Baldwin, George Johnson, 1856-1927.

George Johnson Baldwin (1856-1927), capitalist and civic leader, was born in Savannah, Ga. An 1877 graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he began his career as a chemist, but quickly became associated with diverse industries and companies, especially Stone & Webster, a Boston, Mass., firm of electrical engineers, financiers, and managers of street railway and public utilities companies. During World War I, Baldwin lent his business expertise to the shipping and shipbuilding industries. Throughout his life, he was an active Savannah civic leader and philanthropist.

From the description of George Johnson Baldwin papers, 1884-1936. WorldCat record id: 24144937

George Johnson Baldwin (1856-1927), capitalist and civic leader, was born in Savannah, Ga., the son of Daniel Hoard Baldwin and Kate Alice Philbrock Baldwin. He attended schools in Boston, Mass., and New York, N.Y., before graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1877. Baldwin began his professional career as a chemist for the Woodstock Iron Company in Anniston, Ala. From 1878 to 1879, he was the superintendent of the Bradlee Gold Mine in Nacoochee, Ga. In 1880, he joined Baldwin and Co., a firm of cotton and naval stores factors and fertilizer manufacturers and dealers of Savannah. Baldwin left that firm in 1891 to concentrate on the Baldwin Fertilizer Company, of which he was president from 1887 to 1894. In 1898, he became associated with Stone & Webster, of Boston, Mass., a public utilities company that acquired control of street railways and electric plants in Savannah and Columbus, Ga.; Jacksonville, Tampa, Pensacola, and Key West, Fla.; and Houston, Tex. Baldwin served as president of these various companies. In addition, he simultaneously held positions of officer or director in several banks, transportation, and mining and manufacturing enterprises, among them the Chestatee Pyrites Company, Gainesville Midland Railroad, Savannah Trust Company, National Bank of Savannah, and Augusta and Savannah Railroad.

During World War I, Baldwin went to New York lend his business expertise to the American International Corporation. He also took on chair and director positions at several affiliated shipping and shipbuilding companies, including Pacific Mail Company, American International Shipbuilding Corporation, New York Shipbuilding Corporation, and International Mercantile Marine Company. Baldwin's wartime service also included connections to the American Bureau of Shipping, the Navy League of the United States, the Council of the National Merchant Marine Association, and the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation.

As with his business responsibilities, Baldwin's civic activities were many. Over the years he served as president of numerous organizations, including the Kate Baldwin Free Kindergarten Association and the Savannah Public Library Association, both of which he helped to establish, and the Associated Charities of Savannah. He was a member of the Savannah Park and Tree Commission, the Board of Curators of the Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of chambers of commerce in New York, Philadelphia, and Paris. Baldwin was a trustee of the Union Society (Bethesda Orphanage), Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, Carnegie Foundation, Georgia School of Technology, Georgia Infirmary, Chatham Academy of Savannah, and the Stone & Webster Employees Investment Association. He maintained memberships in many Georgia and New York clubs and societies, as well as national and international organizations.

Baldwin returned to Savannah in 1922. At the time of his death in 1926 he was chair of the board of directors of the Savannah Electric and Power Company. Baldwin was married to Lucy Harvie Hull, the daughter of George Gilmer Hull of Athens, Ga., in 1882. The Baldwins had two children, George Hull Baldwin and Dorothea Clifford Baldwin Irwin.

From the guide to the George Johnson Baldwin Papers, 1884-1936, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)