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Abraham Merritt Taylor Abraham Merritt Taylor (March 2, 1874-1937) was a leading American businessman of the early 20th century, a pioneer of mass transit and suburban development.

Taylor was born in Burlington, NJ, the oldest son of Quaker parents Charles Shoemaker Taylor (1850-1936) and Rebecca Hughes. Taylor was named for his grandfather, Abraham Merritt Taylor (1799-1873), founder of the firm A. M. Taylor & Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a leading manufacturer of leather and leather products, and along with his brother, Joseph Wright Taylor, leading benefactor of Bryn Mawr College.

Taylor attended the Penn Charter School, and the Westtown School. He dropped out, age 15, to become an apprentice in the machine shops of William Sellers & Company. After four years, Taylor obtained a position in the Philadelphia bond firm of Page, Allison and Penrose, and by 1898 was heading their real estate and investment counseling department. In that post he was given the task of helping on of the firm's clients, construction firm Pepper and Register, to divest itself of bonds in the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company which they had accepted as payment for services in constructing the new West Chester line.

developer of the "Taylor Plan" for transportation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a pioneer in the development of rapid mass transit