:William Plankinton
{{Short description|American businessman and industrialist}}
{{Infobox person
|name = William Plankinton
|image = Wm Plankinton 1909.jpg
|image_size = 200
|caption = Plankinton c. 1905
|birth_name =
|birth_date = {{birth date|1843|11|7}}
|birth_place = Allegheny, Pennsylvania, U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|1905|4|29|1843|11|7}}
|occupation = Businessman and industrialist
|spouse = Mary Ella Woods
|children = 2
|parents = John Plankinton
Elizabeth Bracken Plankinton
|relatives = Elizabeth Plankinton (sister)
}}
File:1909 Postal Telegraph Cable Company stamp.jpg
File:John Plankinton and William Plankinton mansions in 1886.jpg
William Plankinton (November 7, 1843 – April 29, 1905) was an American businessman, manufacturer, and industrialist. He followed in his father's footsteps in the meat packing and meat processing industry.
Plankinton was associated with the Milwaukee museum, public library, industrial exposition and Chamber of Commerce. As a businessman he was a banker. He was implicated in a scandal of fraud and embezzlement, for which he was sued.
Early life
Plankinton was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on November 7, 1843.{{sfn|Historical Society|1906|p=139}} He was the son of John Plankinton and Elizabeth Bracken Plankinton. While he was still a baby his parents moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin Territory. He received his early education in the Milwaukee public schools. After graduating from high school, he attended a college in Milwaukee.{{sfn|Watrous|1909|p=20}}{{sfn|Wilson|Fiske|Dick|1915|p=997}}
Career
Plankinton was employed by his father after he graduated from the Milwaukee college. He soon became a partner in his father's pork and beef packing company. He helped to establish branches in Chicago, Kansas City and New York.{{sfn|Watrous|1909|p=20}} The firm became known in 1893 as the Plankinton Packing Company when the Cudahy brothers moved their operations south to a site just outside of Milwaukee.{{sfn|Apps|2015|p=210}} Plankinton's main competitors were the meat packing companies of Chicago.{{sfn|Bowman|1948|p=175}}
Plankinton helped found and organize several companies, including the Milwaukee-based Johnson Electric Company.{{cite news |last=Martin|first=Chuck |title=Johnson Controls a model for future |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58154095/ |newspaper= Wisconsin State Journal |location=Madison, Wisconsin|date= April 11, 1985 |via= Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} He founded and was part owner of the Western Portland Cement company in Yankton, South Dakota.{{sfn|Wilson|Fiske|Dick|1915|p=997}} Plankinton held several public offices and was a director of the Milwaukee museum, the city public library, and the Milwaukee industrial exposition.{{sfn|Wilson|Fiske|Dick|1915|p=997}} He was also associated with Layton art gallery and the local Chamber of Commerce.{{cite web |url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=Ny:True,Ro:0,N:4294963828-4294963805&dsNavOnly=N:1220&dsRecordDetails=R:CS4410&dsDimensionSearch=D:%22William+Plankinton%22+,Dxm:All,Dxp:3&dsCompoundDimensionSearch=D:%22William+Plankinton%22+,Dxm:All,Dxp:3 |title=Brief biography of John Plankinton, a meat packer and businessman|website=Historical Essay of Plankinton, John (1820–1891) |date=22 January 2015 |publisher= Wisconsin Historical Society|access-date=January 29, 2017 }} Plankinton was one of the financial backers of the Postal Telegraph Company that involved telegraph lines in Wisconsin and Michigan.{{cite news |author= |title=Postal Telegraph Co. |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58152064/ |newspaper= The Oshkosh Northwestern |page=2|location=Oshkosh, Wisconsin|date= December 17, 1895 |via= Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}
Plankinton became vice-president of the Plankinton Bank in 1891 upon his father's death.{{cite news |author= |title=CLOSED ITS DOORS |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8672098// |newspaper= Wichita Beacon|location=Wichita, Kansas|date= June 1, 1893 |via= Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} He was involved with settling the affairs when the bank failed in 1893.{{cite news |author= |title=Finally Succumbed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8672168// |newspaper=Sedalia Weekly Bazoo |location=Sedali,Missouri |date= June 6, 1893 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title=Many Indicted |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8672382// |newspaper=Logansport Reporter |location=Logansport, Indiana |date= July 13, 1893 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Bank Failure / The Plankinton Bank at Milwaukee Suspends |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8672608// |newspaper=Parsons Daily Sun |location= Parsons, Kansas |date= June 2, 1893 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} The bank crisis involved a scandal of fraud and embezzlement in which Plankinton was implicated.{{cite news |author= |title= May yet have to pay |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58186207/ |newspaper= The ChicagoChronicle |location= Chicago, Illinois|date= August 15, 1897 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} He was sued to pay back all that was owed to the depositors and creditors.{{cite news |author= |title= A Judge at the bar |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58127165/ |newspaper= Montreal River Miner and Iron County Republican |location= Hurley, Wisconsin|date= July 22, 1893 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= To arrest F.T. Day |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58128570/ |newspaper= Portage Daily Democrat |location= Portage, Wisconsin|date= September 26, 1894 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Plankinton sued |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58130713/ |newspaper= The Oshkosh Northwestern |location= Oshkosh, Wisconsin|date= August 9, 1899 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}
Loans made by the bank to Frank A. Lappen and his companies totaling almost $300,000 precipitated the crisis.{{cite news |author= |title= The Big Bank Closed / The Plankinton Institution Fails at Milwaukee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8673098// |newspaper= Scranton Republican |location= Scranton, Pennsylvania|date= June 2, 1893 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= A Broken Bank|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58185845/|newspaper= The Appleton Crescent |location= Appleton, Wisconsin|date= June 10, 1893 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Under Arrest / Officers and Directors of the Plankinton Bank indicted |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58187427/ |newspaper= Green Bay Press-Gazette |location= Green Bay, Wisconsin|date= July 13, 1893|via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} Lappen was summoned to court to testify about his failure to pay back creditors $750,000, but disappeared to Mexico and could not be extradited.{{cite news |author= |title= All Found Culpable / Plankinton bank officers and Lappen are indicted |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58186025/|newspaper= Chicago Tribune |location= Chicago, Illinois|date= July 13, 1893 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} Philip Danforth Armour, the Chicago meat packer businessman of Armour and Company, was reported to have given $600,000 in gold to help the Plankinton bank pay back those it owed money to.{{cite news |author= |title= Its Doors are Closed / The Plankinton Bank of Milwaukee suspended|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58186549/ |newspaper= The Leavenworth Times |location= Leavenworth, Kansas|date= June 2, 1893 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}
Personal
On 26 April 1876, he married Mary Ella Woods, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and they had two children.{{sfn|Watrous|1909|p=20}}{{sfn|Wilson|Fiske|Dick|1915|p=997}} He lived next door to his father in a mansion on Grand Avenue in Milwaukee given to him by his father as a wedding gift.{{sfn|Buck|1890|pp=178–179}}
Later life and death
Plankinton died in Milwaukee on April 29, 1905.{{sfn|Wilson|Fiske|Dick|1915|p=997}}{{sfn|Chilton|1905|p=1608}} The cause of his death was pneumonia, which he had suffered from for three months prior.{{cite news |author= |title=The News in Brief |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8679233// |newspaper=Marengo Republican-News |location=Marengo, Illinois |date= May 5, 1905|via=Newspapers.com {{open access}}}}{{cite news |author= |title=Latest News in Brief |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8676961// |newspaper=The Tiller and Toiler |location= Learned, Kansas|date= May 5, 1905 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}{{cite news |author= |title= Deaths of the Day |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8679051// |newspaper= Los Angeles Herald |location= Los Angeles, California|date=April 30, 1905 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} Plankinton left an estate valued at approximately $4 million to his heirs.{{sfn|West|1918|p=18}}{{cite news |author= |title=Plankinton Engaged to Milwaukee Girl |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8680150// |newspaper=The Racine Journal-Times|location= Racine, Wisconsin |date=April 29, 1936 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} His widowed wife received a third and his children split the remainder in equal shares that included the widow.{{cite news |author= |title= Wm. Plankinton has left no will |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58131442/ |newspaper=The La Crosse|location= La Crosse, Wisconsin |date=May 3, 190 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }} She died September 7, 1908.{{cite news |author= |title= Mrs Plankinton Dead |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8680505// |newspaper=Green Bay Press-Gazette |location=Green Bay, Wisconsin |date=September 8, 1908 |via=Newspapers.com {{open access}} }}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Sources
- {{cite book|last=Apps|first=Jerry|title=Wisconsin Agriculture: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1hjCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT210|date=17 August 2015|publisher=Wisconsin Historical Society Press|isbn=978-0-87020-725-9}}
- {{cite book|last=Bowman|first=Francis Favill|title=Why Wisconsin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JeJCAAAAIAAJ|year=1948|publisher=F.F. Bowman}}
- {{cite book|title=Milwaukee Under the Charter: Volume 4 – From 1854 to 1860 Inclusive|last=Buck|first=James Smith|year=1886|publisher=Milwaukee News Co.|url=https://archive.org/details/pioneerhistoryof04buck}}
- {{cite book|last=Buck|first=James Smith |title=Pioneer History of Milwaukee|url=https://archive.org/stream/pioneerhistoryof04buck#page/178/mode/2up/search/William+Plankinton|year=1890}}
- {{cite book|last=Chilton|title=The Iron Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOYcAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1608|year=1905|publisher=Chilton Company}}
- {{cite book|last=Historical Society|title=Society at Its 34th Annual Meeting Proceedings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RaE-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA139|year=1906|publisher=State Historical Society of Wisconsin.}}
- {{cite book|last=Watrous|first=Jerome A.|title=Memoirs of Milwaukee County|url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsofmilwauk01watr|page=[https://archive.org/details/memoirsofmilwauk01watr/page/20 20]|year=1909|publisher=Western Historical Association}}
- {{cite book|last=West|title=The Northwestern Reporter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wj45EBPsmwIC&pg=PA18|year=1918|publisher=West Publishing Company}}
- {{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=James Grant |last2=Fiske|first2=John|last3=Dick|first3=Charles |title= Encyclopedia of American Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rYUZAQAAIAAJ&q=Plankinton&pg=PT996|year=1915|publisher=Press Association Compilers}}
External links
- [http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=Nrc:id-5,N:4294963828-4294963810&dsNavOnly=N:1220&dsRecordDetails=R:NI78203 Wisconsin in three centuries]
- [https://plankinton.wordpress.com/it-happened-right-here/a-tale-of-two-men/ All Things Plankinton]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plankinton, William}}
Category:Businesspeople from Pittsburgh
Category:Businesspeople from Wisconsin
Category:American manufacturing businesspeople