Palmer, William Jackson, 1836-1909

Army officer and railroad builder; founder of Colorado Springs.

Army officer and railroad builder.

American railroad president, pioneer of the West, founder of a number of towns including Colorado Springs, Colorado, and developer of mining and industrial projects.

Civil War soldier and railroad builder. Palmer became secretary to J. Edgar Thomson, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, in 1857. In 1861, he left this position to found the Anderson Cavalry Troop, in which he served as captain. In 1862 he recruited the 15th Regiment, Pennsylvania Cavalry. In this regiment, he was promoted to colonel and brevetted brigadier general. After the Civil War, Palmer managed surveys for the Kansas Pacific Railway. He was president of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, 1870-1883, and president of the Rio Grande Western Railway Company, 1883-1901. During this time he also constructed part of the Mexican National Railway. Palmer was a founder of the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and was a founder of Colorado College. He died in Colorado Springs in 1909.

Founded city of Colo. Springs, Colo., also civil engineer, soldier, and philanthropist. Born 1836 in Leipsic, Del. Worked on railroads in Pa. until 1861 and the outbreak of the American Civil War. Served as a Colonel and commander of the 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, captured by the Confederacy after the Battle of Antietam and sent to Castle Thunder Prison in Richmond, Va. until release in 1863. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery at Red Hill, Ala. on January 14, 1865. Later, co-founder of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. Was also instrumental in helping to found the Colo. School for the Blind and Deaf, Colorado College, and Cragmor Sanatorium. He married Mary Lincoln Mellen (1850-1894) in Flushing, N.Y. in 1870. Palmer died 1909.

President of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.