ELIJAH J. McCOY # 1624

 Caption from poster__      Elijah J. McCoy   Made important contributions to the design of railroad locomotives after the Civil War. He kept pace with the progress  of locomotive design, devising new lubricating systems that served the steam engines of the early twentieth century. These were demanding  indeed, for they operated at high temperatures and pressures.      “ The Real McCoy ”      Elijah McCoy was born in Colchester in Essex County, Ontario, Canada, to George McCoy and Mildred Goins, both runaway slaves from Kentucky in the United States, who escaped on the Underground Railroad to Colchester. George McCoy enlisted in the British forces. In return he was awarded 160 acres (0.65 km²) of land for his service. When he was three, McCoy's family moved back to the U.S., settling in Detroit, Michigan. He had 11 brothers and sisters. McCoy was fascinated by machinery. He studied engineering in Edinburgh, Scotland from age 16 and then immigrated to the United States, settling in Ypsi