Peter A.B. Widener

Peter A.B. Widener (1834-1915) was born in Philadelphia to a poor family and trained as a butcher. He made his first small fortune by supplying meat to the Union Army during the Civil War.

After the war, he began investing in Philadelphia's transportation network. Rather than trying to break into the railroad business, Widener invested in the construction of streetcar lines and developing the surrounding real estate.

Partnering with his friend, William L Elkins, they eventually held a monopoly on the streetcar system in Philadelphia. Widener developed housing in West and North Philadelphia, areas serviced by the streetcars. His wealth grew even more as he became involved in public transportation elsewhere and later expanded by purchasing large blocks of stock in the United States Steel Corporation, Standard Oil, and Pennsylvania Railroad.

By 1900, Widener was worth over $100 million, making him the richest man in Philadelphia. In 1900, Widener deeded his mansion (built in 1887 at Broad and Girard) to the Free Library of Philadelphia. The mansion served as a branch of the Library until it was sold in 1946. It was destroyed by fire in 1980.

Widener took up residence at Lynnewood Hall, his 110-room mansion located in Elkins Park. Designed by Horace Trumbauer, it was also a gallery for his art collection which included works by Raphael, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and El Greco.

His son, George Widener, married Eleanor Elkins (daughter of William L Elkins) and the family’s real estate focus shifted to downtown Philadelphia. Architect Horace Trumbauer designed the Widener Building at 13th and Chestnut, the Racquet Club at 16th and Locust, and the (former) Ritz-Carlton Hotel at the SE corner of Broad and Walnut St for them.

In the spring of 1912, as the Ritz was under construction, George, Eleanor, and their son, Harry, were on a European vacation. Their voyage back to the US was to be in style, on a liner that Peter Widener was a major investor, the RMS Titanic. Only Eleanor returned to Philadelphia.

After Peter Widener’s death on November 6, 1915, his son Joseph moved into Lynwood Hall and continued to add to the art collection which would became part of the core of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Other legacies of Peter Widener are the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard U. and Widener University.

Widener's portrait by John Widener Mansion at Broad & Lynwood Hall in it's heyday

Sargent, in National Gallery Girard St, 1900

of Art

Lynwood Hall, today sits empty Postcard of Widener Building Racquet Club

and decaying in suburban Philly

Ritz Carlton in 1914. Now part Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library

of University of the Arts.