T. B. Walker
Encyclopedia
Thomas Barlow Walker was a highly successful American
businessperson
who acquired timber
in Minnesota
and California
and became an art collector
. Walker founded the Minneapolis Public Library
. He was among the 10 wealthiest men in the world in 1923. He built two company town
s, one of which his son sold to become part of what is today known as Sunkist
. He is the founder and namesake of the Walker Art Center
.
, Ohio
, in 1840, where in 1849 he got his first job in a bakery cutting biscuits. He had accompanied his parents and siblings west from New York
when his father died of cholera
in 1849 at Westport, Missouri, on their way to the California gold
fields to seek their fortune.
In 1854 his mother married Oliver Barnes and in 1855 his family moved to Berea, Ohio
, where while traveling for Fletcher Hulet, he was able to study mathematics
intermittently and master Newton's Principia at Baldwin University
. When he finished college at age 19, he filled a contract in Paris, Illinois
for railroad ties. He then taught school and then became a traveling salesman of grindstones. He is remembered as a man of "strong opinions" who would not eat grapefruit
and who slept with a pistol under his pillow. His brother Platt Bayless Walker II founded Mississippi Valley Lumberman, a magazine. He had another brother and two sisters: Oliver W. Barnes, Adelaide B. Walker, and Helen M. Walker.
Walker married his college classmate and boss's daughter Harriet Granger Hulet
in 1863. They had eight children and lived in Minneapolis at first in a home on the east side rented for $9 per month. Their children were Gilbert M. (1864–1928), Julia A. (1865?–1952?), Leon B. (1868–1887), Harriet (1870–1904), Fletcher L. (1872–1962), Willis J. (1873–1943), Clinton L. (1875–1944), and Archie D. (1882–1971). The Walkers celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1913.
, Walker heard good things about Minneapolis, Minnesota
, and moved there in 1862. He arrived at Saint Paul where he met and sold grindstones, once to James Jerome Hill, then employed as a clerk who carefully sorted them for the buyer. Within one hour of his arrival in Minneapolis, he was hired as a chainman
to George B. Wright, who was surveying federal pine
lands in the north of the state. He became a deputy surveyor
within a few days. His application to become assistant professor in mathematics at the University of Wisconsin
had been accepted but he loved his new career and turned it down. Walker worked for twelve years on government surveys and on surveys for the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad
. His work took him away from home for long periods, and it gave him intricate knowledge of what property to buy in northern Minnesota. He began to acquire pine land in 1867, but without capital of his own, he partnered at first with Dr. Levi Butler and Howard W. Mills and later with others.
With George A. Camp, in 1877 Walker bought the Pacific Mill, a sawmill
constructed in 1866 at the foot of 1st Avenue North on the Mississippi River
in Minneapolis, which they owned for ten years before dissolving their partnership amicably.
Red River Lumber Company (RRLC) was founded in 1883 and incorporated the following year. His oldest sons Gilbert and Leon became partners with Walker and the company built more mills in Crookston, Minnesota
and at Grand Forks
, Dakota Territory
. He developed the town and built a mill at Akeley, Minnesota
, which was named for his business partner, Healy C. Akeley. By 1902, four of his sons were involved in his businesses, and one was still in school.
He was concerned about forest conservation
and wrote an article for the National Magazine about what had become the "forestry question". During his lifetime, he gave papers to the Conservation Commission, the U.S. Forestry Department, the U.S. Interior Department
and to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee
for their consideration for a tariff
on lumber. He gave a presentation on conservation to the Minnesota Academy of Science.
had the wholesale trade, the retail trade, the railroads and the banks. We tried five years to arrange an amicable interest in building up the industries of both cities." He and others tried to lure a factory from the east but was double-crossed when Saint Paul, at the time a rival, ended up with both the eastern and the Minneapolis factories. He and his friends also invested in the Midway
area but the city of Saint Paul annexed it.
Walker built the commercial market in Minneapolis, renowned at the time, into the best produce market in the U.S. He is also "primarily responsible" for building the Minneapolis Public Library
system, first with donations and as a stockholder in the Athenaeum Library Association and later with public property tax
. He eventually overcame opposition to the idea of a free public library. Walker was a director and president of the library board from its founding in 1885 until he died in 1928.
Four-fifths of the art displayed at the library came from his own collection which he had started to collect in 1874 when he purchased a copy of a portrait of George Washington
by Rembrandt Peale
for the library of his new home. He was particularly interested in creating a public art gallery, a museum, and the Minneapolis Art School.
He became president of the Business or Businessman's Union, which formed in 1883 for fifteen years. They chose to build up land west of Minneapolis for their industrial site, to avoid any possibility of Saint Paul annexing the land. According to Walker, "some of the men in the union who liked changes made a social club of it, in the Guaranty Loan Building
[known as the Metropolitan Building, since demolished]. This practically closed out the Business Union."
Walker built his first house in Minneapolis in 1870, at Ninth Street and Marquette Avenue. In 1874 he built a mansion at 803 Hennepin Avenue. A gallery was open to the public six days a week beginning in 1879 to display his painting
s, porcelain
, bronze
s, jade
s, ancient and modern high-grade glass
, carved crystal
s, ancient Chinese carved snuff-boxes and ivory
carvings. Visitors had to ring at the front door until the home was expanded. The house and its eight additions covered nearly a city block but were later demolished to build a complex that includes the State Theatre.
His paintings included 15 American landscapes, 103 portraits of Native American chiefs, medicine men and warriors, and 24 portraits of renowned cowboys, scouts and guides, alongside traditional works by Raphael
, Rembrandt, Holbein
, Ingres
, Titian
, Bonheur
, Turner
and Michelangelo
and dozens of other artists. Some of these paintings proved to be fakes and some were genuine—certainly, a landscape by Frederic Edwin Church
sold for $8.5 million in a 1989 Sotheby's
New York auction.
In 1915 Walker purchased the 3.5 acre (0.01416401 km²) Thomas Lowry
property on Groveland Terrace including the present Walker Art Center. In 1917 Walker moved in to the Lowry Mansion but it was demolished in about 1932. By 1915 the Walker Galleries on 803 Hennepin had 14 rooms, and had about 100,000 visitors each year. In 1926, Walker completed building a new gallery next door to the Lowry Mansion on the site of the present Walker Art Center which opened in 1927. Built by local architects, Long and Thorsov, the original Walker Art Center building stayed open until it was demolished in 1969 to make way for a new building by Edward Larrabee Barnes.
Speaking of the 25 to 30 people who founded the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, Donald Torbert wrote:
During the early 20th century, Walker published catalogs of his art collection which he wanted to give to the city of Minneapolis. He presented the deeds to his collection and 3.5 acre (0.01416401 km²) of land to the library board in 1918. According to the Minnesota Historical Society, the city refused the gift.
Walker wanted to build a large public library and an arts and sciences institution but the city failed to provide financial support—the Minnesota legislature authorized bonds for $500,000 but only half of them sold. For five years, the city negotiated with Walker but never reached mutual satisfaction, and in 1923 he rescinded the offer. Folwell wrote in his A History of Minnesota, "Walker wisely followed his independent course". Walker Galleries, Inc., was incorporated in 1924, and the T. B. Walker Foundation of today was founded in 1925 to "own and manage the collection and gallery".
Most of his collection was given away or sold to buy modern works. A gallery across the street at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
holds several of the works in his collection by 16th and 19th century European masters, which Walker donated to decorate the Sunday school.
, with the industry "in the marsh". Residential lots were 22 feet (6.7 m) wide, so that developers could build a garden in every other lot. The Industrial Circle exists today at Dakota and Walker Streets in St. Louis Park, Minnesota
, near the intersection of Highway 7
and Louisiana. Daniel J. Falvey, the village roadmaster, graded the roads. Walker built about 100 Walker Houses between 1888 and 1900 for his workers to rent at $9 to $14 per month. Around this time, Walker was the richest man in Minnesota. About 50 of the houses remained in 1999 in the Edgebrook neighborhood.
The Panic of 1893
left Walker owning and paying taxes on many unsold lots and his partners departed, assigning their land to Walker. In 1913 he owned about 600 or 700 of 2000 acres (8.1 km²) but the land was worth less than he had paid for it. His dream of a large downtown St. Louis Park disappeared in twelve years, but to that end he had built a Methodist church (which later burned), the Walker/Syndicate building (still standing), the St. Louis Park Hotel (which the village later demolished), The Great Northern Hotel (which later burned down) and a streetcar line to Minneapolis. According to the St. Louis Park Historical Society, Walker could be seen "giving out food during the Depression, but people shied away from him and even despised him". The E.H. Shursen Agency sold the last lot during the 1930s.
. RRLC may have owned 900000 acres (3,642 km²) of timberland in California
, or about 1% of the area of the state, by the time Walker retired c. 1912.
About 1912 RRLC built a mill and the company town of Westwood, California
. Westwood included houses, apartments, dormitories, hotels, a community center, a department store, churches, and a theater. All utilities were company-owned. The men had the “Westwood Club” to themselves but for the first 20 years no liquor was sold.
About this time, Walker retired from RRLC which his sons Gilbert, Fletcher, Willis, and Archie then ran. Walker grew "increasingly frustrated" that he couldn't control the business by himself. The Minnesota Historical Society notes that his sons didn't always see "eye to eye" with each other or with Walker.
Walker’s youngest son Archie Dean Walker was first secretary (1908–1933) and then president (1933–c. 1956) of RRLC. Archie was Minneapolis-based and during his tenure on November 30, 1944, the Westwood mill and town were sold to the Fruit Growers Supply Company, the buying arm of today’s Sunkist
.
His wife died in 1917 while accompanying Walker on a business trip to New York
. Walker died in 1928 in Minneapolis at age 88. They were both buried in Lakewood Cemetery
. Walker was among the 15 or so wealthiest persons in the world when he died.
A portrait of T. B. Walker in 1915 by Carl Boeckman, acquired at some time since 1940, was on display at the Walker Art Center from November 21, 2009 until August 15, 2010.
, the Northern Minnesota Log Driving & Boom Company, the Northwestern Elevator Company in Minneapolis, Pacific Investment Company, and the Waland Lumber Company. Walker was president of the Flour City National Bank in Minneapolis from 1887 to 1894. He was one of the incorporators of Edison Light & Power Co. He was one of the managers of the State Reform School in Saint Paul. He was involved in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915.
Walker was a trustee of the Hennepin Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church (now known as the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
in Minneapolis), a member of the Executive Committee of the Methodist Episcopal General Conference in Minneapolis, and a president of the Minneapolis Methodist Church Extension Society. He was a member of the executive committee of the See America League, a president of Walker Galleries, Inc., a president and a trustee of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts
, president of the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences and its successor, the Minnesota Academy of Science where he donated boxes of specimens, and a trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA
) of the City of Minneapolis.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessperson
Businessperson
A businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
who acquired timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and became an art collector
Collection (museum)
A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented...
. Walker founded the Minneapolis Public Library
Minneapolis Public Library
The Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center was a library system serving the residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. It was founded as the publicly traded Minneapolis Athenæum in 1860 and became a free public library in 1885 founded by T. B. Walker...
. He was among the 10 wealthiest men in the world in 1923. He built two company town
Company town
A company town is a town or city in which much or all real estate, buildings , utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company...
s, one of which his son sold to become part of what is today known as Sunkist
Sunkist Growers, Incorporated
Sunkist Growers, Incorporated is a citrus grower's non-stock membership cooperative composed of 6,000 members from California and Arizona. It is headquartered in the Sherman Oaks district of Los Angeles.-History:...
. He is the founder and namesake of the Walker Art Center
Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...
.
Early life and family
Walker was the son of Platt and Anstis Keziah (Barlow) Walker. He was born in XeniaXenia, Ohio
Xenia is a city in and the county seat of Greene County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio 21 miles from Dayton and is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, in 1840, where in 1849 he got his first job in a bakery cutting biscuits. He had accompanied his parents and siblings west from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
when his father died of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
in 1849 at Westport, Missouri, on their way to the California gold
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
fields to seek their fortune.
In 1854 his mother married Oliver Barnes and in 1855 his family moved to Berea, Ohio
Berea, Ohio
- History :The first European settlers were originally from Connecticut. Berea fell within Connecticut's Western Reserve and was surveyed and divided into townships and ranges by one Gideon Granger, a gentleman who served as Postmaster General under President Thomas Jefferson...
, where while traveling for Fletcher Hulet, he was able to study mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
intermittently and master Newton's Principia at Baldwin University
Baldwin-Wallace College
Baldwin–Wallace College is a liberal arts college in Berea, Ohio, founded in 1845. It is home to the Riemenschneider-Bach Institute and the Baldwin–Wallace Conservatory of Music, an internationally renowned music school. The college is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Students receive a...
. When he finished college at age 19, he filled a contract in Paris, Illinois
Paris, Illinois
Paris is a city in Paris Township, Edgar County, Illinois, USA, south of Chicago, and west of Indianapolis. In 1900, 6,105 people lived in Paris, Illinois; in 1910, 7,664; and in 1940, 9,281. The population was 8,837 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Edgar County.-Geography:Paris is...
for railroad ties. He then taught school and then became a traveling salesman of grindstones. He is remembered as a man of "strong opinions" who would not eat grapefruit
Grapefruit
The grapefruit , is a subtropical citrus tree known for its sour fruit, an 18th-century hybrid first bred in Barbados. When found, it was named the "forbidden fruit"; it has also been misidentified with the pomelo or shaddock , one of the parents of this hybrid, the other being sweet orange The...
and who slept with a pistol under his pillow. His brother Platt Bayless Walker II founded Mississippi Valley Lumberman, a magazine. He had another brother and two sisters: Oliver W. Barnes, Adelaide B. Walker, and Helen M. Walker.
Harriet G. Walker
Harriet Granger Hulet Walker was an American hospital administrator and leader in the temperance movement.-Early life:...
in 1863. They had eight children and lived in Minneapolis at first in a home on the east side rented for $9 per month. Their children were Gilbert M. (1864–1928), Julia A. (1865?–1952?), Leon B. (1868–1887), Harriet (1870–1904), Fletcher L. (1872–1962), Willis J. (1873–1943), Clinton L. (1875–1944), and Archie D. (1882–1971). The Walkers celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1913.
Forestry
From a man in IowaIowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, Walker heard good things about Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, and moved there in 1862. He arrived at Saint Paul where he met and sold grindstones, once to James Jerome Hill, then employed as a clerk who carefully sorted them for the buyer. Within one hour of his arrival in Minneapolis, he was hired as a chainman
Forester
250px|thumb|right|Foresters of [[Southern University of Chile|UACh]] in the [[Valdivian forest]]s of San Pablo de Tregua, ChileA forester is a person who practices forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including timber...
to George B. Wright, who was surveying federal pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
lands in the north of the state. He became a deputy surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
within a few days. His application to become assistant professor in mathematics at the University of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
had been accepted but he loved his new career and turned it down. Walker worked for twelve years on government surveys and on surveys for the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad
St. Paul and Duluth Railroad
The St. Paul and Duluth Railroad was reorganized from the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad in 1877. It was bought by the Northern Pacific in 1900...
. His work took him away from home for long periods, and it gave him intricate knowledge of what property to buy in northern Minnesota. He began to acquire pine land in 1867, but without capital of his own, he partnered at first with Dr. Levi Butler and Howard W. Mills and later with others.
With George A. Camp, in 1877 Walker bought the Pacific Mill, a sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
constructed in 1866 at the foot of 1st Avenue North on the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
in Minneapolis, which they owned for ten years before dissolving their partnership amicably.
Red River Lumber Company (RRLC) was founded in 1883 and incorporated the following year. His oldest sons Gilbert and Leon became partners with Walker and the company built more mills in Crookston, Minnesota
Crookston, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 8,192 people, 3,078 households, and 1,819 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,658.8 people per square mile . There were 3,382 housing units at an average density of 684.8 per square mile...
and at Grand Forks
Grand Forks, North Dakota
Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 52,838, while that of the city and surrounding metropolitan area was 98,461...
, Dakota Territory
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota.The Dakota Territory consisted of...
. He developed the town and built a mill at Akeley, Minnesota
Akeley, Minnesota
Akeley is a city in Hubbard County, Minnesota, USA. The population was 432 at the 2010 census.Minnesota State Highways 34 and 64 are two of the main arterial routes in the community.-Demographics:...
, which was named for his business partner, Healy C. Akeley. By 1902, four of his sons were involved in his businesses, and one was still in school.
He was concerned about forest conservation
Conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
and wrote an article for the National Magazine about what had become the "forestry question". During his lifetime, he gave papers to the Conservation Commission, the U.S. Forestry Department, the U.S. Interior Department
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
and to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee
United States House Committee on Ways and Means
The Committee of Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. Members of the Ways and Means Committee are not allowed to serve on any other House Committees unless they apply for a waiver from their party's congressional leadership...
for their consideration for a tariff
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....
on lumber. He gave a presentation on conservation to the Minnesota Academy of Science.
Minneapolis
He had to spend months up north, but finally returned to Minneapolis in 1881 intending to build up the city. Walker said, "St. PaulSaint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
had the wholesale trade, the retail trade, the railroads and the banks. We tried five years to arrange an amicable interest in building up the industries of both cities." He and others tried to lure a factory from the east but was double-crossed when Saint Paul, at the time a rival, ended up with both the eastern and the Minneapolis factories. He and his friends also invested in the Midway
Midway (Amtrak station)
Midway Station is the Amtrak train station in Saint Paul, Minnesota, so named after the Midway area which is roughly halfway between the downtowns of St. Paul and neighboring Minneapolis. Its Amtrak station code is MSP and serves as the only intercity train station for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul...
area but the city of Saint Paul annexed it.
Minneapolis Public Library
The Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center was a library system serving the residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. It was founded as the publicly traded Minneapolis Athenæum in 1860 and became a free public library in 1885 founded by T. B. Walker...
system, first with donations and as a stockholder in the Athenaeum Library Association and later with public property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
. He eventually overcame opposition to the idea of a free public library. Walker was a director and president of the library board from its founding in 1885 until he died in 1928.
Four-fifths of the art displayed at the library came from his own collection which he had started to collect in 1874 when he purchased a copy of a portrait of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
by Rembrandt Peale
Rembrandt Peale
Rembrandt Peale was an American artist and museum keeper. A prolific portrait painter, he was especially acclaimed for his likenesses of presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson...
for the library of his new home. He was particularly interested in creating a public art gallery, a museum, and the Minneapolis Art School.
He became president of the Business or Businessman's Union, which formed in 1883 for fifteen years. They chose to build up land west of Minneapolis for their industrial site, to avoid any possibility of Saint Paul annexing the land. According to Walker, "some of the men in the union who liked changes made a social club of it, in the Guaranty Loan Building
Metropolitan Building
The Metropolitan Building, originally known as the Northwestern Guaranty Loan Building, is considered to be one of the most architecturally significant structures in the history of Minneapolis, Minnesota...
[known as the Metropolitan Building, since demolished]. This practically closed out the Business Union."
Walker Galleries
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s, porcelain
Porcelain
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
, bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
s, jade
Jade
Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...
s, ancient and modern high-grade glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
, carved crystal
Crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
s, ancient Chinese carved snuff-boxes and ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
carvings. Visitors had to ring at the front door until the home was expanded. The house and its eight additions covered nearly a city block but were later demolished to build a complex that includes the State Theatre.
His paintings included 15 American landscapes, 103 portraits of Native American chiefs, medicine men and warriors, and 24 portraits of renowned cowboys, scouts and guides, alongside traditional works by Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, Rembrandt, Holbein
Hans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history...
, Ingres
Ingres
Ingres Database is a commercially supported, open-source SQL relational database management system intended to support large commercial and government applications...
, Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
, Bonheur
Rosa Bonheur
Rosa Bonheur, born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur, was a French animalière, realist artist, and sculptor. As a painter she became famous primarily for two chief works: Ploughing in the Nivernais , which was first exhibited at the Salon of 1848, and is now in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris depicts a team...
, Turner
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...
and Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
and dozens of other artists. Some of these paintings proved to be fakes and some were genuine—certainly, a landscape by Frederic Edwin Church
Frederic Edwin Church
Frederic Edwin Church was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters...
sold for $8.5 million in a 1989 Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
New York auction.
In 1915 Walker purchased the 3.5 acre (0.01416401 km²) Thomas Lowry
Thomas Lowry
Thomas Lowry was a lawyer, real-estate magnate, and businessman who oversaw much of the early growth the streetcar lines in the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and surrounding communities in Minnesota...
property on Groveland Terrace including the present Walker Art Center. In 1917 Walker moved in to the Lowry Mansion but it was demolished in about 1932. By 1915 the Walker Galleries on 803 Hennepin had 14 rooms, and had about 100,000 visitors each year. In 1926, Walker completed building a new gallery next door to the Lowry Mansion on the site of the present Walker Art Center which opened in 1927. Built by local architects, Long and Thorsov, the original Walker Art Center building stayed open until it was demolished in 1969 to make way for a new building by Edward Larrabee Barnes.
Speaking of the 25 to 30 people who founded the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, Donald Torbert wrote:
"Today it is impossible to assess, with anything approaching justice, the worth of the individual contributions, because each person was indispensible. But two, by reason of their energy and position in the community, played leading roles and through their accomplishments left a permanent imprint on the art life of the community. They were William Watts FolwellWilliam Watts FolwellWilliam Watts Folwell was the first President of the University of Minnesota.William Watts Folwell attended Hobart College in Geneva, New York, where he received his undergraduate degree in 1857 and his Masters of Arts degree in 1860...
and Thomas Barlow Walker."
During the early 20th century, Walker published catalogs of his art collection which he wanted to give to the city of Minneapolis. He presented the deeds to his collection and 3.5 acre (0.01416401 km²) of land to the library board in 1918. According to the Minnesota Historical Society, the city refused the gift.
Walker wanted to build a large public library and an arts and sciences institution but the city failed to provide financial support—the Minnesota legislature authorized bonds for $500,000 but only half of them sold. For five years, the city negotiated with Walker but never reached mutual satisfaction, and in 1923 he rescinded the offer. Folwell wrote in his A History of Minnesota, "Walker wisely followed his independent course". Walker Galleries, Inc., was incorporated in 1924, and the T. B. Walker Foundation of today was founded in 1925 to "own and manage the collection and gallery".
Most of his collection was given away or sold to buy modern works. A gallery across the street at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church is a church across Lowry Hill from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its address is 511 Groveland Avenue.-History:...
holds several of the works in his collection by 16th and 19th century European masters, which Walker donated to decorate the Sunday school.
St. Louis Park, Minnesota
In 1886, with Calvin Goodrich, Jr. and Henry Francis Brown, Walker founded the Minneapolis Land and Investment Company and became its president. By 1888, the company advertised 12,000 lots on their 1700 acres (6.9 km²), just west of the city limits near Lake CalhounLake Calhoun
Lake Calhoun is the biggest lake in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and part of the city's Chain of Lakes. Surrounded by city park land and circled by bike and walking trails, it is popular for many outdoor activities...
, with the industry "in the marsh". Residential lots were 22 feet (6.7 m) wide, so that developers could build a garden in every other lot. The Industrial Circle exists today at Dakota and Walker Streets in St. Louis Park, Minnesota
St. Louis Park, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 44,126 people, 20,782 households, and 10,557 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,122.5 persons per square mile . There were 21,140 housing units at an average density of 1,975.0 per square mile...
, near the intersection of Highway 7
Minnesota State Highway 7
Minnesota State Highway 7 is a highway in Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with State Highway 28 and Big Stone County Road 1 near Beardsley and continues east to its eastern terminus at its interchange with State Highway 100 and Hennepin County Road 25 in St. Louis Park.For part of its...
and Louisiana. Daniel J. Falvey, the village roadmaster, graded the roads. Walker built about 100 Walker Houses between 1888 and 1900 for his workers to rent at $9 to $14 per month. Around this time, Walker was the richest man in Minnesota. About 50 of the houses remained in 1999 in the Edgebrook neighborhood.
The Panic of 1893
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...
left Walker owning and paying taxes on many unsold lots and his partners departed, assigning their land to Walker. In 1913 he owned about 600 or 700 of 2000 acres (8.1 km²) but the land was worth less than he had paid for it. His dream of a large downtown St. Louis Park disappeared in twelve years, but to that end he had built a Methodist church (which later burned), the Walker/Syndicate building (still standing), the St. Louis Park Hotel (which the village later demolished), The Great Northern Hotel (which later burned down) and a streetcar line to Minneapolis. According to the St. Louis Park Historical Society, Walker could be seen "giving out food during the Depression, but people shied away from him and even despised him". The E.H. Shursen Agency sold the last lot during the 1930s.
Westwood, California
Walker started to acquire northerneastern California land in 1894 and in 1909 he bought property near Mountain Meadows, California. In 1912 RRLC signed an agreement with the Southern Pacific Railroad giving them the right to build a line and exclusive right to haul lumberLumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
. RRLC may have owned 900000 acres (3,642 km²) of timberland in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, or about 1% of the area of the state, by the time Walker retired c. 1912.
About 1912 RRLC built a mill and the company town of Westwood, California
Westwood, California
Westwood is a census-designated place in Lassen County, California, United States. Westwood is located west-southwest of Susanville, at an elevation of 5128 feet...
. Westwood included houses, apartments, dormitories, hotels, a community center, a department store, churches, and a theater. All utilities were company-owned. The men had the “Westwood Club” to themselves but for the first 20 years no liquor was sold.
About this time, Walker retired from RRLC which his sons Gilbert, Fletcher, Willis, and Archie then ran. Walker grew "increasingly frustrated" that he couldn't control the business by himself. The Minnesota Historical Society notes that his sons didn't always see "eye to eye" with each other or with Walker.
Walker’s youngest son Archie Dean Walker was first secretary (1908–1933) and then president (1933–c. 1956) of RRLC. Archie was Minneapolis-based and during his tenure on November 30, 1944, the Westwood mill and town were sold to the Fruit Growers Supply Company, the buying arm of today’s Sunkist
Sunkist Growers, Incorporated
Sunkist Growers, Incorporated is a citrus grower's non-stock membership cooperative composed of 6,000 members from California and Arizona. It is headquartered in the Sherman Oaks district of Los Angeles.-History:...
.
His wife died in 1917 while accompanying Walker on a business trip to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Walker died in 1928 in Minneapolis at age 88. They were both buried in Lakewood Cemetery
Lakewood Cemetery
Lakewood Cemetery is a large private, non-sectarian cemetery located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is located at 3600 Hennepin Avenue at the southern end of the Uptown area...
. Walker was among the 15 or so wealthiest persons in the world when he died.
A portrait of T. B. Walker in 1915 by Carl Boeckman, acquired at some time since 1940, was on display at the Walker Art Center from November 21, 2009 until August 15, 2010.
List of associations and affiliated businesses
Walker's many business ventures and associations included the Crookston Boom and Water Power Company, the International Lumber Company in Minneapolis, the Metropolitan Trust Company in Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Central City Market Company, the Minneapolis Esterly Harvester Company, the Minnesota and Dakota Elevator Company in Minneapolis, the National Lumber Convention in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, the Northern Minnesota Log Driving & Boom Company, the Northwestern Elevator Company in Minneapolis, Pacific Investment Company, and the Waland Lumber Company. Walker was president of the Flour City National Bank in Minneapolis from 1887 to 1894. He was one of the incorporators of Edison Light & Power Co. He was one of the managers of the State Reform School in Saint Paul. He was involved in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915.
Walker was a trustee of the Hennepin Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church (now known as the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church is a church across Lowry Hill from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its address is 511 Groveland Avenue.-History:...
in Minneapolis), a member of the Executive Committee of the Methodist Episcopal General Conference in Minneapolis, and a president of the Minneapolis Methodist Church Extension Society. He was a member of the executive committee of the See America League, a president of Walker Galleries, Inc., a president and a trustee of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is a fine art museum located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a campus that covers nearly 8 acres , formerly Morrison Park...
, president of the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences and its successor, the Minnesota Academy of Science where he donated boxes of specimens, and a trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
) of the City of Minneapolis.
- Butler, Mills & Walker, later L. Butler & Company, reestablished as Butler & Walker, lumber 1869-1872
- Camp & Walker 1877-1887, Pacific Mill 1877-1887
- Walker & Akeley 1887
- Red River Lumber Company (RRLC) 1883-1897, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
1912-1944 - Akeley, MinnesotaAkeley, MinnesotaAkeley is a city in Hubbard County, Minnesota, USA. The population was 432 at the 2010 census.Minnesota State Highways 34 and 64 are two of the main arterial routes in the community.-Demographics:...
(developed town), also mill 1899-1915 - Westwood, CaliforniaWestwood, CaliforniaWestwood is a census-designated place in Lassen County, California, United States. Westwood is located west-southwest of Susanville, at an elevation of 5128 feet...
(company town) approx. 1912-1913 to retirement - Walker, MinnesotaWalker, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 1,069 people, 449 households, and 258 families residing in the city. The population density was 734.3 people per square mile . There were 517 housing units at an average density of 355.1 per square mile...
was named for him
External links
- Biographical Sketch with portrait photo
- The T. B. Walker and family papers are available at the Minnesota Historical Society.