Henry Villard

Henry Villard , 1835-1900, American journalist and financier, b. Germany. His first name was originally Hilgard. He attended universities in Germany, and after he reached (1853) the United States he did newspaper reporting. He won distinction in 1858 by reporting the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and in the Civil War he was a correspondent for New York newspapers. In 1873 he acted as agent for holders of Western railroad securities and soon became active in railroad financing. He organized (1879) the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company and gained a solid foothold in the transportation of the Pacific Northwest area. He then obtained a controlling interest in the Northern Pacific RR and became (1881) its president, but completion of the building of that railroad through the mountains bankrupted him (1883). With new capital Villard once more gained control of the Northern Pacific and in 1889 became chairman of the board of directors. He merged (1890) smaller companies to form the Edison General Electric Company (later the General Electric Company) and was its president until 1893. Villard obtained (1881) control of the New York Evening Post, which later (1897) came under the management of his son, Oswald Garrison Villard. He generously contributed to the Univ. of Oregon.

Bibliography: See his autobiography (1904, repr. 1969); study by J. B. Hedges (1930, repr. 1967).

Villard, Henry (1835–1900), Bavarian‐born journalist and financier, emigrated to the U.S. (1853) and studied law in Illinois, where in 1858 began his friendship with Lincoln. Lincoln on the Eve of '61 (1941) is a collection of his newspaper dispatches between Lincoln's election and his inauguration. He participated in the Pike's Peak gold rush (1859) and wrote a guidebook, The Past and Present of the Pike's Peak Gold Regions (1860). His later career was mainly concerned with railroad building and finance in the Northwest, where besides controlling Oregon and California railways he was president of the Northern Pacific (1881–84). Villard helped found the Edison General Electric Company (1889) and bought the New York Evening Post (1881). He married the daughter of W.L. Garrison.