John King (1832-1897)

He was born in Baltimore, a first cousin of John Work Garrett, President of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O). Educated in private and public schools, he began his career at seventeen as a clerk in a hardware store. After two years in the express business with John Hoey, he began his railroad career as a ticket agent for the B&O at Camden, New Jersey. He rose to paymaster, auditor, and general freight agent, before becoming the railroad's first vice-president. He was active in the management of the company for 27-years, during which time he was President of the Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad Company (1875); Acting President of the Baltimore, Ohio & Chicago Railroad Company when his cousin fell ill; Receiver of the Ohio & Mississippi Company; and, Receiver of the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad. In 1881, he retired and spent three years travelling abroad. While there, William H. Vanderbilt sent him a telegram, offering him presidency of a railroad. He declined, but in 1883 Vanderbilt convinced him to return to America to rehabilitate the Erie Railroad, and he was elected its President in 1884.

Through his remarkable executive abilities the Erie Railroad was reorganized and returned to profitability. Ill-health saw him resign in 1895 and he decided to take a restorative tour of the world. However, his health did not improve and he died two years later at Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the Côte d'Azur. In 1888, he had paid $87,500 for No. 19 East 69th Street (pictured) in New York City. In addition, he owned a townhouse in Baltimore and an estate in Maryland. He was a Freemason and said to have been, “a member of fully two-score (40) of clubs and associations, both public and private, in this country and in Europe.” His memberships in New York included the Century Club, the Metropolitan, the Manhattan, the Lawyers’ Club, the New York Whist Club, the Tuxedo, and the Southern Society. In 1891, having been proposed by his friend J.P. Morgan, he was famously blackballed from the Union Club on account of his bad table manners - he was alleged to have eaten his food off his knife, offending the club members. Morgan was so outraged that within a matter of months he had founded the Metropolitan Club of which King was immediately given membership. He was survived by his wife and their three children (listed).