ABSTRACT
In 1858, Albany’s Erastus Corning (1794-1872) and 86 other prominent New York businessmen petitioned the state legislature to replace the state government with the New York Central Railroad’s Board of Directors, where Corning was president. Preposterous as it sounds, the bill passed and a referendum was required to eliminate the possibility of a state of, by and for Corning. It was a fitting acknowledgment of one man’s role in the state’s economic maturation and a significant commentary on how economic growth was bolstered by the state but infused with controversy over state priorities.
