Thomas Lowry (Entrepreneur)

Thomas Lowry

Thomas Lowry (born February 27, 1843 in Logan County , Illinois ; died February 4, 1909 in Minneapolis , Minnesota ) was an American businessman and entrepreneur. He promoted the development of Minneapolis and was president of the Twin Cities Rapid Company and the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway .

Life

Thomas Lowry was born to Irish-born Samuel R. Lowry and Rachel Bullock. His mother died in his childhood. Three of his five siblings died as children.

From 1850 Thomas Lowry studied at Lombard University in Galesburg (Illinois) . At the age of 20 he fell ill with tuberculosis and had to drop out of college. After taking a year off, he began a legal apprenticeship in Rushville, Illinois . In 1867 he was admitted to the bar and went to Minneapolis to open a law firm there. From 1869 he was a partner of Austin H. Young, who was district judge in 1871.

Memorial to Thomas Lowry

In addition, he began to get into the real estate business and eventually specialized in it. In particular, his acquaintance with Calvin Goodrich, his future father-in-law, enabled him to purchase larger plots south of the city of Minneapolis (Groveland addition). By the 1870s he was responsible for about a third of the real estate and real estate business in Minneapolis. During this time he also established the family seat in the Lowry Hill district , which was then on the outskirts of town.

Thomas Lowry saw the power of trams to improve property development and appreciation. So he participated in 1875 with other investors (including William S. King ) in the Minneapolis Street Railway . In 1878 he became president of this society. As a result, he put a strong focus of his business on the tram company for the rest of his life.

In 1891 he merged the Minneapolis Street Railway with the St. Paul City Railway, also controlled by him, to form the Twin City Rapid Transit Company. The merger and economic crisis of 1893 brought Lowry to the brink of ruin. However, he was able to save the company through contacts with investors.

In 1883 he was a co-founder of Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic Railway and in 1884 the Minneapolis and Pacific Railway , predecessor companies of Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway . He became the second president of that society after William D. Washburn went to Washington as a senator. At first he only wanted to hold this position for a short time. Since the successor Frederick Norton Finney found in June 1890 gave up the position again the following year, Lowry took over the presidency again.

Thomas Lowry was involved in the construction of the Lower Dam Hydro Plant near St. Anthony Falls in 1897 and obtained all the energy for the trams from this hydroelectric power station. Furthermore, he campaigned for the construction of the West Hotel, as well as for the city libraries and the construction of public parks. In 1905 he acquired the Lincoln Funeral Car, the passenger car with which the body of Abraham Lincoln was transported from Washington to Springfield (Illinois). In 1911, however, the car was destroyed in a bush fire.

From 1905 he fell ill with tuberculosis again. Therefore, he spent the winter months in Arizona and Texas.

He was also a co-founder of the North American Telegraph Company, the General Electric Company of Minnesota, and a co-founder and trustee of Lakewood Cemetery .

In 1870 he married Beatrice Goodrich (1854–1915). The couple had three children.

Aftermath

In 1915 a life-size bronze statue was inaugurated in his honor at the intersection of Hennepin and Lyndale Avenues. A park on Lowry Hill and Lowry Avenue are also named after him.

The Lowry-Goodrich Mausoleum was built in the style of the Parthenon temple in the Lakewood Cemetery .

Web links

Commons : Thomas Lowry  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Lowry, Thomas (1843-1909) | MNopedia. Retrieved October 28, 2019 . 
• 5 Feb 1909, Page 2 - Star Tribune at Newspapers.com. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 20 Mar 1911, Page 8 - The Bismarck Tribune at Newspapers.com. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Lakewood's History | Lakewood Cemetery. Retrieved October 28, 2019 .