William Jackson Palmer
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons11

William Jackson Palmer

American engineer and veteran of the Civil War (1836–1909)

William Jackson Palmer (September 18, 1836 – March 13, 1909) was an American civil engineer and veteran of the American Civil War. During the Civil War, he was promoted to brevet brigadier general and received a Medal of Honor for his actions.2

From Wikipedia’s article on William Jackson Palmer (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Sep 18, 1836, died Mar 13, 1909.1

About

In his early career, Palmer helped develop the expanding railroads of the United States in Pennsylvania; this was interrupted by the American Civil War. He served in colorful fashion as a Union Army cavalry Colonel and was appointed to the brevet grade of Brigadier General. After the war, he contributed financially to educational efforts for the freed former slaves of the South.

Heading west in 1867, Palmer helped build the Kansas Pacific Railway. He befriended a young English doctor, Dr. William Abraham Bell, who became his partner in most of his business ventures. Generally Palmer took the role of president with Bell as vice president. The two men are best known as co-founders of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (Rio Grande). The Rio Grande and its successors eventually operated the largest network of narrow gauge railroad in the United States. They were ultimately absorbed by the 21st century Union Pacific Railroad.

Palmer and Bell are notable for helping introduce to the United States the practices of burning coal (rather than wood) for railroad engines and using narrow gauge railways. He helped develop rail-related industries in Colorado, such as a large steel mill near Pueblo. He founded the city of Colorado Springs, in 1871, as well as several other communities. Palmer founded Colorado Springs as a "dry" community, based on his Quaker and temperance beliefs. He funded institutions of higher education and helped found a hospital for tuberculosis, then incurable. Public schools in Colorado Springs were named for both him and his wife, Mary (née Mellen) Palmer, who was known by her nickname of "Queen". A statue of William J. Palmer still stands in downtown Colorado Springs, across from the school named in his honor.

From Wikipedia’s article on William Jackson Palmer, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

William Jackson Palmer was born in 1836 to a Hicksite sect Quaker family on their Kinsdale Farm in 1836, near Leipsic, Kent County, Delaware. His parents were John and Matilda (Jackson) Palmer. When he was five years old, his family moved to Germantown, then an independent city outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the private Friends School, and then public schools: Zane Street School and Boys' Central High School.

From Wikipedia’s article on William Jackson Palmer (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: industrialist, businessperson, civil engineer, railway engineer, military officer.4

Personal life

  • BornSep 18, 1836, Leipsic5
  • DiedMar 13, 1909, Colorado Springs6
  • CitizenshipUnited States7
  • SpouseMary Lincoln Mellen8

Over the course of his life, Palmer was a member of the Denver Club, Colorado Springs Country Club, El Paso Country Club, City Midday Club (New York), and the Metropolitan Club (New York).

Marriage

Palmer met Mary Lincoln (Queen) Mellen in April 1869 while she and her father, William Proctor Mellen, were on a train returning from a trip to see the West. They were married November 7, 1870, in Flushing, New York, where the Mellen family lived at the time. They spent their honeymoon in Europe. They had three daughters, Elsie, Dorothy, and Marjory.

Palmer built a house that would eventually become Glen Eyrie Castle, Scottish for "Valley of the Eagle's Nest," in 1871 near Colorado Springs, as a home for his wife and family. While they lived there, Queen taught at Colorado Springs' first school.

Palmer had apartments in London and New York, a castle near Mexico City, and property throughout Colorado. The Palmers traveled frequently with their children and governesses to New York and London for William's business and lived part-time at Glen Eyrie in Colorado.

Queen was of frail health, possibly aggravated by living at high altitude. While pregnant with their middle daughter Dorothy in 1880, Queen suffered a heart attack in Leadville during a vacation. Dorothy was born a few weeks later at Glen Eyrie. Then, their third daughter, Marjorie, was born in England. Two maids and a doctor had accompanied them on the trip. Over the next four years, Queen often lived on the East Coast or England, with visits by Palmer. In 1885, she left Glen Eyrie permanently, due to ongoing health concerns, and needing to live at a lower altitude, she returned to her home in England. In about 1887, Queen began renting Ightham Mote in Kent, where she lived for 3 years. William and Queen vacationed in France and Italy in the spring of 1889. Following other heart attacks which prevented any return to Colorado, Queen died in England on December 27, 1894, at the age of 44.

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Retirement

When Palmer retired from business, he devoted himself to philanthropic endeavors, giving away $4 million (equivalent to $143,333,333 in 2025). In the autumn of 1906, Palmer suffered a fall from a horse and was partially paralyzed. Palmer sustained a C6 incomplete spinal cord injury, which would have paralyzed him from the neck down, making him a quadriplegic.

Unable to travel, Palmer hosted the veterans of his 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment troopers for their annual reunion in August 1907 at Glen Eyrie. He provided a special train and paid the travel expenses for 208 of about 260 surviving veterans. Mrs. J.A. Hayes, the wife of a prominent Colorado Springs banker and daughter of Jefferson Davis, was an honored guest at the reunion.

William Jackson Palmer died on March 13, 1909, at the age of 72. On the day of his death schools, businesses, and trains stopped and flags flew at half mast in Colorado Springs. The mayor said Palmer was "the soldier, the builder of an empire, the philanthropist, the friend of the people, whose life was a blessing." Gazette journalist Dave Philipps said that he was "an ardent pacifist, humanitarian and champion of preserving wildlands at a time when conservation was almost unheard of." His and Queen's ashes are buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

From Wikipedia’s article on William Jackson Palmer (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

  • Date not recordedMedal of Honor9

Sources

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