WALKER, Marshall M.

WALKER, Marshal M. (Dummerston, VT, 1832--Dubuque, Iowa, 1904). At the age of eighteen, Walker moved to Boston, but in the early 1850s came west and operated a sailing barge on the river north of Dubuque, transporting and trading. In 1857 he became a partner in the firm of Fairbanks, Walker and Company, a dealer in wood and railroad ties.

In 1860 Walker started a wholesale grocery business with a partner named Amsden. In 1869 Walker bought Amsden's interest in the business and renaming it the M. M. WALKER COMPANY. He incorporated in 1878 and reorganized with D.T. Smith ten years later. Walker's firm grew steadily from annual sales of $150,000 in 1869 to almost $1 million in 1886: Iowa's largest such business, according to one source. That year he employed some 14 men, with two traveling salesmen. From the home office on Iowa Street, Walker oversaw trade throughout Iowa and in Minnesota, Illinois, South Dakota, Wisconsin and as far south as New Orleans. Beginning in 1889, he maintained a retail grocery outlet in the BISHOP'S BLOCK on the corner of First and Main, and he eventually opened branch offices in Chicago and Fort Dodge, Iowa. When his five-year lease on the Bishop's Block was expiring in 1894, Walker constructed a three-story structure at 40-42 Main to house his growing volume of stock and function as the main office and retail outlet for the business. This building was later used by the SCHROEDER-KLEINE GROCER COMPANY until is closing in 1941. From then until 1959 it was used by the DUBUQUE WHOLESALE GROCERY COMPANY until 1959.

For years and until his death he was a stockholder and director of the FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF DUBUQUE and the DUBUQUE AND SIOUX CITY RAILROAD. He served as president of the Dubuque Board of Trade in 1892 and 1893, and was an official of the Young Men's Library Association which become the CARNEGIE-STOUT PUBLIC LIBRARY. He was part owner of the Dubuque Times, the original operator of the Dubuque Tank Line, handling light oils, which was later sold to the Standard Oil Company; a member of the Dubuque Jobbers' and Manufacturers' Union, of which he was vice-president in 1901; and operated the Key City Barrel Factory.

Walker was one of the organizers, vice-president and a director of the Western Fruit Jobbers' Association; a member of the National Credit Men's Association, and a member of the advisory committee of the National Business League; was one of the organizers and vice-president of the first Upper Mississippi River Improvement Association; was one of the promoters and officials of the DUBUQUE AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD, now the Chicago & Great Western; and was an honorary member of the Dubuque Traveling Business Men's Association. Walker was a member and one of the founders of the DUBUQUE CLUB; an active promoter of the old Dubuque county fairs and encampments and for years was an official and director of the Linwood Cemetery Association.

He was a trustee, supporter and tenor singer in the choir of the First Congregational Church (later the FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST) from its inception.

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Source:

Oldt, Franklin T. The History of Dubuque County.