Thomas Barlow Walker
Thomas Barlow Walker, one of the greatest lumbermen the country has ever produced, was born in Xenia, Ohio, February 1, 1840, a son of Platt B. and Anstic Keziah (Barlow) Walker. He taught school for a time as a young man, later becoming a traveling salesman before he located in Minnesota in 1862 at the age of twenty-two. He was first engaged in that state on government surveys and later as surveyor for the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad. During this time he began investigating in timber lands and eventually became the largest lumberman in Minnesota. He is also heavily interested in California white and sugar pine land. He was the projector and builder of the St. Louis Park and the electric line to it; built the central city market and the wholesale commission district He was the originator and builder of the Minneapolis public library, and was president of the library board for thirty years. He is responsible for the building up of the State Academy of Science and its museum of science and art. He has a splendid collection of paintings that fills the large art gallery of the public library and also an extensive collection of ancient art in the museum room of the library. Attached to his home is the only free art gallery that is to be found in either America or Europe. His home in Minneapolis is at 807 Hennepin avenue.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918