TAYLER, ROBERT WALKER (26 Nov. 1852-26 Nov. 1910), U.S. federal judge and author of the Tayler Grant ending Cleveland's traction war and regulating the reorganized street railways, was born in Youngstown, Ohio, to Robt. Walker and Louisa Maria Woodbridge Tayler, and spent 3 years at Georgetown University before entering Western Reserve University Law School, earning the LL.D. degree in 1872. He taught 1 year at Lisbon (Ohio) High School, for 2 years superintended the schools, and from 1875-76 edited the Buckeye State while continuing to study law. Admitted to the Ohio bar in 1877, he practiced in E. Liverpool until 1880, when he became prosecuting attorney of Columbiana County. In 1894, he won election to Congress for the first of 4 terms, retiring from Congress in 1903 to join the law firm of Arrel, McVey & Tayler in Youngstown. In 1905, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt appointed Tayler to the federal judgeship of northern Ohio with courts at Cleveland and Toledo. Tayler heard the trial of CASSIE CHADWICK and the reorganization actions arising from the "traction war" and Mayor TOM L. JOHNSON attempt to take public control of Cleveland's railway systems. The resulting court action, authored by the judge and known as the Tayler Grant, became effective on 18 Dec. 1909 and provided a sliding scale limiting trolley lines' profits to 6% and giving jurisdiction over railway operations to the CLEVELAND CITY COUNCIL, thereby returning peace and stability to Cleveland's streetcar operations. Tayler married Helen Vance in 1876; they had no children. He died in Cleveland and was buried in Lisbon, Ohio.
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