Sidney Dillon

Sidney Dillon (May 7, 1812 – June 9, 1892), an American railroad executive and one the nation's premier railroad builders.

Biography

Dillon was born in Northampton, Fulton County, New York. His father, Timothy, was a farmer.

He began his career in the industry working as a water boy on the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, one of America's earliest railroads, for its construction from Albany to Schenectady, New York.

In 1840 he went into business for himself, forming his own construction company, and obtaining the construction contract for the Boston and Albany Railroad. Dillon married Hannah Smith of Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1841. The couple would have two daughters, Cora A. and Julia E. ("Julie"). Cora married Dr. Peter B. Wyckoff in 1875. Julia married Josiah Dwight Ripley on May 28, 1862. In her later years, Julia married Gilman Smith Moulton on March 1, 1894.

He was actively involved in the construction of numerous roads, his largest being the Union Pacific Railroad, with which he became actively involved in 1865 through an equity exchange with the Crédit Mobilier of America corporation.