Gustav Harkort

Gustav Harkort (born March 3, 1795 in Hagen, died August 29, 1865 in Leipzig) was a German entrepreneur and railroad pioneer from Leipzig, Germany.[1][2][3]

Gustav Harkort, 1850
Gustav Harkort-Denkmal in Leipzig

Biography

Gustav Harkort was the sixth of eight children of the hardware manufacturer and merchant Johann Caspar Harkort IV. He was also the brother of industrialist and politician Friedrich Harkort, entrepreneur Johann Caspar Harkort V. and mining engineer and officer Eduard Harkort.

He attended the trade school in Hagen, and after completion, began a commercial apprenticeship in his father's company. In 1813 he took part in the Wars of Liberation as a lieutenant in the Märkisches Landwehr Regiment.

In 1829 he directed the first plannings for the construction of the Magdeburg-Leipzig railway line.

On April 3, 1834, Harkort was one of the founders of the Railway Committee, which adopted the concept for a German railway network by Friedrich List (1789–1846) and built a first route between Leipzig and Dresden (The Leipzig-Dresden Railway). He was the chairman of the board of directors of the Leipzig-Dresden Railway Company from its foundation in 1835 until his death.

Harkort died on August 29, 1865 in Leipzig at the age of 70.

Recognitions

On 1864, on the 25th anniversary of the completion of the Leipzig-Dresden railway, Harkort was named an honorary citizen of the city of Leipzig. On July 9, 1878, a monument designed by the architect Carl Gustav Aeckerlein (1832–1886) in collaboration with the sculptor Eduard Lürssen (1840–1891) was inaugurated in Leipzig. Harkort's name is also included on the Leipzig railway memorial.

Literature
  • Robert Boker : Harkort, Gustav. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 ,p. 875 f.(Digitized).
  • Vera Hauschild (ed.): The great Leipzig people. 26 approximations. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main and others 1996, ISBN 3-458-16780-3.

References
  1. Harkort, Gustav
  2. Chaloner, William (2015). Trade and Transport: Essays in Economic History in Honour of T. S. Willan.
  3. Harkort, Gustav
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