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William B. Ogden

"Ogden William B. (1805-1877) was born in Delaware County, NY: studied law; became a member of the New York Legislature and was active in the Erie Railroad projects; arrived in {Chicago} June 1835 to handle his brother-in law Charles Butler's real state investments: immediately involved himself in town governmental affairs, and in September 1835 he was vested with authority by the town board to purchase in the East and deliver two fire engines. When he returned with them in 1836, he came to stay, bringing his younger brother Maholon, also a lawyer; a Democrat, William became the first mayor of the city of Chicago by election on May 2, 1837, defeating John H. Kinzie of the Whig Party. *  Real estate dealer, Kinzie Street near N. State, his brother handling much of the business; * Ogden Avenue, a diagonal street in the SW of Chicago."

"Elected the first mayor of Chicago in 1837, William B. Ogden was a shrewd businessman who made his fortune from well-timed Chicago real estate investments. But ultimately he realized the immense promise that his centrally located city had as a railroad hub for the nation, and by the mid-1840s he was focusing much of his time on developing railroads that ran in and out of Chicago. Among the lines over which he presided were the Chicago & Northwestern, the Illinois & Wisconsin, and the Buffalo & Mississippi. In 1850, knowing how much Chicago stood to benefit, Ogden chaired a convention calling for a transcontinental railroad. When the Union Pacific was organized in 1862 to make the transcontinental line a reality, he became its first president".