T. B. Walker

Infobox Person
name = Thomas Barlow Walker


caption =
birth_date = 1840
birth_place = Xenia, Ohio, United States
death_date = 28 July 1928
death_place = Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
other_names =
known_for = lumber, Walker Art Center
occupation = businessperson, art collector
spouse = Harriet G. Walker
children = Gilbert, Julia, Leon, Harriet, Fletcher, Willis, Clinton, and Archie

Thomas Barlow Walker (1840–28 July 1928) was an American businessperson who acquired timber and became an art collector. He was born in Xenia, Ohio in the United States. His brother Platt Bayless Walker II founded "Mississippi Valley Lumberman", a magazine. In 1855 his family moved to Berea, Ohio where he studied mathematicscite news|author=Abbe, Mary|title=Art lover T.B. Walker: Where it all began|date=9 April 2005|url=http://www.startribune.com/1375/story/33833.html|work=Star Tribune|publisher=Avista Capital Partners|accessdate=2007-11-02] at Baldwin University. He married Harriet G. Walker in 1863. They had eight children and lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Red River Lumber Company, the company he founded in Minnesota in 1883 may have owned convert|900000|acre|km2|0 of timberland in California by the time he retired c. 1912. This is less than 1% of the state's area, but Walker was among the 15 or so wealthiest persons in the world at the time. Walker died in 1928 in Minneapolis and is buried in Lakewood Cemetery.cite web|author=Peterson, David B. (processor)|url=http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00093.html#a2|title=Biographies of the Walker Family in T. B. Walker and Family Papers|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|accessdate=2007-11-02]

The Walker home on Hennepin Avenue was a public art gallery now known as the Walker Art Center. The house was demolished in 1914 to build a complex that includes the State Theatre. During the early 20th century, Walker published catalogs of his art collectioncite book|author=Walker, Thomas Barlow|title=Catalog of the Art Collection of T. B. Walker|date=1907|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NWk6mSxnzh8C&printsec=frontcover|location=Minneapolis|publisher=via Google Books scan of University of Michigan copy|accessdate=2007-11-03] which he wanted to donate to the city of Minneapolis. For some reason the city refused the gift so these works are now in other collections.fact|date=November 2007 The T. B. Walker Foundation of today was founded in 1925 to "own and manage the collection and gallery".

List of affiliated businesses

* Butler, Mills & Walker, later L. Butler & Company, reestablished as Butler & Walker, lumber 1869-1872
* Camp & Walker 1877
* Pacific Mill 1877-
* Walker & Akeley 1887
* Red River Lumber Company (RRLC) 1883-1897, California 1912-
* Akeley, Minnesota (developed town), also mill 1899-1915
* Westwood, California (company town) approx. 1912-1913 to retirement

ee also

*Walker Art Center

Notes

External links

*cite web|url=http://info.walkerart.org/about/history.wac|title=History|publisher=Walker Art Center|accessdate=2007-11-02

Persondata |PLEASE SEE !
NAME = T. B. Walker
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Thomas Barlow Walker
SHORT DESCRIPTION = businessperson, lumberman art collector
DATE OF BIRTH = 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH = Xenia, Ohio, United States
DATE OF DEATH = 28 July 1928
PLACE OF DEATH = Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States