Veterans’ Association of the Great Northern Railway

The Veterans’ Association of the Great Northern Railway was organized in 1913 to encourage the fellowship of those who had served with the company for at least twenty-five years, and to promote their general welfare. A merger of railways created a new veterans’ group in 1972.

Seventy long-time Great Northern Railway employees met at the Lafayette Club on Lake Minnetonka to celebrate James J. Hill’s seventieth birthday on September 19, 1908. All in attendance had worked for the railway prior to 1880. After the celebration, several shared with Conductor W. J. McMillan a desire for a permanent group. In response, McMillan envisioned a group that would last as long as the Great Northern by adding new members when they reached the twenty-five-year mark. In time, elders would pass away, but the group would continue as younger railroaders joined.

A pamphlet of the Nickel Plate Veterans’ Organization was shared with Conductor McMillan as an example of the type of organization that would work for the Great Northern. The old timers agreed and suggested going forward with a veteran employees' group. They approached the company’s managers, who gave their approval: “Go ahead and we will back you up to the last dollar.”

When the group held its initial meeting on February 13, 1913, forty-nine retired Great Northern employees attended. All were in favor of starting the Veteran’s Association, and they elected Great Northern Railway founder James J. Hill himself as a member. Hill received membership certificate No. 1, dated April 9, 1913.

At the February 1913 meeting, the association also approved a constitution and by-laws and elected W. J. (William John) McMillan as its first president. The by-laws set the rules for membership, stating that “[a]ny person having been in the service of the Great Northern Railway Company, continuously for twenty-five years, shall be eligible for membership.”

According to McMillan, “The object of this Association will be to foster social feeling, to maintain and create mutual interest and become mutually acquainted one with the other and promote our general welfare and good fellowship . . . There is also another object, and that is to be loyal to ourselves and loyal to our employer by rendering good service at all times.”

On September 16, 1913, the Veterans’ Association met at Glacier National Park in Montana for a business meeting and to honor James J. Hill’s seventy-fifth birthday. At the time, the group had 378 members. The annual meeting held at Grand Forks, North Dakota, on September 16, 1915, again honored Hill on his birthday. Association members discussed starting a pension system for Great Northern employees during the gathering. To kick off the new program, Hill gave a personal donation of $10,000 towards the pension fund.

At the meeting the next year, McMillan announced the Great Northern Railway’s contribution of one million dollars for the pension fund. The president of the railway, Louis W. Hill, selected a group of men to serve on a board of pensions and administer the fund.

In 1928, the association met in Winnipeg to elect new officers. A. J. Whitaker took over as president from McMillan, who had held the role since 1913. McMillan, in turn, who could not attend the meeting due to illness, was elected to the honorary office of president emeritus.

The Veterans’ Association of the Great Northern Railway held annual meetings through 1971. Fifteen hundred Great Northern veterans were expected to attend that year. The group reorganized in March 1972 after the merger of several railroads. At that time, veteran employees of the former Northern Pacific; Great Northern; Chicago, Burlington and Quincy; and the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railways formed the Burlington Northern Veterans’ Association. Six thousand railway veterans joined the expanded group.