The above image of a "Peabody Delivery Wagon" was taken from a
special edition card honoring the first hundred years of Peabody
Coal Company being in the coal industry. Thanks to Ray McClain
for the use of his commemorative card.
Francis S. Peabody founded a small Chicago coal
company in 1883 and called his company Peabody Coal Company. With
a hundred dollars, a partner, two mules and a delivery wagon, he
and his partner started the company. In less than two years, he
bought out his partner. From day one, Peabody Coal Company
flourished and in 1895, Peabody opened its' first coal mine in
the Illinois Basin. With the rich coal reserves in the Illinois
Basin, and the determination of Francis S. Peabody, the Peabody
Coal Company prospered. From his first mine in Williamson
Country, IL, the company was able to acquire thousands of acres
of the Illinois Basin's vast reserves.
As the twentieth century dawned, just about anything that moved
or produced heat or power was derived from the primary source of
coal. Large ships on the seas and small boats on the inland
waterways were powered by coal. The railroad companies were
expanding and using more coal. The demand for electricity was
doubling about every ten years and most all of the generation was
provided by coal. Peabody Coal Company was ready and supplied an
enormous amount of coal. For the next 60 years, and only mining
coal east of the Mississippi River, and only by underground
mining Peabody Coal Company grew by leaps and bounds. Francis S.
Peabody was succeeded by his son, Stuyvesant "Jack" Peabody, and
then his grandson, Stuyvesant Peabody, Jr.
By the middle of the twentieth century, Peabody Coal Company had
gone public and shares were being traded on the stock market
under the name of Peabody Coal Company. This small mining company
had become big time and for the next forty years or so, Peabody
bounced about from a merger with Sinclair Coal Company to being
bought a few years later by Kennecott Copper Corporation.
Antitrust lawsuits were then filed and Kennecott had to divest
itself from Peabody in 1976. Peabody then became know as Peabody
Holding Company and was controlled by a group of companies. A
decade or so of turmoil found Peabody being bounced about from
several companies including Hanson PLC, a large Great Britain
Company. Hanson PLC became sole owner by the middle of 1990. In
1996, still under the ownership of Hanson LLC, Peabody and
Eastern Group combined and became know as "The Energy Group".
Finally, in May of 1998, "The Energy Group" became an independent
U. S. based energy company. In April 2001, the company's name
changed to Peabody Energy. A month later, Peabody completed an
initial stock offering and began trading on the New York Stock
Exchange under the ticker symbol BTU, the globally recognized
symbol for energy.
Information for this article was taken from Peabody Coal Company
Web site. Hopefully, Peabody has finally found a place on Wall
Street and will continue with its' present plans and
ownership.
See you....
jrd
