Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.

Amherst H. Wilder was a St. Paul pioneer businessman and philanthropist who arrived in the city in 1859 from New York. Why he came to St. Paul is unknown. He was born in 1828 and died of a kidney infection on November 11, 1894 at the age of 66. His business activities included interests in mercantile, real estate, transportation (including freight, stage coach, and railroads), banking, and lumber companies.

He married Fanny S. Wilder in 1861 and they had one daughter, Cornelia Day Wilder. Family trips to Europe in the late 1880s prompted Amherst H. Wilder to form up a will in case he and his family died traveling at sea. If this occurred, it specified that his fortune was to be used for charitable purposes in St. Paul.

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