How the Rise of the Railroads Gave Way to the World First Org Chart

https://theorg.com/iterate/how-the-rise-of-the-railroads-gave-way-to-the-worlds-first-org-chart
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
Issue #494
29 Mar 2026
We think Leonardo Da Vinci wrote the first CV, but do we know who created the first Org Chart? One of those essays which makes a point so fascinating that I want it to be true, this is the Erie Plan - the first attempt to visually map an organisation in 2D, so that managers could immediately locate the critical nodes involved in moving trains across the new railroad.