James Breckenridge Speed

James Breckenridge Speed (alternatively James Breckinridge Speed; January 4, 1844 – July 7, 1912) was an American corporate executive, entrepreneur, and philanthropist based in Louisville, Kentucky. He served as the President of the Louisville Railway Company and over the course of his life founded and led multiple public companies including the Louisville Cement Company and the Ohio Valley Telephone Company. Early life and family James Breckenridge Speed was born on January 4, 1844, in Boonville, Missouri to Marry Ellen (née Shallcross) and William Pope Speed, son of John Speed. His mother died when he was an infant. He came to Louisville as an 11-year-old, James B. Speed was raised there by aunt Lucy Fry Speed, thus always considered a Louisvillian. His parents and siblings were all born in Louisville, and his family was the influential Speed family, which had had a great impact on the city. His uncle, also a James Speed, was United States Attorney General in Abraham Lincoln second term Cabinet and for a short time Andrew Johnson's. Speed attended local schools in Louisville and graduated from the Louisville High School. Career Speed was a clerk at the banking house of A. C. and O. F. Badger. He then moved to Chicago and worked in the office of Badger & Co. Speed enlisted with the 1st Ohio Battery and was later made adjutant of the 27th Kentucky Infantry Regiment under Colonel Pennypacker. He was engaged in the battles in Atlanta and Knoxville. He left service in the spring of 1865.