John Walsh (owner)

John R. Walsh

• Born August 22, 1837 in Macroom, County Cork Ireland
• Died October 21, 1911 in Chicago, IL USA

Biographical Information

John Walsh was a self-made millionaire who rose from an Irish immigrant selling newspapers on the streets of Chicago, IL to becoming one of the richest men in the city, before serving time in a federal prison and dying penniless from heart disease. His story is a quintessential one of the new money class that emerged in the U.S. in the 1880s and 1890s.

He made his fortune from newspaper distribution at a time when the business was growing by leaps and bounds after the Civil War, thanks to advances in technology and transportation and his "Western News Company" was one of the largest in the nation. He also became the principal owner of the Chicago Herald in 1883. He then invested his profits in banking and railroads, but that eventually led to his downfall as the financial panic of 1907 badly affected the railroads. He had been heavily indebted in acquiring and expanding them, and when revenues fell, he could no longer meet his obligations to bond holders. He was then accused of using some of the money deposited in his banks, including the Chicago National Bank, the Equitable Trust Company and the Home Savings Bank, to meet his own debts; the three institutions failed at the end of 1905. After a trial, he was sentenced to five years in prison which he served at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, KS. He was pardoned due to poor health in 1911, returned home to Chicago, but died there only a few days later, while working frantically to restore his former reputation and standing. In addition to his business ventures, he was an important financial contributor to both the Democratic Party and Republican Party and their political machines.

He was very much involved in baseball, as a close friend and financial backer of Al Spalding, owner of the Chicago White Stockings of the National League (today's Chicago Cubs). In 1882, he was the secret financial backer who provided money to Stephen Farrelly, an acquaintance from the newspapers distribution business based in Philadelphia, PA who was also an Irish immigrant, to appear as the principal owner of the new National League franchise in Philadelphia, PA (today's Philadelphia Phillies).

A cape of Franz-Joseph Land, an island north of the Russian mainland in the Arctic Ocean, is named in his honor; the island was surveyed in 1898 and 1899 by an American polar expedition led by Walter Wellman of Chicago, who name geographic features he discovered after prominent Americans of the period.

Further Reading

• Robert D. Warrington: "Entering the National League: The Phillies' Bumpy journey", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 51, Number 2 (Fall 2022), pp. 74-87.

Related Sites

• Magazine Article about John Walsh