INDIANA HARBOR BELT RAILROAD Bond ,000 Chicago. W.K. Vanderbilt Jr. SIG. VF+++

Description

Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company. 1907 Bond issued August 21, 1918. Incorporated in 1907 in the State of Indiana.
Embossed company seal lower center. Certificate
No. C277
was issued to Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. ,000 50-Year General Mortgage 4% Gold Registered Bond Due 1957.
Hand signed by company vice president William K. Vanderbilt Jr.
and secretary. Certificate is about 9.5” x 13.” Black print with rusty-orange overprint/underprint. Vignette with approaching train on double tracks.
Signed on verso by the vice presidents of the Michigan Central Railroad Company and Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company (with two embossed company seals), who held (guaranteed) the bonds on the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad.
The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company was formed in 1907 through several smaller systems operating around Chicago. The Indiana Harbor Belt’s earliest predecessor was the East Chicago Belt Railroad, which began operations in 1896 serving the Indiana state line and Grasselli. After the Chicago Junction Railway lost its lease of the East Chicago Belt in the fall of 1907 the latter railroad acquired the former's interest in the Chicago, Hammond & Western and Terminal Railroads. Thus, the East Chicago Belt, Chicago & Western, and Terminal railroads came to form the Indiana Harbor Belt (virtually all of which was financially backed in some form by initial parent, New York Central Railroad).
William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. (1878-1944) was a railroad executive and son of William K. Vanderbilt who began working for New York Central Railroad in 1903, becoming assistant to the president in 1910, vice president in 1912, and president in 1918. Vanderbilt went into active service in the U.S. Navy in 1917, and following the war he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve. Vanderbilt also served on the board of directors with the Western Union Telegraph Company.
Condition:  Very Fine+++
, no folds, minor creasing, no tears, light signs of wear/handling/toning (see photos), punch cancelled.
Printer:
American Bank Note Company, New York.
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