Background
Drexel, Joseph William was born on January 24, 1833 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of Francis Martin and Catherine (Hookey) Drexel.
Drexel, Joseph William was born on January 24, 1833 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of Francis Martin and Catherine (Hookey) Drexel.
He attended the Central High School, Philadelphia, and traveled through Spain, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and Greece.
In 1876, tired of battling the brusque J. Pierpont Morgan, Joseph retired from the business and devoted his life to philanthropic and civic organizations. He was chairman of New York Sanitary Commission, the commissioner of education, president of the New York Philharmonic Society, trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, trustee of the United States. National Academy of Sciences, and director of the Metropolitan Opera house. He owned a 200-acre (081 km2) farm near New York City, where people without work were housed, clothed, federal, and taught agriculture until they could find a job.
He owned a large tract of land in Maryland, which was developed into Klej Grange, a planned community, where the lots are sold to poor people at cost.
About 7,000 acres (28 km²) in Michigan were bought for the same purpose. Drexel was an avid collector of music, eventually amassing a collection of over 6,000 items.
Upon his death, the Drexel Collection was accepted by the Lenox Library. When the Lenox Library was joined with those of John Jacob Astor and Samuel Tilden to form The New York Public Library, Drexel"s collection became the basis for the Library"s Music Division, housed today in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
In 1881, Drexel acquired title to Mount McGregor near Saratoga Springs, New New York
He constructed the Hotel Balmoral at the summit and built the Saratoga, Mount McGregor and Lake George Railroad narrow gauge railway from Saratoga Springs. In 1885, Drexel loaned his private summer cottage on Mount McGregor to ex-president Ulysses South. Grant. Grant lived there for six weeks until his death and completed his memoirs.
The cottage is now the Grant Cottage State Historic Site.
He was buried in The Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. John Quincy Adams Ward"s 1889 bust of Drexel is located on the third-floor vestibule of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Married Lucy Wharton, April.