Joseph William Drexel
1877 portrait by Jacob H. Lazarus
Born	(1833-01-24)January 24, 1833 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	March 25, 1888(1888-03-25) (aged 55) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Banker,philanthropist
Spouse	Lucy Wharton
Children	4, includingElizabeth andLucy
Parent(s)	Francis Martin Drexel Catherine Hookey
Relatives	Francis Anthony Drexel (brother) Anthony Joseph Drexel (brother) St.Katharine Drexel (niece)

Joseph William Drexel (January 24, 1833 – March 25, 1888) was a banker, philanthropist, andbook collector.

Drexel^[a] was the son ofFrancis Martin Drexel (1792–1863) and Catherine Hookey (1795–1870). His siblings wereAnthony Joseph Drexel (1826–1893) andFrancis Anthony Drexel (1824–1885). Through his brother Francis, he was the uncle of SaintKatharine Drexel (1858–1955).^[3] Joseph Willam Drexel was raised aRoman Catholic, but he joined theEpiscopal Church later.^[4]

Drexel attended theCentral High School in Philadelphia, and traveled through Spain, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and Greece.^[3]

Joseph Drexel was a partner in the firm of Drexel, Morgan and Company, where his brother, Anthony, was senior partner. In 1876, tired of battling the brusqueJ. Pierpont Morgan, Joseph retired from the business and devoted his life to philanthropic and civic organizations.^[3]

He owned a 200-acre (0.81 km²) farm near New York City, where people without work were housed, clothed, fed, and taught agriculture until they could find a job. He owned a large tract of land inMaryland, which was developed intoKlej Grange, a planned community, where the lots are sold to poor people at cost. About 7,000 acres (28 km²) inMichigan were bought for the same purpose.

He was chairman of New York Sanitary Commission, the commissioner of education, president of theNew York Philharmonic Society, trustee of theMetropolitan Museum of Art, founding trustee of theAmerican Museum of Natural History,^[5] trustee of theU.S. National Academy of Sciences, and director of theMetropolitan Opera house.^[3]

In 1887, he donated a painting made byEdward Gay, that cost $2,000, to the State of New York to be placed in theExecutive Mansion, whichGovernorDavid B. Hill was about to move into.^[6]

Drexel was an avid collector of music, eventually amassing a collection of over 6,000 items. Upon his death, theDrexel Collection was accepted by theLenox Library.^[7] When the Lenox Library was joined with those ofJohn Jacob Astor andSamuel Tilden to form TheNew York Public Library, Drexel's collection became the basis for the Library's Music Division, housed today in theNew York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

TheConcordia Polka composed by Theodore Gundlach was dedicated to Drexel.^[8]

In 1881, Drexel acquired title toMount McGregor nearSaratoga Springs, New York. He constructed the Hotel Balmoral at the summit and built theSaratoga, Mount McGregor and Lake George Railroadnarrow-gauge railway from Saratoga Springs.^[9] In 1885, Drexel loaned his private summer cottage on Mount McGregor to ex-presidentUlysses S. Grant.^[10] Grant lived there for six weeks until his death and completed his memoirs. The cottage is now theGrant Cottage State Historic Site.

He married Lucy Wharton (1841–1912), the daughter of Thomas Lloyd Wharton (1799–1869) and Sarah Ann Smith (b. 1800) and great-granddaughter ofThomas Wharton Jr. Together, they had four children:^[11][12]

• Katherine Drexel (1866–1918), who married Dr.Charles Bingham Penrose (1862–1925),^[13][14] the brother of U.S. SenatorBoies Penrose,Spencer Penrose,Richard A. F. Penrose Jr. and the grandson ofCharles B. Penrose,Solicitor of the United States Treasury, in 1892.^[15] They had two children.^[12]
• Lucy Wharton Drexel (1867–1944),^[16][17] who married Eric Bernard Dahlgren Sr. (1866–1922), a son ofJohn A. Dahlgren,^[18] and had eight children.^[12] They divorced in 1913.^[19][20][21]
• Elizabeth Wharton Drexel (1868–1944),^[22] who married John Vinton Dahlgren (1869–1899), another son ofJohn A. Dahlgren, in 1889, with whom she had one son who survived infancy.^[12][23] After his death, she married New York Society leaderHarry Lehr (1869–1929).^[24] After Lehr's death, she marriedJohn Beresford, 5th Baron Decies (1866–1944) and thereafter was known as Lady Decies.^[25]
• Josephine Wharton Drexel (1878-1966), who married Dr. John Duncan Emmet (1857–1923), the great-grandson of prominent physician, Dr.Thomas Addis Emmet,^[26] in 1904.^[27][28] They divorced in 1914 and in 1915, she married Seton Henry (d. 1946),^[29] the son of Gen.Guy Vernor Henry and brother ofGuy Henry Jr.,^[20] with whom she had children.^[30][31][32] She was the maternal grandmother of actorMatthew Cowles.

Drexel died at his home, 103Madison Avenue in New York City, on March 25, 1888.^[3] He had been suffering fromBright's Disease for a year and a half before then.^[3] He was buried inThe Woodlands Cemetery inPhiladelphia.^[33][7]

• Drexel Collection

Wikimedia Commons has media related toJoseph William Drexel.

• Correspondence and bills from J. Sabin & Sons, 1877-1878 (with Joseph W. Drexel) in the Music Division of theNew York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
• Joseph William Drexel atFind a Grave

• 1833 births
• 1888 deaths
• Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni
• Drexel family
• Businesspeople from Philadelphia
• American bankers
• American people of Austrian descent
• American book and manuscript collectors
• American Episcopalians
• Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism
• Burials at The Woodlands Cemetery

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