Benjamin Holladay

“The Stagecoach King”

Benjamin Holladay born in Nicholas County in Blue Lick Springs, Kentucky on October 14th, 1819 to William Holladay and Margaret “Peggy” Hughes. During his youth he learned the ways of managing a wagon train with his father who was a wagon train guide through the Cumberland Gap. As a teenager he went for a road trip to Santa Fe which at the time was part of Mexico.

Ben migrated to St. Louis and spent time in freight camps learning from traders about the ways of the west. He eventually settled in Weston, Missouri working as a store clerk and courier at one point for Colonel Alexander Doniphan. After a few years he opened a hotel and tavern in 1838 and started what eventually would become the McCormick Distilling Company. Business took off supplying materials for General Stephen Watts Kearney for the Mexican-American War.

After securing good relations with Mormans delivering messages to them in Salt Lake City, the Mormans gave him exclusive right to lead caravans to Salt Lake with freight wagons full of much needed goods. Ben was able to start a trading post to sell the goods and traded for cattle to drive to markets across Nevada wastelands to mining camps in California where beef prices were very good.

Ben was able to purchase the land for the distillery in 1849 after discovering the limestone spring on the site. Ben, a native Kentuckian, knew the water was perfect for producing bourbon. He went to work with his brother David to secure the necessary equipment and materials and was able able to begin distilling whiskey as the Blue Springs Distillery in 1856. The first whiskey was sold for 35 cents for a gallon the following year. Ben transferred ownership of the distillery to David in 1858.

The distillery today is the oldest operating distillery on the same land west of the Mississippi River. Major David Holladay ran the distillery until 1864 upon his death. David’s son in law Thomas Barton then operated the distillery until selling to George Shawhan becoming the Shawhan distillery in 1900. During Prohibition the company was able to remain open by bottling the previously distilled whiskey for medicinal purposes, though there are rumors the distillery continued to distill illegally. The distillery was sold once again in 1936 to Isadore Singer who also purchased the McCormick brand name from a plant in Waldron, Missouri and in 1942 renamed the distillery the McCormick Distilling Company. Cloud Cray of Midwest Grain Products (MGP) purchased the company in 1950.

Ed Pechar and Mike Griesser then were able to purchase the company in 1992 and grew the company from 35 to 186 employees. McCormick Distilling is still a private corporation owned by Ed Pechar, the estate of Mike Griesser and employee partners who are the board of directors.

A $10 million renovation began in 2015 of the stillhouse and began distilling bourbon on site for the first time in 30 years. After more than 6 years, Ben Holladay Missouri Straight Bourbon Whiskey was released in 2022.

In 1860 Ben bought the Pony Express shortly after launch to reviews of saying it was the greatest achievement in history, but it was short lived. It was closed after only a year and a half when the telegraph took away the need.

In 1861 the Central Overland California and Pike’s Peak Express opened as commercial passenger operations having borrowed cash from Ben. They however went bankrupt years later and Ben was able to seize control of it’s 1200 miles of stage lines and renamed it as the Holladay Overland Mail & Express.

Ben controlled a majority of the stage and freight traffic from the Missouri River to the West and was able to secure a federal mail contract worth around $1 Million annually. Ben was a largest private employer in the United States controlling gold and silver mines, to saloons. With his influence he was in regular contact with people such as President Lincoln to Brigham Young.

His great wealth allowed him to own mansions in Portland, New York, Washington D.C. and San Francisco. His estate named “Ophir” after the Nevada silver mine whose shares which were won in a poker game in Westchester, New York is now the site of Manhattanville College.

He became an international hero after leading a team of drivers in a dramatic journey from San Francisco to Atchison, Kansas in only 12 days and 2 hours which was the fastest run ever made at the time. Prior to this feat he was on the verge of losing the transcontinental mail contract, but after he proved what his operation could do the mail contract was renewed.

In 1866 Ben felt the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad would force closure of his stage lines was able to sell the operation to Wells Fargo for the sum of $1.5 million and $300,000 worth of company stock. At this time he entered the railroad business starting with the Oregon and California Railroad Company in 1868. He lived the remainder of his life in Portland Oregon and became a huge figure there with streets and parks still named after him.

Ben’s businesses and wealth were crushed by the Black Friday stock exchange panic in 1873. He lost the businesses to creditors and forced to sell off most of his holdings. Afterwards he was left with almost nothing and died in obscurity in Portland on July 8th, 1887. He was buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Portland. He had spent his last years involved in lawsuits over his complex financial holdings.

Ben and his first wife Notley Ann Calvert (1824-1873) were married in 1839 and had 2 daughters, Jenny Lind Holladay and Pauline Cassandra Holladay. After his first wife passed, he married Lydia Esther Campbell (1849-1889) and had a daughter Linda Holladay.

Ben had built an business empire touching many areas and spanning the country, but the whiskey that he made for a short time became the lasting legacy carrying the Holladay name into the future.