Background
Walker, Thomas Barlow was born on February 1, 1840 in Xenia, Ohio, United States. Son of Platt Bayless and Anstis Keziah (Barlow) Walker.
Walker, Thomas Barlow was born on February 1, 1840 in Xenia, Ohio, United States. Son of Platt Bayless and Anstis Keziah (Barlow) Walker.
Educated Baldwin University, Berea, O., now Baldwin-Wallace College (Doctor of Laws).
Taught school, and later became a traveling salesman. Went to Minneapolis, 1862. Was engaged on government surveys and later on survey for Saint Paul & Duluth Railroad Large operator in Minnesota timber lands and lumbering operations in the pine timber of Minnesota.
Has extensive interests in California white and sugar pine.
Projector and builder of Saint Louis Park, suburb, and the trolley line to lieutenant Owned extensive property in Minneapolis. Built central city market and the wholesale commission district which placed Minneapolis in the front rank as a wholesale and retail market.
Originator and builder Minneapolis Public Library. President library board, annually elected for 34 years.
Was responsible for the building up of Academy of Science and its museum of science and art
Presented to the city important collections of art, including over 500 oil paintings, 300 miniatures, and over 7,000 art objects, consisting of pottery, porcelain, jades, ancient glass, necklaces, crystals, et cetera, mostly from the tombs, ruins and temples of Syria, Egypt, Greece, Persia and Babylonia. Advocate of practical methods of conserving the forests for perpetual use. Home: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Married Harriet G. Hulet. Children: Gilbert Marshall, Julia (Mistress Ernest F. Smith), Leon Barlow (deceased), Fletcher Loring, Willis Jay, Clinton Llewellyn, Archie Dean.