Matthew Newkirk
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Matthew Newkirk (1794–1868), was a banker, railroad executive, and civic leader in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. He was a director of the United States Bank, but he was best known as the president of the
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) was an American railroad that operated independently from 1836 to 1881. It was formed in 1836 by the merger of four state-chartered railroads in three Middle Atlantic states to create a ...
(PW&B), which in 1838 opened the first direct railroad link between Philadelphia and
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. He was also for many years the president of the Pennsylvania Temperance Society. Newkirk was born May 31, 1794, the eighth of nine children, in Pittsgrove, New Jersey. At 16, he moved to Philadelphia to live with and work for Joseph and Collin Cooper, dry goods merchants on Front Street. He volunteered for military service in the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
and left the service as a corporal. He and a sister, Mary, opened a store near the Delaware River waterfront. "The business thrived, as did subsequent ones that extended his trade as far as New Orleans, and presently Newkirk had time and money to expend on other pursuits. His real estate investments spanned 11 states and a good share of Philadelphia's rental housing stock," wrote Hidden City Philadelphia. In 1825, he formed a mercantile partnership with Charles S. Olden, who would later become
governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official r ...
. In 1835, he bought 3,000 shares in the Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad. The same year, Newkirk bought a vacant lot at 13th and Arch Streets in downtown Philadelphia and built a mansion. Designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, it was built of marble and featured a fresco by Italian artist Nicola Monachesi. Newkirk spent much of the 1830s leading efforts to raise money for and then build a rail line from Philadelphia south to the cities of
Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...
, and Baltimore. Four railroads were chartered by the various states; Newkirk funded and directed the building of one of these, then orchestrated the merger of all four. In 1838, the merged PW&B began direct rail service between the cities, broken only by a ferry across the Susquehanna River. Much of its right-of-way is still in use today by
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
's Northeast Corridor. Among the railroad's achievements was the first permanent bridge across the Schuylkill south of Market Street. On August 14, 1838, the PW&B board of directors decided to name the bridge for Newkirk and to commission a
monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
at its west end. (Earlier in the year, the company gave Newkirk a silver service that included a large soup tureen, two tall pitchers, and an engraved tray; the tray alone was worth $1,000 ($ today). In 1896, the service was sold by a Philadelphia pawn shop to a New York City dealer.) In 1843, Newkirk was listed as the donor of the single largest monetary gift to the
University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...
: $100. The university library still purchases books through the Matthew Newkirk Memorial Fund. He later became a trustee of Princeton University. Newkirk died in 1868 in his Philadelphia mansion and was interred at
Laurel Hill Cemetery Laurel Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1836, it was the second major rural cemetery in the United States after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery is ...
. Eight years later, his family sold the building to the Society of the Sons of St. George, which renamed it "St. George's Hall" and used it as their headquarters. It was torn down in 1903. The front colonnade survives at the
Princeton Battlefield State Park The Princeton Battlefield in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, is where American and British troops fought each other on January 3, 1777 in the Battle of Princeton during the American Revolutionary War. The battle ended when t ...
in New Jersey.


References


External links


Drawings and images of Newkirk's mansion

Insurance policies written 1824-82 for Matthew Newkirk
by the
Philadelphia Contributionship The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire is the oldest property insurance company in the United States. It was organized by Benjamin Franklin in 1752, and incorporated in 1768. The Contributionship's build ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newkirk, Matthew 19th-century American railroad executives 1794 births 1868 deaths American temperance activists Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) People from Pittsgrove Township, New Jersey People from New Jersey in the War of 1812 Princeton University people