John W. Garrett

John Work Garrett (July 31, 1820 – September 26, 1884) was an American merchant turned banker who became president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1858 and led the railroad for nearly three decades. The B&O became one of the most important American railroads by the time Garrett died, and Garret would also become a noted philanthropist. He provided crucial support for the Union cause during the Civil War, expanded the railroad to reach Chicago, Illinois, and competed with the Pennsylvania Railroad for access to New York City. Early life Born in Baltimore, on July 31, 1820, to merchant Robert Garrett (1783–1857) and his wife Elizabeth Stouffer Garrett (1791–1877). Like his elder brother Henry Garrett (1818-1867), John W. Garrett attended Boisseau Academy in Baltimore, essentially a prep school for Lafayette College. He attended the college in Easton, Pennsylvania, but never graduated. His father Robert [Sr.], had come from Ireland as a young boy in 1801 with his parents and family, including his father who died at sea during the transit. The Garrett family also included a daughter, Elizabeth Garrett White (1827–1917). John Work Garrett married Rachel Ann Harrisson (1823–1883), and the couple had four children, three of whom survived their parents: Robert Garrett (1847–1896), Thomas Harrison Garrett (1849–1888) and Mary Elizabeth Garrett (1854–1915). Their initial residence was on Fayette Street, in the heart of Baltimore's present business district. Early commercial career At age 19 (in 1839) Garrett began working as a clerk and apprentice in his father's mercantile, banking and financial services firm, founded 1819, Robert Garrett and Company, (later Robert Garrett and Sons). He and his brother Henry learned the business from the ground up, as had their father, including how to tan leather from the teamster Alexander Sharp, how to salt pork and how to pack madder and Spanish whiting in barrels. While Henry remained in Baltimore, John Garrett headed west, seeking to expand trade over the mountains. His travels through Virginia into Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and beyond taught him that the key to Baltimore's commerce lay in the western states, whose trade came to eastern ports including Baltimore.