Reginald Fairfax Harrison

Biography

Reginald Fairfax Harrison (March 13, 1869–February 2, 1938) was an attorney and railroad executive who served as president of the Southern Railway from 1913 until his retirement in 1937. During more than four decades with the company, he held a series of leadership positions that included legal counsel, assistant to the president, vice president in charge of finance and accounting, and ultimately president.

Harrison joined the Southern Railway in 1896 as an attorney and became assistant to the president in 1903. Three years later, he was appointed vice president overseeing finance and accounting. During the Panic of 1907, he played a key role in maintaining the railroad’s financial stability by securing an investment from financier J. P. Morgan. After the financial crisis, Harrison became president of the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway, a railroad jointly owned by the Southern Railway and the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.

Following the death of Southern Railway President William Finley in November 1913, Harrison was elected president of the company and also assumed leadership of several Southern Railway subsidiaries. His appointment was widely viewed as a reflection of the growing influence of Southern business leaders within the region’s railroad industry. Harrison remained president until 1937, overseeing the Southern Railway during a period of continued expansion, modernization, and economic change that included the First World War, the Great Depression, and the early years of railroad streamlining.