Samuel Bulkley Ruggles
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Samuel Bulkley Ruggles (11 April 1800 – 28 August 1881) was an American lawyer and public figure. Born in New Milford, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale in 1814, and was admitted to the bar in 1821. He was a successful lawyer in New York City for several years, but eventually gave up the practice of law to dedicate himself to public affairs. In 1838 he was elected a member of the assembly.
In New York he was a driving force behind the establishment of Gramercy Park, to which he personally donated the land, and also influenced the design of Union Square, where he lived. In the 1860s he was a United States delegate to several European assemblies, like the International Statistics Congress in Berlin in 1863, and the Paris Exposition of 1867. His most enduring legacy though, was his work as a canal commissioner to enlarge the Erie Canal, and build the Erie Railroad.
Ruggles died on Fire Island, New York, in 1881. His cousin was the U.S. Representative Charles H. Ruggles.
