William Richardson Belknap

William Richardson Belknap
Born (1849-03-28)March 28, 1849
Louisville, Kentucky
Died June 2, 1914(1914-06-02) (aged 65)
Jefferson County, Kentucky
Resting place Cave Hill Cemetery
Residence Lincliff
Alma mater Sheffield Scientific School (Yale University)
Occupation Businessman
Known for President Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company
Home town Louisville, Kentucky
Spouse(s) Alice Trumbull Silliman, Juliet Rathbone Davison
Children Eleanor Belknap Humphrey, William Burke Belknap, Alice Silliman Belknap Hawkes, Mary Belknap Gray, Christine Belknap
Parent(s) William Burke Belknap, Mary Richardson

William Richardson Belknap (March 28, 1849 – June 2, 1914),[1][2] was the son of William Burke Belknap the elder and Mary Richardson. In 1880, following the death of his father, founder of the Belknap company, he became president for 28 years of the Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company.[3][4][5] After his retirement as president of Belknap Hardware, he became the company's Chairman of the Board.[6] He was the brother of Morris B. Belknap[7] and father of William Burke Belknap the younger and Eleanor Silliman Belknap Humphrey.

William R. Belknap was born in Louisville, Kentucky[1] and died in Jefferson County, Kentucky.[8] He graduated from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School in 1869, and in 1873 he spent a year traveling in Europe with his younger brother Morris Burke Belknap.[6][9] In 1911 he built his home, Lincliff, hiring two architects of McDonald Brothers, Kenneth McDonald and William J. Dodd, to carry out its design.[10][11] The Olmsted Brothers were hired by Belknap to create plans for the estate grounds. Lincliff was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.[12]

Lincliff gates

Lincliff is currently owned by mystery writer Sue Grafton and her husband, Stephen F. Humphrey, who have worked on restoration of the building and grounds.[13]

Belknap was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.[1] The William R. Belknap School in the Belknap neighorhood of Louisville was named for him.[14] He was a charter member of the Salmagundi Club and served for three years as its secretary.[6] He was a trustee of Berea College, and he was the founder of the William R. Belknap Prizes awarded for excellence in the fields of geology and biology in Yale's Sheffield Scientific School.[6]

In 1898 Belknap lived at 406 Ormsby Avenue, Louisville.[15] At his death in 1914 after building Lincliff in 1911, his estate was estimated at $3,000,000 to $5,000,000.[4][16] He is buried in the Belknap family plot at Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 [s.n.] (1914). Memoir of William Richardson Belknap. Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 40 (2): 2941–42.
  2. ↑ [s.n.] (1915). Memoir of William Richardson Belknap. Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 79: 1494–95.
  3. ↑ James R. Miller (Spring 2012). Kentucky at Work: Philatelic Genealogy. Bluegrass Roots 39 (1): 12–15.
  4. 1 2 The Cincinnati Enquirer, June 2, 1914, p. 2.
  5. ↑ http://brokensidewalk.com/2010/lost-louisville-belknap-warehouses/
  6. 1 2 3 4 Johnson, E. Polk (1912). A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce and Industry Vol. III. Chicago and New York: Lewis Publishing Company. p. 1153.
  7. ↑ "Kentucky Digital Library". kdl.kyvl.org. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  8. ↑ Kentucky Death Records http://interactive.ancestry.com/1222/KYVR_7016165-2762/1195851?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2f%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26db%3dkydeaths%26h%3d1195851%26new%3d1&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnRecord
  9. ↑ Obituary Records of Graduates of Yale University (a Google ebook), pp.1153-1154. https://books.google.com/books?id=5rk3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1311&dq=%22William+Richardson+Belknap%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zbgMVdbCJbCPsQSA9oDADw&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22William%20Richardson%20Belknap%22&f=false
  10. ↑ http://focus.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/83002694.pdf
  11. ↑ http://openbuildings.com/buildings/lincliff-profile-21274?_show_description=1
  12. ↑ http://ww2.rediscov.com/olmsted/default.asp?IDCFile=/OLMSTED/GENB.IDC,CURRENT=51,DATABASE=63985909,RECORDMAX=50,ORDERBY=,THUMB_NAILS=YES,RI_WORDSDESC=,
  13. ↑ "Lincliff: Author Sue Grafton's 1912 Kentucky Estate". On Pinehurst Place. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  14. ↑ Kleber, John E. (ed.) (2001). The Encyclopedia of Louisville. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. p. 81. ISBN 0-8131-2100-0. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  15. ↑ [s.n] (28 October 1898). Brief notes about people. The Courier-Journal. p 6.
  16. ↑ A Classification of American Wealth: History and genealogy of the wealthy families of America. http://www.raken.com/american_wealth/OTHER/individuals_list_B1.asp
  17. ↑ William Richardson Belknap. Find A Grave.

Further reading

"Catches in the Social Stream",Palm Beach Daily News - Feb 25, 1912. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1961&dat=19120225&id=5p0hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f5kFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1678,1607857&hl=en

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