Leland Stanford was a nineteenth century politician, businessman, and philanthropist. 1. As a businessman, he was very successful in establishing the railroads. As a philanthropist, he gave away a lot of money to start a university. First, we'll talk about his success in politics. Leland Stanford served as governor of the state of California in the 1860s. 2.
Now, we'll go on to talk about Leland Stanford as a businessman. This map shows the Central Pacific Railroad. The Central Pacific Railroad was the western part of the country's first transcontinental railroad, and Leland Stanford was president of the company when the transcontinental railroad was completed. 3.
Stanford was accomplished not just as a politician and a businessman. 4. As a philanthropist, Leland Stanford .gave away millions of dollars of the money he earned from the Central Pacific Railroad to start a University. It is, of course, Stanford University.
The university is actually named after Leland Stanford's son, Leland Stanford, Junior: Leland Stanford, Junior was Leland Stanford's only child and he died in 1884 at the age of fifteen. 5. Because the university is a memorial to Stanford's son, the official name of the university is actually Leland Stanford Junior University, but most people just call it Stanford.