John H. Inman - Southern Resources

Southern Resources

Inman made a careful study of Southern resources and wants, and determined to do what he could for the development of the South. In association with other capitalists who relied on his judgment, he invested over $5,000,000 in the enterprises of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, including the bituminous coal-mines at Birmingham, Alabama, the blast-furnaces in that city, and Bessemer steel works at Ensley City, near there. He induced the investment of over $100,000,000 in southern enterprises, and became a director in companies that possessed more than 10,000 miles of railroad. For many years Inman competed for control of the Tennessee Railroad Company with New York Republican boss Thomas C. Platt, who was represented between 1898 and 1891 by Company Chief Superintendent Judge Hiram Bond of New York, but Inman was ultimately successful.

In 1883 Inman directed his attention to Southern railroads. He became a director in the East Tennessee. Virginia and Georgia system, the Louisville and Nashville, the Richmond and Danville Railroad, and the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad. Mr. Inman's interest in the South, it was estimated by friends, led to the investment ot over $100,000,000 in enterprises there.

Inman was a Director in the Fourth National Bank in New York, and took so much interest in its prosperity that he refused a Directorship in a prominent railroad company because a clause in its charter made it impossible for a Director of the company to also be Director of a National Bank. Inman said, in declining, that he would rather part with all railroad interests than to sever connection with the Board of Directors of the Fourth National Bank.

Among Southern enterprises Inman was largely interested in the organization of the Southern Iron Company, controlling the charcoal iron industry of the South. This concern brought about the manufacture of steel at the Chattanooga plant. He also owned a big tract of coal land in the Sequatchie Valley of Tennessee, one of the large centres of coal and iron interests below the Ohio.

Since 1886 Inman invested in the Richmond Terminal system of railroads and was chosen President in 1889. He was one of a few owners of the South Atlantic and Ohio Railroad, running from Bristol, Tennessee to Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Among other corporations in which Inman was a director were the American Cotton Oil Company, the Home Insurance Company, Royal Insurance Company of Liverpool, the American Pig Iron Storage Warrant Company, the American Surety Company, and the Liberty Insurance Company.

Inman was appointed a New York City Rapid Transit Commissioner in 1891 and held the office until his death. He was one of the committee of five to provide a plan to secure the necessary financial aid for the World's Fair at the time New York was endeavoring to secure that exposition. The other members of the committee were J. Pierpont Morgan, August Belmont, Samuel Babcock, and Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Inman was six feet tall and well proportioned. He had the strength and elasticity of an athlete. He was married on June 8, 1870, to Miss Margaret M. Coffin of Sweetwater, Monroe County, Tennessee, a granddaughter of Dr. Charles Coffin, the founder and for years the President of Greenville College. Business cares were never allowed to enter his home. Six children survived him. Inman occupied a new house, at 874 Fifth Avenue, fronting on Central Park. Inman was brought up in the Presbyterian faith, and attended the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, of which the Rev. Dr. John Hall was pastor.

The city of Inman, South Carolina, is named for John H. Inman.