Tom Loftin Johnson Biography

Tom Loftin Johnson

He spent the early part of his career runningg streetcars in Louisville, where he came in contact with the du Pont family who owned the business. They hit it off, and the du Ponts helped Johnson by financing several of his ventures as he built his fortune through street railroads in Indianapolis and Cleveland, then through investments in the steel industry. He used his considerable wealth to benefit his community, heading relief efforts after the Johnstown, Pennsylvania floods of 1889, serving as a U.S. Representative from 1891–95 and two terms as mayor of Cleveland. He was a social activist in government, working on behalf of the city's poor, building civic responsibility, and advocating publlic ownership of utilities.