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LeGrand Lockwood (died February 1872), was a businessman and financier in New York City in the late 19h century. He built the Lockwood-Mathews mansion in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Lockwood was born in Norwalk.

He ran Lockwood & Company, one of Wall Street's leading brokerage houses, and was a longtime ally of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

In the summer of 1869, Jay Gould, attempting to create a railroad empire with a connection from New York City to the Pacific coast, negotiated with Lockwood, the treasurer and, according to author Kenneth D. Ackerman, the "dominant figure" of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroad. "After hours of haggling over a dinner of oysters, wine and steak at Delmonico's late one August night", Ackerman wrote, Gould came to an agreement with Lockwood that Gould's railroad would build a line into New York City for the narrow-gauge cars used by Lockwood's company in return for westward connections. Lockwood agreed to the deal despite opposition from Vanderbilt, who was simultaneously trying to gain control of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern by electing proxies to the board of directors.

Learning of the deal, Vanderbilt launched a raid on Lakeshore's stock, which sunk the price from $120 a share to $95 and put Lockwood in danger of personal bankruptcy. Lockwood began making plans to scuttle the deal with Fiske.

Notes and references

1. ^ Ackerman, Kenneth D., The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869 Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2005, ISBN 9780786714421 via Google Books, retrieved December 22, 2008

• 1872 deaths
• People from Connecticut