William Slater was a 19th-century construction contractor who helped build the first railroad from Philadelphia to points south.

Before he worked for the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad, Slater was overseer of the land of Robert Oliver, a founder of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Slater arranged for the PW&B to cross Oliver's land. He was also an original stockholder, with 100 shares worth $5,000.


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His service as a contractor is marked on the 1839 Newkirk Viaduct Monument.

In the 1850s, he lived on Carrol Island in Maryland's Baltimore County.[1]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Buckley, M. Brooke; Samuel Morse Felton; Arthur Cannon (1854). Investigation Into the Alleged Official Misconduct: Of the Late Superintendent of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad Co. Philadelphia: Press of J. H. Bryson.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)