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Matthew Newkirk

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Matthew Newkirk
Philadelphia businessman, civic leader (1794–1868)
Portrait from "A Memorial of Matthew Newkirk"
Born(1794-05-31)May 31, 1794
Pittsgrove Township, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedMay 31, 1868
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting placeLaurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation(s)merchant, banker, railroad executive
Known forNamesake of the Newkirk Viaduct Monument

Matthew Newkirk (May 31, 1794 – May 31, 1868) was an American businessman, railroad magnate, banker and philanthropist. He was president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B)[1] and led the integration of four railroad companies to establish the first direct rail service between Philadelphia and Baltimore. He was a director of the Second Bank of the United States; and an investor in the Little Schuylkill Navigation, Railroad and Coal Company and the Cambria Iron Company.

He was a board member of Girard College and served as a trustee to Princeton University for 34 years. He contributed to Lafayette College, served as president of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, and was one of the founders of the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania. He donated land to help establish Fairmount Park. The Newkirk Viaduct Monument in Philadelphia is named in his honor.

Early life and military service

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Newkirk was born May 31, 1794, the eighth of nine children, in Pittsgrove, New Jersey, to Cornelius and Abigail (Hanna) Newkirk.[2] At 16, he moved to Philadelphia to live with and work for Joseph and Collin Cooper, dry goods merchants on Front Street. He worked with them until he was 21 years old and learned the business.[3]

He volunteered for military service in the War of 1812; he served in the Second Company, Washington Guards of the First Regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers[4][5] and left the service as a corporal.[6]

In 1817, he married Jane Reese Stroud, who would die 21 months later of tuberculosis.[7]

Career

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He and a sister, Mary, opened a dry goods store on North Second Street in Philadelphia.[8] The business and subsequent ones thrived, and he expanded his reach as far as New Orleans.[9]

From 1821, he formed a partnership with William Heberton. The firm Newkirk and Heberton conducted wholesale and retail trade at 95 Market Street until 1824.[10] The following year, he formed a mercantile partnership with Charles S. Olden, who would later become governor of New Jersey.[11]

In 1832, he bought the resort hotel at Brandywine Springs, six miles west of Wilmington, Delaware, where he owned a vacation cottage; he spent sums to improve the building and its grounds.[12]

In 1839, he retired from the mercantile business and his friend Nicholas Biddle convinced him to become a director of the second United States Bank,[13] where he managed the deposits of Daniel Webster and others.[14]

He was elected to the Select Council, the predecessor body to the Philadelphia City Council that chose the city's mayors until 1839 and appointed city officers until 1885.[13]

Newkirk's Philadelphia mansion; later, St. George's Hall

In 1835, Newkirk bought a vacant lot at 13th and Arch Streets in downtown Philadelphia and built a mansion.[15][16][17] Designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, it was built of marble and featured a fresco by Italian artist Nicola Monachesi.[18]

That same year, Newkirk bought 3,000 shares in the Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad[19] and 3,587 shares in the Baltimore and Port Deposit Railroad.[20] He would spend much of the 1830s on further efforts to raise money for and build a rail line from Philadelphia south to the cities of Wilmington, Delaware, and Baltimore. Four railroads were ultimately chartered by the various states; Newkirk funded and directed the building of the W&S and the B&PD, then orchestrated its merger with the other two. In 1838, the merged PW&B began direct rail service between the cities, broken only by a ferry across the Susquehanna River. Much of its right-of-way is still in use today by Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.

1876 photo of the Newkirk Viaduct across the Schuylkill River

Among the railroad's achievements was the first permanent bridge across the Schuylkill River south of Market Street, which the PW&B's directors named for Newkirk.[1] They also presented their president with a silver service that included a large soup tureen, two tall pitchers, and an engraved tray; the tray alone was worth $1,000 ($28,613 today[21]).[22] In 1896, the service was sold by a Philadelphia pawn shop to a New York City dealer.[23]

1828 painting of Newkirk's Brandywine River mills in Delaware[24]

Newkirk also had financial interest in Pennsylvania coal mining and was involved in the Little Schuylkill Navigation, Railroad and Coal Company.[25] In 1854, Newkirk invested in Cambria Iron Company in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.[26] He was also invested in real estate. He owned property in 11 states and at one time was the largest landlord in the city of Philadelphia.[27]

He was close friends with Henry Clay and would host and entertain Clay on his frequent trips to Philadelphia.[28] A deeply religious man, Newkirk served for 34 years as an elder of Philadelphia's Central Presbyterian Church.[13]

Philanthropy

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In 1843, Newkirk was listed as the donor of the single largest monetary gift to the University of Delaware: $100. The university library still purchases books through the Matthew Newkirk Memorial Fund.[29]

He was a board member of Girard College,[9] a trustee of Princeton University for thirty-four years and contributed significantly to Lafayette College.[30][31] At the time of his death, he was Princeton's oldest trustee.[13] He was a founder of the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania and served as president of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.[32] He contributed land and was a supporter of the development of Fairmount Park.[9]

He served as president of the Pennsylvania Temperance Society.[33]

Death and legacy

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The Newkirk Viaduct Monument in 2018

On August 14, 1838, the PW&B board of directors named the bridge over the Schuykill River in Newkirk's honor and commissioned the Newkirk Viaduct Monument at its west end.[22]

Newkirk died on May 31, 1868[34] in his Philadelphia mansion[35] and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery.[36] He was survived by one child, Matthew Newkirk, a Presbyterian minister.[37] In his will, Newkirk bequeathed more than $1 million ($22,900,000 today[21]) to his family, and $500 to the Central Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia to buy books.[38]

Eight years later, his family sold Newkirk's mansion to the Society of the Sons of St. George, which renamed it "St. George's Hall" and used it as their headquarters. It was demolished in 1903.[39] The front colonnade survived and is displayed at the Princeton Battlefield State Park in New Jersey.[40]

References

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Citations

  1. ^ a b Wilson, William Bender (1895). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company with Plan of Organization, Portraits of Officials and Biographical Sketches. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates & Company. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  2. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 19.
  3. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 21.
  4. ^ Muster rolls of the Pennsylvania volunteers in the war of 1812-1814, with cotemporary papers and documents. Vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Lane S. Hart, Pennsylvania State Printer and Binder. 1880. p. 479. Archived from the original on 2023-11-02. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  5. ^ Montgomery, Thomas Lynch, ed. (1907). Troops under the command of Col. Fenton, Col. Rees Hill, Gens. Harrison and Crook, Col. Rush and Major Wersler, and those who rendezvonsed [!] at Camp Dupont, Erie, Lancaster, Marcus Hook and York and miscellaneous rolls. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Publishing Company, State Printer. pp. 570, 574. Archived from the original on 2023-11-02. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  6. ^ Newkirk 1869, pp. 21–22.
  7. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 23.
  8. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 22.
  9. ^ a b c Peniston, Bradley (July 9, 2014). "The Monument Men | Hidden City Philadelphia". hiddencityphila.org. Archived from the original on 2019-09-30. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  10. ^ Newkirk 1869, pp. 23–24.
  11. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 24.
  12. ^ Cooch, Francis Allyn (1936). Little known history of Newark, Delaware: and its environs. Newark, Delaware: The Press of Kells. p. 109.
  13. ^ a b c d "Death of a Prominent and Influential Citizen". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1868-06-01. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2023-10-31. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  14. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 26.
  15. ^ "SW Corner of 13th and Arch". Bob's Philadelphia History. February 18, 2013. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  16. ^ "Digital Collections: St. George's Hall, Thirteenth and Arch Sts". Free Library of Philadelphia. Archived from the original on 2019-07-24. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  17. ^ "Arch Street, West of Thirteenth Street, 1889. - Digital Collections - Free Library". 2019-09-26. Archived from the original on 2019-09-26. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  18. ^ Richard N. Juliani, Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians Before Mass Migration Archived 2023-10-31 at the Wayback Machine (University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 1998)
  19. ^ "1835 (June 2004 Edition)" (PDF). PRR CHRONOLOGY. The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. June 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 14, 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  20. ^ Potter, Jack C. (1960). The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, 1831-1840: a study in early railroad transportation (Thesis). University of Delaware.
  21. ^ a b 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  22. ^ a b "1838 (June 2004 Edition)" (PDF). PRR CHRONOLOGY. The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. June 2004. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  23. ^ "Newkirk's silver service found in a pawnshop, 1896". The World. 1896-10-03. p. 5. Archived from the original on 2022-04-30. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  24. ^ "Mill on the Brandwine, Delaware". www.loc.gov. Library of Congress. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  25. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 32.
  26. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 33.
  27. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 36.
  28. ^ "A Noble Example". Sun-Journal. 1868-10-17. p. 4. Archived from the original on 2023-11-02. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  29. ^ "Chapter 3: Years of Great Expectations". The University of Delaware: A History. University of Delaware. 2008. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
  30. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 38.
  31. ^ "Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, June 07, 1868, Image 2". Memphis Daily Appeal. 1868-06-07. ISSN 2166-1898. Archived from the original on 2019-09-30. Retrieved 2019-09-26 – via Chronicling America.
  32. ^ Newkirk 1869, pp. 38–39.
  33. ^ Pa.), Centennial Temperance Conference (1885 : Philadelphia (1886). One Hundred Years of Temperance: A Memorial Volume of the Centennial Temperance Conference Held in Philadelphia, Pa., September, 1885. National Temperance Society and Publication House.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 58.
  35. ^ "SW Corner of 13th and Arch". Bob's Philadelphia History. February 18, 2013. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  36. ^ Newkirk 1869, p. 64.
  37. ^ "Obituary for Matthew Newkirk". The Central Presbyterian. 1868-06-10. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2023-10-31. Retrieved 2023-10-31.
  38. ^ "State Items". Intelligencer Journal. 1868-06-19. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2023-11-02. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  39. ^ "Digital Collections: St. George's Hall, Thirteenth and Arch Sts". Free Library of Philadelphia. Archived from the original on 2019-07-24. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  40. ^ "The Princeton Battlefield State Park". www.phototelegrapher.org. Archived from the original on 2016-10-16. Retrieved 2019-09-30.

Sources

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