An extraordinary individual and entrepreneur, John Brisben Walker, was appointed as a cadet to the United States Military Academy in 1865 but left around 1867 to see the Far East. He served in the Chinese Army for 2 years, returning to America in 1870. Walker manufactured iron in the Kanawha Valley and developed land in Charleston WV but was ruined by the 1873 economic panic. He became interested in journalism, working as an editor in CIncinnati, Pittsburgh, and later Washington DC for three years before moving in 1879 to Colorado where he purchased 1600 acres outside Denver to cultivate Alfalfa and also becoming a land developer. In 1889, Walker moved the New York City and purchased the ailing Cosmopolitan Magazine which became very popular and was later sold to William Randolph Hearst in 1905. Walker also became interested in the early automobiles, organized the Mobile Company of America, and established a factory in Philipse Manor, NY. Walker was first married in 1871 to Emily Strother whom he had 8 children. Following a divorce in 1914, he married Ethel Richmond with whom he had 4 children. Following her death, he married Iris Calderhead in 1918 who survived him.
An extraordinary individual and entrepreneur, John Brisben Walker, was appointed as a cadet to the United States Military Academy in 1865 but left around 1867 to see the Far East. He served in the Chinese Army for 2 years, returning to America in 1870. Walker manufactured iron in the Kanawha Valley and developed land in Charleston WV but was ruined by the 1873 economic panic. He became interested in journalism, working as an editor in CIncinnati, Pittsburgh, and later Washington DC for three years before moving in 1879 to Colorado where he purchased 1600 acres outside Denver to cultivate Alfalfa and also becoming a land developer. In 1889, Walker moved the New York City and purchased the ailing Cosmopolitan Magazine which became very popular and was later sold to William Randolph Hearst in 1905. Walker also became interested in the early automobiles, organized the Mobile Company of America, and established a factory in Philipse Manor, NY. Walker was first married in 1871 to Emily Strother whom he had 8 children. Following a divorce in 1914, he married Ethel Richmond with whom he had 4 children. Following her death, he married Iris Calderhead in 1918 who survived him.
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