Mr. Stone was born in April 27, 1818 in Charlton Mass. Worked with his brother in law building the Howe iron truss bridge, R.R. bridge. Came to Cleveland when 32 years old, to build the Cleveland Painesville and Ashtabla R.R. line. Throughout time, invested in Mills and businesses throughout the country. Stone built Cleveland's first Union Depot. Stone married Julia Gleason Stone and had three children, son and two daughters. Stone's daughter, Clara, married Abraham Lincoln's secretary John Hay and daughter Flora Amelia married Samuel Mather...
Stone's son, Adelbert drowned in a swimming pool while attending Yale. Stone gave Western Reserve University in Hudson $500,000 to move its college to Cleveland and name it after his son. In Dec. 29, 1876 the Lake Shore truss bridge collapsed in Ashtabula while a train was going over it. It fell into a ravine, and 92 people lost their lives with 67 injured. After investigating, Stone was accused for the accident, as he ignored advice of professional engineers, that the span was too long for the truss bridge. He was publicly attacked and the cheif engineer of the railroad committed suicide. Since the tragedy continued to bother him, he also committed suicide on May 11, 1883, leaving a multi-million dollar estate. A chapel on Cleveland Western University, was named after him in his memory. All of this info came from a page from Hathaway Brown School.
