Niels Andersen

Niels Andersen (11 September 1835 – 12 September 1911) was a Danish businessman and politician. He created the first large construction company in Denmark. He served as the first president of the Confederation of Danish Employers from 1896 to 1907. He owned Sæholm in Gentofte from 1877. Early life and education Andersen was born on a farm at Ydby, Thisted County, the son of Anders Nielsen (1794–1862) and Ane Margrethe Didriksdatter (1797–1857). The farm was small and his father therefore had to supplement his income by transporting stone and gravel for the county's road construction. From an early age, Andersen had to take part in this work. He received no formal schooling but worked hard to acquire knowledge at home, strongly encouraged by his mother, and attended the writing school for petty officers during his Conscription years as a dragoon in 1855–57. Career Straight out of the army he started a small construction company. In 1862 he successfully took on the construction of the new Hillerød-Fredensborg railway. After being redrafted during the Second Schleswig War, his company grew rapidly from a number of other contracts on rail lines; The South Zealand Railway to Køge (1869–70), Helsingborg-Hassleholm with a Bjuv-Billesholm branch (1873–74), Århus-Ryomgård (1876–78), Gribskov Railway (1879), Randers-Hadsund (1882–84) and the Gedser Railway (1886), He also worked on the expansion of Helsingør Garbour in 1879–81 and the construction of the Strandvejen Steam Tram Line 1883.