Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Peter Arrell Brown WIDENER
Peter Arrell Brown Widener (1834-1915) was an incredibly wealthy Philadelphia financier (U.S. Steel; American Tobacco Co.; Pennsylvania Railroad; and street railway companies in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Chicago; etc.). His art collections were among the finest in America. P.A.B. passed on his collecting passions to his son Joseph, and to his grand-son Harry, who became a famed book collector at a very young age. Harry and his father, George, both perished on the Titanic.
The Wideners generously gave the bulk of their collections to the new National Gallery of Art and the Art Museum of Philadelphia. This is a truly luxuriant monument to one of America's richest collections.
Peter Widener was a key figure in the development of suburban street railways after the Civil War. He was instrumental in the consolidation of the various street railways in Philadelphia and the development of lines in Chicago. Widener and his associates acquired large street railway holdings in other cities as well, and eventually their properties totaled a greater mileage than those of any similar syndicate. He helped organize many of the large corporations whose names are familiar today such as the U.S. Steel Corporation, American Tobacco Company, etc. At his death, he was the wealthiest man in Philadelphia.
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