Walter Loomis Newberry was an American merchant, banker, and philanthropist.
Background
Walter Loomis Newberry was born on September 18, 1804 in East (now South) Windsor, Connecticut, United States. He was the son of Amasa and Ruth (Warner) Newberry, and a descendant of Thomas Newberry who emigrated from Devonshire in 1634. Save through heritage, however, New England influenced him but little, for when he was only a year old the family moved to Sangerfield, Oneida County, New York. His father saw active service in the Revolution, and later was a captain in the Connecticut militia.
Education
Walter Newberry's limited schooling was obtained at an academy in the neighboring town of Clinton, and in 1820 he received an appointment to West Point, but failed to pass the physical examination.
Career
Newberry went to Buffalo and entered the employ of his brother Oliver. In 1826 his brother moved to Detroit and Walter accompanied him, established a drygoods business, and prospered.
He took an active interest in public affairs, serving as adjutant-general of the Territory of Michigan from 1829 to 1831, and as alderman of the little frontier city of Detroit in 1832. Newberry's first extensive land investments, from which he afterwards gained a fortune, were made in 1833, when, in company with his brother Oliver, W. B. Astor, and Lewis Cass, he bought large tracts of land in Wisconsin, northern Michigan, and in the newly established town of Chicago. The raw little colony at the southern end of Lake Michigan attracted him from his first visit; he had the imagination to see its future importance, and determined to grasp the business opportunities it presented.
Closing up his affairs in Detroit, he removed to Chicago in 1833 and made that city his home for the rest of his life, seeing it grow, during his thirty-five years' residence, from a straggling board-shack settlement of less than four thousand to a city of nearly three hundred thousand inhabitants. Engaging in the commission business and later in banking, and prospering in both, he invested his profits for years in Chicago real estate. What he bought by the acre he sold later by the front foot, and the increase in value provided him a fortune ample for that period. As the city developed he was active in large business enterprises.
He held many positions of trust and honor, a fact indicative both of the esteem of his contemporaries and of his interest in civic affairs. He was a member (1843) of the Chicago board of health, city comptroller (1851), and for a time acting mayor.
From 1859 to 1863 he was a member of the board of education and in the latter year its president.
Newberry's death occurred at sea while he was on his way to join his family in Paris. His body was brought back to Chicago and buried in Graceland Cemetery.
As a result of a contingent provision in Newberry's will, one half of his estate, or about $2, 100, 000, went in 1887 to the founding of the independent free public reference library in Chicago that bears his name. Much of the property bequeathed was in undeveloped real estate, which in later years greatly increased in value. Under a cooperative agreement with other reference libraries of the city, the Newberry Library has specialized almost exclusively in the fields of literature, history, philology, and music. Within these limits, its collection of about 500, 000 books and manuscripts has given the institution an international reputation.
Achievements
Religion
Newberry gave land to several religious congregations, on which churches were built, and his gifts of money to various enterprises were doubtless greater than is now known.
Membership
In 1857 Newberry became a member of the newly organized Chicago Historical Society, was its vice-president from 1858 to 1860, and its president from 1860 until his death eight years later.
Connections
On November 22, 1842 Newberry married Julia Butler Clapp, daughter of James and Julia (Butler) Clapp, of Oxford, New York, by whom he had four children, two sons who died in infancy, and two daughters who died unmarried.