William b. ogden biography
William Butler Ogden (1805-1877).
Ogden, William B.
Born: 1805-06-15 Delaware County, New York
Died: 1877-08-03 New York, New York
Flourished:Chicago, Illinois
William B.
Ogden was a businessman, postmaster, state legislator, real estate investor, and the first mayor of Chicago, Illinois.
William b. ogden biography
Born in Walton, New York, Ogden began preparatory studies for a career in law when his father's ill health forced William, at the age of sixteen, to assume management of the family's vast land holdings and his father's lumber and mercantile interests.
In 1828, Ogden received appointment as postmaster of Walton, a post he held until he moved to Chicago. In 1834, Ogden won election, as a Jacksonian Democrat, to the New York State Assembly on a platform to construct the New York & Erie Railroad.
Around this time, he began investing in Chicago real estate and moved there in June 1835. He opened a real estate house and continued investing in land in Illinois and New York for the rest of his life. In 1837, Ogden became