden appeared on the census of 1900 in Manhattan, New York County, New York. The household contained five. Thomas Rainey, bridge engineer, owned the residence at 349 Lexington free of mortgage, He was seventy-five years old and had been married for twenty-five years. His date and place of birth was given as January 1825, North Carolina. The date and place of birth of his wife Gracie P. O. Rainey was given as September 1840, New York. There were three "visitors" in the household: Antony Emile, age 32, born in Switzerland; James M. Covington, age 23, occupation railroad conductor, and [his sister] Carrie W. Covington, age 22, both born in New York. He died on 1910.3.29 in 346 Lexington Avenue, New York City, New York County, New York, at age 85.

IN HIS OWN WORDS:

In June 1854 I sailed for the Amazon and reached Para' in 28 days. An offer had been made for a steamer service from the great Marajo' Island, lying in the mouth of the Amazon, to take beef cattle to supply the Para market; the island having tens of thousands of cattle in excellent condition.... At Rio de Janeiro I endeavored, but fruitlessly,to interest the Imperial Government in my proposed line of steamer from New York...His words were fair and flattering; his works were woefully wanting.... On returning from Brazil (to New York) In 1856, I spent most of that year to my proposed steam line to Brazil until the crisis killed it, and to my work, "Ocean Steam Navigation and Ocean Post" published by Appleton & Co., New York, and Trubnet & Co.....[was the crisis he was referring to the overthrow of Rosas?] While in Europe (1857), the President of US appointed me Secretary of Legation to Brazil, salary $5000, or whatever I wished...I sent home iddediately my refusal and returned home..and found I was again appointed Secretary of Legation to Brazil.

1859 Brazil: I sailed again for Rio Janeiro and organized my ferry company...the first sent out in Dec. 1860 with my brother Dabney Rainey... [Dabney was buried in the British Cemetery at Gamboa...where is this?] I had in June two more steamers to go out. As there was already a privateer cruising, the "Alabama," in the Atlantic, I armed each steamer with fine brass rifled 12-pounder...I put an old captain on one of my steamers and commanded the other, the "Sequnda," myself; for the three first vessels were named "Primeira," "Segunda," and "Terceira." The Brazilian life was a sacrifice,not only to me personally, but to many of my family. Three brothers labored with me faithfully: James Patrick-Henry Rainey, sixteen years, William R., ten years with his wife and family, and his son George R. who spoke Portugeuse fluently, Dabney R. who sleeps in the British Cemetery at Gamboa, twelve years; and my sister Rebecca Blance, who was there many years looking after our homes. All of these unselfish souls suffered bitterly from the hot climate, and most of them soon died on returning home. All except myself were bitter Secessionists; and many were our battles royal, especially after 1865, when they were reinforced by the thousands of deluded who sought new slavery homes in Brazil.

The following is from The Greater Astoria Historical Society's Website:

DR. THOMAS C. RAINEY
FATHER OF THE QUEENSBORO BRIDGE

A VENERABLE man, wearing a dark tweed suit, a skull cap and a pair of house shoes, slipped out unnoticed from his home at 349 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, on May 12, 1909. His tall, spare frame was bent with 85 years of strenuous life. But behind his gold-rimmed spectacles a pair of blue-gray eyes flashed determination, and the spirit of adventure swelled strong within him. Boarding a surface car, this elderly, white haired man rode north as far as Fifty-ninth street. There he alighted and walked slowly toward the East River.

When he reached First Avenue he paused as if uncertain what to do. The aged man crossed the thoroughfare and began to ascend the Manhattan approach to the Queensboro Bridge. Ascending the approach, he stopped every now and then to gaze at the great towers stretching skyward to a distance of 4o6 feet. "Taller and more massive than mine," he commented in an undertone. Having gained the first of the cantilever spans, the elderly man frequently turned to the railing and viewed intently the giant superstructure. With the trained eye of an expert he examined the top and bottom chords, each weighing thousands upon thousands of pounds; the beams and diagonals, and all the mighty pieces of steel that go to make up the latest of the big East River spans.

Threading his way slowly among the pedestrians, the venerable stranger finally reached the Queensboro anchor span. There he again turned to the railing and gazed wistfully at an old, weather-beaten masonry pier, which showed its crumbled head a little above the ground in the Ravenswood section of Long Island, just to the north of the new bridge. The longer he gazed the more wistful became the expression in the elderly man's eyes. Finally tears welled and coursed down his cheeks. Then followed a pulling together of the trembling figure, and from that old, storm-stained pier the eyes reverted to the marvelous superstructure behind. The tears dried, and in their place came that expression of pride, so strangely mixed with defiance and resentment.

"Yes, it is a greater bridge than mine could have ever been," exclaimed the venerable man; "but it's my bridge, anyhow! It's the child of my thoughts; the realization of my idea. In fighting for it I lost all I had - health, strength, fortune. When all was gone the city stepped in and did the work; but, though the city robbed me of a personal success, it has turned my original idea into a $17,000,000 bridge. That's monument enough for any man. The city did the work, but I furnished the idea - and it's my bridge. I have lived to see my great life work completed; I am content."

Turning again to the east, the aged man resumed his journey toward the Queens Borough end of the bridge. Near the end of the approach he was halted by a party of men in a swift-moving automobile. "What are you doing over here, doctor?" the men, with one voice, exclaimed. "Jump right in here with us." Before the bewildered octogenarian could remonstrate he was sitting in the tonneau of the machine, which whisked him back to his home in Manhattan.

Unquestionably, the Queensboro Bridge would have been built. As a sorely-needed artery of traffic between Queens Borough and Manhattan, it was an rise that could not have been long delayed under any circumstances. But the greater city there is not a person so selfish or ungrateful as even to attempt to deny that the existence of the Queensboro Bridge as an accomplished fact to-day is due chiefly to the prophetic vision, the unremitting labors and undaunted determination of Dr. Thomas C. Rainey.

For twenty-five years that grim old promoter of Ravenswood, looking into the future with clear-cut vision that it is given few to have, battled heroically for the construction of a bridge across Blackwell's Island. Time, money and he gave to the project unstintingly. By his heroic labor, which extended over about a quarter of a century, from 1875 to 1901, he laid the true foundation of the structure which has now become a reality. When one group of capitalists failed he formed another. He went to Albany, to Washington. He interested any men and visited any place whereby he thought the idea closest to his heart might be be furthered. He enlisted the aid of such men as the Steinways, the Crimmins brothers, Austin Corbin and Charles H. Pratt. Away back in the 60's he foresaw what the world sees to-day-that the building of the Queensboro Bridge would mean the coming of Long Island into its own.

The New York and Long Island Bridge Company, of which he was the promoter, was incorporated by an act of the legislature passed April 16, 1867. C. A. Trowbridge (Old Astoria) was the president of the company, R. M. C. Graham, secretary and treasurer, and Thomas C. Rainey (Ravenswood) financial manager and director. Among other directors were William Steinway (Steinway), Edward J. Woolsey (Old Astoria), Archibald M. Bliss (Sunnyside?) , H C Poppenhusen (College Point), Charles F. Tretbar (Steinway) , Gotlob Gunther and Herman Funcke (College Point).

The plan of the company organized by him was to build a steel cantilever bridge 153 feet above high water at a cost of $10,000,000. It was to have four tracks for freight and passenger transportation. On the New York side there were to be two approaches, one in Second Avenue, high above the elevated at Fiftieth street, and thence by a curve to the Forty-second street railroad tracks. The other one was to go up Second avenue above the elevated tracks over the Harlem River to Mott Haven junction. The contract to build the structure was awarded to Clarke. Reeves & Company for $6,394,964.

At the Long Island City end one approach was to connect with the Long Island Railroad and the second one was to run South to the Navy Yard.

Work was begun on this bridge on February 24, 1893. Large sums of money were spent, but for a variety of reasons the project languished. A committee of forty was formed in Long Island City in 1898, however, to see to it that the scheme to build a bridge should not fall through.

When, standing on the great cantilever span, Dr. Rainey muttered to himself that the Queensboro Bridge was the "child of his thoughts," he spoke the exact truth. Although the bridge that he planned more than a quarter of a century ago was primarily a railroad bridge, and was to cost but a little more than $6,000,000, in erecting the $17,000,000 Queensboro Bridge the city carried out practically every fundamental idea underlying the Rainey project. It is a cantilever bridge just as Dr. Rainey's bridge was to have been. It is reared almost exactly in the same place that Dr. Rainey had planned for his great span. The same use has been made of Blackwell's Island that Dr. Rainey proposed to make, and when contemplated railroad facilities shall have been had, it will be capable of about the same railroad connections that Dr. Rainey designed for his structure.

And, finally, just as Dr. Rainey so prophetically pointed out, with the spanning of the East River over Blackwell's Island, has come in very truth the awakening of Long Island. All of which only serves to demonstrate what a remarkable and far-reaching triumph the Queensboro Bridge actually is for Dr. Rainey and his idea. Personally and financially he failed, but his idea conquered and will live for ages to come. Dr. Thomas C. Rainey will always be known as the "Father of the Queensboro Bridge."

Dr. Rainey was born on December 9, 1824, in Yanceyville, Caswell County, N. C.

It was proposed to commemorate Dr. Rainey's work in his lifetime, at least by erecting a suitable bronze tablet at the bridge, reciting his relation to the idea. A committee was formed. Dr. Rainey died the following year.

No monument to him was ever constructed.