Frederick Douglas Underwood

Underwood was born in 1849 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin,{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45387332/newyork_tribune/| via=Newspapers.com| title=From a Switchman's Shanty to the President's Office| first=Arnold| last=Prince| date=May 30, 1920| newspaper=New York Tribune| location=New York, NY| page=61}} {{open access}}{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45387840/obituary_for_fd_underwood_aged_93/| via=Newspapers.com| title=F.D. Underwood, Rail Chief, Dies| newspaper=Star Tribune| location=Minneapolis, MN| date=February 20, 1942| page=17}} {{open access}} the son of Enoch Downs Underwood and Harriet Flint (Denny) Underwood. He attended the public schools of Wauwatosa and Wayland Academy, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. In 1867 he entered the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, rising from clerk and brakeman to division superintendent.{{cite book| title=Dictionary of American Biography| volume=Supplement 3| page=783| location=New York| publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons| year=1973}}

In 1875, he married Sara Virginia Smith, by whom he had two sons, Enoch William and Russell Sage Underwood. They were divorced in 1886, and in 1893 he married Alice Stafford Robbins.{{cite journal| title=Dictionary of American Biography| volume=Supplement 3| bibcode=1929Sci....70..121P| last1=Powers| first1=William H.| journal=Science| year=1929| issue=1805| pages=121–122| doi=10.1126/science.70.1805.121| pmid=17813847}}Two Great Lakes ships eventually received the name Alice Stafford: a Lake Michigan passenger steamer of 859 gross tons, built at Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 1882 as the Lora and renamed Alice Stafford in 1897, and a tug of 141 gross tons, built in 1914 at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, for the Erie Railroad for service in the Chicago River.

In 1886 Underwood was named general superintendent of the Minneapolis and Pacific Railway. Before the end of the year he was superintendent of construction of its successor, the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway (Soo Line). Soon after promoted to general manager, he supervised the building of nearly 1,300 miles of line. There was a great rivalry between the Soo Line and James J. Hill's St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway, but Hill came to respect Underwood's ability, and the two leaders worked out a compromise.

When Hill had become a major shareholder in the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, he secured the appointment of Underwood as vice president and general manager in 1899.{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45387541/newsrecord/| via=Newspapers.com| title=Frederick Underwood, Rail Builder, Dies| author=United Press| newspaper=News-Record| location=Neenah, WI| date=February 20, 1942| page=6}} {{open access}} However, with control of the B&O by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the offing, Underwood accepted J. Pierpont Morgan's offer of the presidency of the Erie Railroad in May 1901.

Underwood served as president of the Erie for 25 years. He was very involved in the day-to-day workings of the railroad and became known as "F.D." among the Erie's employees.{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45387676/buffalo_evening_news/| title=Five Short Stories; Didn't Know "F.D."| newspaper=Buffalo Evening News| location=Buffalo, NY| date=August 24, 1907| page=21| via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}} During his tenure he made good use of limited financial resources to rebuild the long-troubled Erie as a first-class railroad, especially as a freight carrier. From 1920 to 1926 he was also chairman of the executive committee. A number of executives who served under him went on to fame in their own right, most notably Daniel Willard.{{cite journal| title=Dictionary of American Biography| volume=Supplement 3| pages=783–784| bibcode=1929Sci....70..121P| last1=Powers| first1=William H.| journal=Science| year=1929| issue=1805| doi=10.1126/science.70.1805.121| pmid=17813847}} Underwood retired from the Erie in 1926.

Elected a director of Wells Fargo & Company on January 2, 1902, Underwood served on the board until the company ceased express operations in 1918. He was appointed managing director of Wells Fargo in May 1910, but relinquished the post in November of that year.{{cite book| author-link=Noel Loomis| first=Noel M.| last=Loomis| title=Wells Fargo| pages=284, 311| location=New York| publisher=Clarkson N. Potter, Inc.| year=1968}}

The 340-foot, 3,045-ton package freighter Ramapo, built in 1896 at Buffalo, New York, was renamed F.D. Underwood by the Erie Railroad in 1910. Although sold to the Great Lakes Transit Corporation in 1916, the steamer continued to carry Underwood's name until she was sold for scrap in 1940.{{cite book| editor-first=J.B.| editor-last=Mansfield| title=History of the Great Lakes| volume=I| page=876| location=Chicago| publisher=J.H. Beers & Co.| year=1899}}{{cite book| first=John O.| last=Greenwood| title=Namesakes 1930-1955| page=210| location=Cleveland| publisher=Freshwater Press, Inc.| year=1978}}

A licensed captain, Underwood owned three yachts in succession. He was also an early automobile owner. He owned two farms, one in Wauwatosa and another in Farmington, Minnesota; usually he spent his summers at the latter.

Underwood retired as president of the Erie Railroad on December 31, 1926. He died of pneumonia at his home at 151 Central Park West, New York City, at the age of 93 on February 18, 1942.

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Category:1849 births

Category:1942 deaths

Category:Erie Railroad

Category:Wells Fargo employees

Category:People from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

Category:People from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

Category:People from Farmington, Minnesota

Category:Deaths from pneumonia in New York City

Category:Wayland Academy, Wisconsin alumni