Adrian G Iselin
| Adrian Georg Iselin | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 17, 1818 New York City, New York |
| Died | April 1905 New York City, New York |
| Occupation | Banker, financial investor |
Adrian Georg Iselin (1818-1905) was a New York financier who invested in and developed real estate, railroads, and mining operations. Iselin was born of Swiss ancestry in 1818. For many years during his early business career he was engaged in importing with his brother, William Iselin, being one of the most successful merchants of New York in the middle of the century. After retiring from the importing trade, he established the banking house of Adrian Iselin & Co., but has been entirely out of active business since 1883.
In 1845 married Elanora O'Donnell of Baltimore, the daughter of General Columbus O'Donnell and his wife Eleanora. Her father was at the head of one of the foremost families of that city, and was a leading financier of Maryland, being connected with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and other important corporations.
Iselin eventually became the chief investor in the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal and Iron Company. At the outbreak of the Civil War his Wall Street firm of A. Iselin and Company was so strong that it helped to finance the United States Government. Before his involvement with coal in Pennsylvania, Iselin was one of the directors of the Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad Company in Minnesota. The town of Adrian, Minnesota, which developed after completion of the rail lines, was named after his mother, Mrs. Adrian Iselin.
The coal-mining town of Iselin, one of the many company towns in Indiana county founded by the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal and Iron Company, was named after him. The Iselin family also controlled the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway Company, which transported coal from Pennsylvania to markets along the Great Lakes and Canada. He and his family were responsible for the building a number of Catholic churches in his Coal Company towns including St. Adrian's in Adrian, Pennsylvania, as well as several hospitals, including the Adrian Hospital in Puxnsutawny, and the Indiana Hospital in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Socially, Adrian Iselin and his family were among the wealthiest of New York high society. In New York City Iselin was a stockholder in the Metropolitan Opera House and Real Estate Company, along with other wealthy men that included Cornelius Vanderbilt and J.P. Morgan. Iselin was one of the incorporators of the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. For many years he was the Consul of the Swiss Republic in New York.
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