WAUHenryHoraceC1420.xml Guide to the Horace C. Henry Papers 1890-1959 Henry (Horace C.) Papers Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries ©2007 (Last modified: 4/13/2018)
Seattle, WA 98195
Finding aid written in English. Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard). University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections 1420 Henry, Horace C Horace C. Henry papers 1890-1959 36.42 cubic feet (including 2 tubes) Collection materials are in English. Papers of a businessman and railroad contractor; art collector and founder of the Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington

Horace Chapin Henry (October 6, 1844–June 28, 1928) was an early Seattle businessman and founder of the Henry Art Gallery and Firland Tuberculosis Hospital.

He was born at the Henry House in Bennington, Vermont in October, 1844.

He left Norwich Military School (better known as Norwich University) at age 18, serving as a First Sergeant, 14th Vermont Infantry in the Second Vermont Brigade which was in the center of the line repulsing Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War.

After the war he was a partner in Henry & Balch working on railroad construction in the Midwest. He moved to Seattle in 1890 to work on the Northern Pacific Railroad's belt line around Lake Washington, and later the Great Northern Railway's route from Stevens Pass in the Cascade Mountains to Everett on Puget Sound. In 1906 he won a $20 million contract to build 450 miles of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul line from the Montana-Idaho border across Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle, which was completed in 1909.

Henry's 1901 home in the Harvard-Belmont District on Seattle's Capitol Hill was the first of many Victorian, Neo-classical, Colonial Revival, and Tudor Revival houses built in the early part of the century. It is noteworthy for having been built with a five-car garage at a time when automobiles were a novelty in Seattle.

He was president of the Metropolitan Bank and National Bank of Commerce in Seattle, and formed Pacific Creosoting Company on Bainbridge Island in 1906. A tanker which supplied creosote from Europe to this plant was named the H.C. Henry and was sunk by a German submarine in World War I on September 28, 1915.

In 1911, after the death of a son to tuberculosis, he donated land and funds to open Henry Sanatorium in Seattle, later renamed Firland Tuberculosis Hospital.

He was an investor in, and vice president of, the Metropolitan Building Company, which developed the Metropolitan Tract in Seattle. The 11-story Henry Building there was named for him.

For his personal contributions and efforts to collect funds for the Fatherless Children of France, a charity for wartime orphans, he was awarded the Legion of Honor medal in 1920.

He donated his art collection, which he formerly kept at his home and opened to the public for display, to the University of Washington in 1926 and donated the funds to buila new gallery to house the collection, which was to be the Henry Art Gallery.

Henry died in his sleep in his Seattle home on June 28, 1928 and is buried at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle.

Source: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Chapin_Henry

Organized into 2 accessions.

Accession No. 1420-001, Horace C. Henry papers, 1890-1959 Accession No. 1420-002, Horace C. Henry papers, circa 1909-1950

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 Henry Art Gallery University of Washington--Museums Henry and McFee Contracting Company (Seattle, Wash.) Pacific Creosoting Company (Seattle, Wash.) Henry and Larson Lumber Company (Seattle, Wash.) Russeltown Timber Company (Seattle, Wash.) White Bluffs Investment Co. (Seattle, Wash.) Art--Collectors and collecting--Washington (State) Construction industry--Washington (State) Creosote Wood--Preservation Lumber trade--Washington (State) Real estate business--Washington (State) Art museums--Washington (State) Diaries Henry, Horace C.--Archives Government contractors--United States Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington) Fine Arts Photographs Scrapbooks Businesses and Corporations Maps

 

Accession No. 1420-001: Horace C. Henry papers, 1890-1959 33.59 cubic feet (34 boxes, 2 tubes)

Scope and Content: Financial records, minutes, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, lists, timber cruise reports, abstracts of titles, stock books, maps, reports relating primarily to H.C. Henry's timber and construction businesses. Personal papers include correspondence regarding his art collection and family letters.

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Restrictions on Access: Open to all users.

Restrictions on Use: Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Acquisition Info: Donated by H.C. Henry Investment Company, 7/31/1970.

 Horace C. Henry papers Accession No. 1420-002: Horace C. Henry papers, circa 1909-1950 (bulk circa 1909-1940) 2.83 cubic feet

Scope and Content: Correspondence, financial records, art provenance records, lists. Documents family investments ca. 1909-1920 in local firms and enterprises. Also documents purchase of paintings by Horace C. Henry for his collection, which became the nucleus of the University of Washington's Henry Art Gallery.

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Restrictions on Access: Open to all users.

Restrictions on Use: Creator's literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Acquisition Info: Purchased 1/1/1993.

 Horace C. Henry papers