William Richardson Belknap


William Richardson Belknap, for 28 years was president of the Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company based in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the largest hardware American manufacturing companies and wholesale hardware companies of its time.

Early life

William Richardson Belknap was born in Louisville on March 28, 1849. He was the son of William Burke Belknap and Mary Richardson. He was also the brother of Morris B. Belknap
He graduated from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School in 1869, and in 1873 he spent a year traveling in Europe with his younger brother Morris Burke Belknap.

Career

In 1880, following the death of his father, founder of the Belknap company, he became its president. After his retirement as president of Belknap Hardware, he became the company's Chairman of the Board.
Belknap was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The William R. Belknap School in the Belknap neighborhood of Louisville was named for him. He was a charter member of the Salmagundi Club and served for three years as its secretary. He was a trustee of Berea College, and the namesake and founder of the William R. Belknap Prizes awarded for excellence in the fields of geology and biology in Yale's Sheffield Scientific School.

Personal life

In 1874, Belknap was married to Alice Trumbull Silliman, the daughter of Benjamin Silliman Jr., a professor of chemistry at Yale University who was instrumental in developing the oil industry. Together, they were the parents of:
After his wife's death in 1890, he remarried to Juliet Rathbone Davison in 1894.
Belknap died on June 2, 1914 in Jefferson County, Kentucky. At his death in 1914, and after building Lincliff in 1911, his estate was estimated at $3,000,000 to $5,000,000. He is buried in the Belknap family plot at Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville.

Residences

In 1898, Belknap lived at 406 Ormsby Avenue, Louisville. In 1911, he built his home, Lincliff, hiring two architects of McDonald Brothers, Kenneth McDonald and William J. Dodd, to carry out its design. The Olmsted Brothers were hired by Belknap to create plans for the estate grounds. Lincliff was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Lincliff is currently owned by Stephen F. Humphrey, widower of the mystery writer the late Sue Grafton. Together they worked on restoration of the building and grounds.

Descendants

He was the great-grandfather of economist Thomas MacGillivray Humphrey.