WILLIAM E. DODGE, A GENERAL ENTREPRENEUR

Abstract

The article examines the roll of an entrepreneur in the middle of Nineteenthcentury America through the life and works of William E. Dodge (1805-1883). Dodge was born into a middle-class family and brought up under the influence of Presbyterianism. In business and industry, he was active in such fields as Land-speculation, railroads, lumbering, metal industries, and metal and cotton trades. In government service, he greatly contributed to the development of the economy of the state of New York. A typical entrepreneur of the day, he assumed leadership in transforming the United States from a rural to an industrial society. Through his life, this article emphasizes an aspect of the economic development of New York City, as well as the roll of entrepreneurial aactivities in econnmic development in general.