LeGrand Lockwood

Who was LeGrand Lockwood?

LeGrand Lockwood, was a businessman and financier in New York City in the late 19h century. He built the Lockwood-Mathews mansion in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Lockwood was born in Norwalk. He began his career on Wall Street as a clerk for Shipman, Coming & Co. and later worked for T. Ketchum & Co. In 1843 he became junior partner at Genin & Lockwood before founding Lockwood & Company, one of Wall Street's leading brokerage houses, and was a longtime ally of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Lockwood was a director of the New York Central Railroad and treasurer of the New York Stock Exchange.

In the summer of 1869, Jay Gould, attempting to create a railroad empire with a connection from New York City to the Pacific coast, negotiated with Lockwood, the treasurer and, according to author Kenneth D. Ackerman, the "dominant figure" of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway. "After hours of haggling over a dinner of oysters, wine and steak at Delmonico's late one August night", Ackerman wrote, Gould came to an agreement with Lockwood that Gould's railroad would build a line into New York City for the narrow-gauge cars used by Lockwood's company in return for westward connections.