Sellers.] 390 [Feb. 19, 1886. 



here presented of developing a large and profitable business, resolved to 

 confine himself to this specialty ; accordingly, in 1847, the firm of A. 

 Whitney & Son was established for the purpose of manufacturing chilled 

 cast-iron car-wheels under this patent. The extensive works covering the 

 ground between Callowhill street, Pennsylvania avenue, and Sixteenth and 

 Seventeenth streets, were erected a few years later, and were by far the 

 finest and most substantial, as well as largest, devoted to this specialty in 

 the country. As an evidence of the extent of the business it may be stated 

 that about one and a half million car-wheels have since that time been 

 made at this establishment and sent to all parts of the world where the 

 iron horse has penetrated. 



Mr. George Whitney devised many improvements facilitating this manu- 

 facture, and for several years prior to the death of his father, which oc- 

 curred in 1874, he was the practical head of the firm. 



Outside of this special occupation, Mr. Whitney was well known as a 

 public-spirited citizen, giving aid both by his wise counsels and his gen- 

 erous contributions to all laudable objects. At the outbreak of the late 

 rebellion he was one of the foremost business men in this city to recognize 

 and accept the responsibilities thrust upon him and he never wavered for 

 a moment, or lost courage in the darkest hours of the nation's peril ; he 

 was one of the original members of the Union Club, a liberal subscriber 

 to and treasurer of the Bounty Fund, and he testified, in various other 

 substantial ways, his loyalty to his country. 



As a business man, Mr. Whitney's reputation was such that his counsels 

 were eagerly sought by many of our largest moneyed institutions, and 

 though failing health compelled him of late years to relinquish some of 

 these labors he was still active in not a few such corporations. At the 

 time of his death he was a Director of the Insurance Company of North 

 America, The Philadelphia National Bank, The Philadelphia Saving Fund, 

 and The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. 



As an art patron, Mr. Whitney has done much to stimulate the higher 

 education in art in this country, both by his judicious selection of foreign 

 paintings of the highest order and by his generous encouragement of native 

 talent ; his collection of pictures is one of the choicest in the United States 

 and is even better known in Europe than in this country. Mr. Whitney 

 was, for many years, a Manager of the Philadelphia School of Design, a 

 member of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Fine Arts and of the 

 Pennsylvania Museum of Industrial Art ; he was also an honorary fellow 

 of the Metropolitan Museum, and at the time of his death was one of the 

 Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. 



In private life Mr. Whitney was an exceedingly modest and unassuming 

 Christian gentleman, generous to a fault, ever ready to assist the unfortu- 

 nate, while carefully concealing his name and his good works from the 

 public eye. He died on the sixth day of March, 1885, after an illness of 

 several weeks. 



