Background
John Johnston was born on April 8, 1820, in New York City, New York, United States, the son of John and Margaret (Taylor) Johnston. Both parents were of Scottish birth and enjoyed long visits periodically to the home land.
John Johnston was born on April 8, 1820, in New York City, New York, United States, the son of John and Margaret (Taylor) Johnston. Both parents were of Scottish birth and enjoyed long visits periodically to the home land.
John received an important part of his early education in the Edinburgh High School, being "dux of his class" most of the time. In 1839 he graduated from the University of the City of New York (New York University) of which his father was a founder and a Washington Square neighbor, and then he studied law, first at the Yale Law School, 1839-1841, and later in the office of Daniel Lord in New York City.
John Johnston was admitted to the New York bar in 1843, but the law had little appeal for him. After two years' travel abroad he became interested, through his father, in a little New Jersey railroad connecting Somerville and Elizabethtown, and in 1848, when twenty-eight years old, was elected its president. Extension of the road westward across New Jersey to Easton, Pennsylvania, was one of his first projects. Then came the acquisition of the Lehigh & Susquehanna, which gave the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania a direct rail connection with the seaboard. There had been a boat connection between Elizabethport and New York City by way of Kill van Kull, but Johnston foresaw the necessity for a terminal directly opposite the lower end of Manhattan Island. He began, therefore, quietly to acquire a right of way across the Jersey flats and to secure ample acreage for railroad yards at Jersey City, and then built the rail connection from Elizabeth which involved the construction of a long trestle with its drawbridge across Newark Bay.
Passengers all took notice when a ferry boat of quality with no spittoons was ready to land them at the foot of Liberty Street. In this way the present Central Railroad of New Jersey had obtained a splendid start before the Civil War was over. Johnston knew personally many of the patrons of his road, and bore them ever in mind. Their safety as well as convenience was his study. He saw to it that the grades were low, the alignment perfect, and the grade crossings as few as possible. Furthermore, himself a lover of things beautiful, he offered a prize annually to the station agent who should produce the most attractive grounds. Uniforms for trainmen were another innovation which he introduced after a trip to England.
About thirty years of his life were given energetically to the railroad. During these years Johnston was acquiring in his own home a collection of pictures that had no parallel in New York and probably not in America. He wished to share his pictures with the public, and constructed two galleries attached to his house which he opened to visitors one day each week. When because of financial reverses he had to dispose of the main part of his collection in December 1876, New York City witnessed its first great art sale. The movement to establish a museum of art in the city found in him an enthusiastic supporter.
In 1870 he was elected first president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Failing health compelled him to resign in 1889, but his devotion to the Museum, of which he remained honorary president, never flagged. Another institution to which he gave a full measure of devotion was the University of the City of New York. Seven years after his graduation he was elected to succeed his father on the University Council, of which he became subsequently the president. He endowed a professorship in the Latin languages; the Law Library owes its start to his generosity; and he inaugurated the general endowment of the University in 1871. He died in his seventy-third year.
Johnston was a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History and the National Academy of Design.
A friend, writing of Johnston's characteristics, mentioned "his love of art, as well as his prominence and high standing in the community, his administrative ability, good judgment and sound common sense. "
His wife, whom Johnston married in 1850, was Frances Colles, daughter of James Colles.
