Samuel Polyakov
| Samuel Polyakov | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Shmuel Polyakov December 24, 1837 Dubroŭna, Orsha district |
| Died | April 7, 1888 (aged 50) Saint Petersburg |
| Citizenship | Russian Empire |
| Years active | 1863–1888 |
| Known for | Railroad financier and contractor |
| Relatives |
Lazar Polyakov, Yakov Polyakov |
Samuel (Shmuel) Polyakov (also Poliakoff, Poliakov, Russian: Самуил Соломонович Поляков) was a Russian businessman, informally known as the "most famous railroad king" of the Russian Empire, the senior member of the Polyakov business family, a philanthropist and a Jewish civil rights activist, co-founder of World ORT. Polyakov's business interests concentrated in southern Russia and Ukraine. By the time of his sudden death at the age of 50 he was credited with the construction of one quarter of Russia's railroads, his personal net worth was estimated at 31.4 million roubles.
Samuel and his brothers, future bankers Lazar Polyakov and Yakov Polyakov, were born in a small trader's family in Dubroŭna, in the Belarusian part of the Russian Empire. Samuel helped Yakov, the elder brother, in running father's business in alcohol tax farming, but after the emancipation reform of 1861 this opportunity dwindled, and Samuel started his own construction business. According to Sergei Witte (connected to Polyakov's business interests prior to his move into government service), Samuel Polyakov started his business empire as a proprietor of private postal station in Kharkov Governorate in Ukraine. Polyakov performed "some kind of important services" for the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs Ivan Tolstoy, later handled Tolstoy's business interests on a regular basis, and in return "Tolstoy launched Polyakov on his career".
This type of relationship between statesmen and Jewish entrepreneurs was common in post-emancipation Russia; Tolstoy by the time of his death (1867) allegedly owned half a million roubles in Polyakov shares. "Services" mentioned by Witte actually were running a vodka distillery on wastelands of Tolstoy's estate, and the "launch" was granted as a contract to build the Grushovka-Aksay local rail line, owned by the Don Cossack Host and completed in 1863. In 1863–1865 Polyakov performed construction subcontracts for the railroad "king" Karl von Meck. Finally, in 1866 Tolstoy rewarded Polyakov with a contract to build the Kozlov-Voronezh-Rostov-on-Don mainline railroad (commissioned in February 1868). Polyakov made himself rich charging the state 75 thousand roubles per verst of track, eight times above actual cost. This line was followed by Kursk-Kharkiv-Azov line, Gryazi-Oryol line and others.
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