Adams, J. McGregor

Founded by John Crerar and J. McGregor Adams ca. 1868, Crerar, Adams & Co. was a leading supplier to the railroad industry. Crerar and Adams soon brought in a third partner, Edward S. Shepherd, and the firm enjoyed enormous financial success as Chicago became the primary railway hub of the United States.

As an active philanthropist, John Crerar gave the city of Chicago a large sum of money in his will to found a public library. The Crerar Library was developed as a collection of science and medicine, and expanded throughout the twentieth century. In the 1980s, the Crerar Library was consolidated with the University of Chicago’s science collections, re-opening to the public in 1984.