Multnomah-Union County OR Archives Biographies.....O'Brien, James P. April 26, 1862 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com April 27, 2009, 11:17 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     JAMES P. O'BRIEN.  For almost a half century James P. O'Brien has been 
actively identified with railroad interests and during the greater part of 
this period has filled positions of large responsibility. He is now rendering 
effective service as general manager of the Oregon-Washington Railroad & 
Navigation Company, with headquarters in Portland, and because of his long and 
honorable record is held in high regard by all who know him. Mr. O'Brien was 
horn at Winsted, Litchfield county, Connecticut, April 26, 1862, and received 
his educational training in the public schools of his home city. In 1880, when 
eighteen years of age, he began his railroad career as a clerk in a freight 
warehouse in Winsted. Later he became agent, and then chief dispatcher, for 
the Connecticut Western Railroad at Hartford, Connecticut, where he remained 
until 1889, when he went to St. Joseph, Missouri, and there filled the 
positions of general agent, superintendent and purchasing agent of the St. 
Joseph Terminal Railway Company. Early in 1890 he was appointed master of 
transportation of the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad, and later in the 
same year became assistant superintendent of the Oregon Railway and Navigation 
Company at La Grande, Oregon. In 1831 Mr. O'Brien was made chief clerk in the 
office of the general superintendent of that company at Portland, but, in 
October, 1892, he resigned that position to become assistant superintendent of 
the Iowa Central Railroad at Marshalltown, Iowa. There he successively held 
the positions of superintendent and general superintendent of that company and 
in July, 1894, he returned to Portland as superintendent of the rail lines of 
the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company. In July, 1904, he was promoted to 
the general superintendency of that company and of the Southern Pacific lines 
in Oregon, and on June 1, 1905, was appointed general manager of the same 
companies, while in 1909 he also became vice president of the Oregon Railroad 
& Navigation Company. His jurisdiction over the Southern Pacific lines in 
Oregon ceased when the Harriman lines were separated in October, 1911.

     When the United States railroad administration took over the railroads of 
this country, in December, 1917, Mr. O'Brien was retained as general manager 
of the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company, filling that position 
until August 1, 1918, when he was appointed federal manager of the Oregon-
Washington Railroad & Navigation lines, the Southern Pacific lines north of 
Ashland, the Northern Pacific Terminal of Oregon, the Pacific Coast Railroad, 
the Pacific & Eastern Railroad and the San Francisco & Portland Steamship 
line. At the termination of federal control, he was appointed general manager 
of the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company and elected vice 
president of the San Francisco & Portland Steamship Company. The latter 
discontinued operations in October, 1924, and closed out its organization 
shortly thereafter. At present Mr. O'Brien is also a director of the Oregon-
Washington Railroad & Navigation Company, vice president and a director of the 
Camas Prairie Railroad Company, president and a director of the Union Pacific 
Stages, Inc., a director of the Northern Pacific Terminal Company of Oregon, a 
trustee of the Spokane Union Station and a member of the East Portland Freight 
Terminal Board. Thus has Mr. O'Brien been closely connected with some of the 
most important railroad interests of the northwest and his record has stamped 
him as a man of unusual ability in administrative and executive affairs. He 
has at all times given his very best efforts, and thoroughness and efficiency 
have characterized his career; so that among the railroad officials of this 
part of the country he sustains an enviable reputation.

     Mr. O'Brien was united in marriage to Miss Anna Ryan of Winsted 
Connecticut, and they are the parents of a daughter, Lillian, who is the wife 
of Coe A. McKenna, of Portland. Mr. O'Brien gives his political support to the 
republican party and is a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Arlington 
Club, the Ad Club and the Chamber of Commerce. A man of splendid personality 
and friendly disposition, he enjoys a wide acquaintance and has a host of warm 
and loyal friends, who esteem him for his genuine worth as a man and citizen.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 589-590

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