The Rail Car Grand Isle, built in 1899, was one of the last private cars produced by the Wagner Palace Car Co. before Pullman took control at the end of that year. Dr. William Seward Webb and the Rutland Railroad used the car until 1914, when it was given to Webb's friend Edward C. Smith, president of the Central Vermont Railroad and a former governor of Vermont, who used it for family excursions to a vacation home in Ontario. Its mahogany-paneled parlor, elegant dining room, staterooms, and plush furnishings were typical of the private luxury cars that became important symbols of rank for railroad men, business tycoons, and public figures in the final quarter of the 19th century. Webb, trained as a physician, left medicine after persuasion from his father-in-law William Henry Vanderbilt and joined the family's railroad enterprises. As president of the Rutland Railroad and the Wagner Palace Car Company, Webb and his wife Lila Vanderbilt Webb lived part of the year in Shelburne, Vermont, traveling with relative ease to New York City and other destinations, and Mrs. Webb's private car Marquita was similar to the Grand Isle. By the time the Grand Isle was purchased for the Museum in 1960, it had been converted for business use, with its paneling painted, fixtures replaced, and plush furnishings removed, and J. Watson Webb, Jr., Webb's grandson, supervised its renovation to evoke the grand days of luxury rail travel and commemorate his family's role in the railroad industry.