FIRST - Man to Found an Independent Express Service - Mt. Auburn Cemetery - Watertown, MA
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NorStar
N 42° 22.316 W 071° 08.686
19T E 323409 N 4693300
This very ornate grave stone for William Frederick Harnden put up by a consortium of railway express companies honors the man who founded the railway express service in the United States of America.
Waymark Code: WMKY56
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 06/12/2014
Views: 6
In Watertown, within Mt. Auburn Cemetery, is this grave, put up by a consortium of railway express companies, is this monument/grave site for William Frederick Harnden, who is credited with being the first to establish a railway express service.
The cemetery entrance is located off Mt. Auburn Street, near the intersection with Belmont Street. From the entrance, go to the Stone Chapel/information center and purchase a map ($1) that shows notable graves. This marker is located along Central Ave.
The memorial is a large stone structure maybe 20 ft high and four-sided. The structure has a base and tablets, with columns at each corner supporting a peaked roof. The top part has small symbols on each face and four words: "Charity," "Justice," "Faith," and "Hope."
The tablets have the following tablets:
1:
"William Frederick Harnden
Founder of the Express Business
in America
Died 14 January 1845
Aged 31 Years
Because the King's Business Requires Haste
[Can't make out the name]"
2:
Image of a man giving a woman a package.
3:
"Erected by the Express Companies
of the United States
in the Year 1866"
4:
Another image, this of a man at a window and a woman with two children - not sure what this is about.
And at the base, is a life-sized sculpture of a mastiff dog lying down.
William F. Harnden was a conductor for the Boston and Providence Railroad in Worcester. He began to sell tickets for express packages to be shipped between Boston and Providence. The first successful shipment on March 4, 1839, made him the firs person to send an express shipment by rail. He then expanded to New York and Philadelphia. He established Harnden and Company, specializing in trans-Atlantic shipments to European cities such as London and Paris. Harnden became ill and died at the untimely age of 31 years. His company merges with other companies to form Adams Express.
FIRST - Classification Variable: Person or Group
Date of FIRST: 03/04/1839
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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