Politics / Business & brands / Visual art
Thomas W. Palmer
1830–1913 · lumberman, U.S. senator, philanthropist
Detroit-born lumber fortune heir and senator who founded the Detroit Museum of Art (today's DIA) and gave the city Palmer Park, with its 1885 log cabin.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan Territory- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 83- Birth name
- Thomas Witherell Palmer
- Also known as
- Thomas Witherell Palmer
- Detroit years
- 1830–1913
- Field
- Politics, Business & brands, Visual art
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Thomas W. Palmer was born in Detroit in 1830, grandson of territorial judge James Witherell. After schooling in Detroit and St. Clair and a year at the University of Michigan, he traveled in Spain and South America, then went into Detroit real estate in 1853 and into lumbering with his future father-in-law, Charles Merrill, which made him rich. He was the first president of the Michigan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, sat on the city's Board of Estimates and the state Senate, and served in the U.S. Senate from 1883 to 1889, where he stood out as a supporter of women's suffrage. He was then minister to Spain and president of the national commission for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. A founder and first president of the Detroit Museum of Art, forerunner of the Detroit Institute of Arts, he gave the land that became Palmer Park, where his log cabin and the Merrill Fountain stand. He died in Detroit in 1913.
Highlights
- U.S. senator from Michigan, 1883–1889
- Founder and first president of the Detroit Museum of Art (today's DIA)
- U.S. minister to Spain, 1889–1890
- President of the World's Columbian Exposition commission (1890–1893)
- Donor of the land for Palmer Park
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1885–
Palmer Park
Large park on land he donated; his 1885 log cabin still stands, and the Merrill Fountain, commissioned by his wife in memory of her father, was moved here from Campus Martius in 1926.
Founded · 1880s–
Detroit Institute of Arts (Friday Night Live!)
He co-founded and first presided over its forerunner, the Detroit Museum of Art; the present museum building stands on the site of his former home.