H. Walter Webb

Henry Walter Webb, Sr. (May 6, 1852 – June 18, 1900) was an American railway executive with the New York Central Railroad under Cornelius Vanderbilt and Chauncey Depew. He was also Vice President of the Wagner Palace Car Co. Early life Webb was born on May 6, 1852, in Tarrytown, New York. He was the son of James Watson Webb (1802–1884), a United States Minister to Brazil, and his father's second wife, Laura Virginia Cram (1826–1890). Among his siblings was brother Dr. William Seward Webb, who was married to Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt; and Alexander Steward Webb, the longstanding President of City College of New York. Webb was head of his class in the Columbia College School of Mines (now incorporated into the School of Engineering and Applied Science). He was a member of the fraternity St. Anthony Hall. While still an undergraduate, he participated in the Orton expedition that ascended the Amazon River almost to its source, and crossing the Andes, he exited South America by way of Peru, returning to the US by ship. He then studied law, also at Columbia, and passed the bar in 1875. Career