Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-03-30
PLANTATION DEAD.
End of Busy, Honorable, and
Successful Life.
A SHORT HISTORY OF HIS CAREER.

Starting as Retail Butcher in a Small
Town, He Shows the Slow-Gocrs How
to Build City-His Faith in Real Es-
tate = Personal Characteristics = DIR.
Howard Crosby, the Noted Divine,
Summoned to an Account of His Stew
ardship.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. March 30.-Hon.
John Plankinton, one of Milwaukee,
most enterprising and wealthy citizens,
died at his home in this city at $50 o'clock
last evening" Mr.. Plankinton was stricken
with paralysis over year ago, and a short
time ago he caught cold which developed
into pneumonia. He was born in the state
of Delaware in 1921, and came to Milwau-
kee in 1874, and leaves large fortune to
two children.
Plankinton's Start in Life
When John Plankinton came to Mil
waukee at the age of "a he hadn't been in
town fortnight before he showed the
characteristics which later made him ia
nous as a business man and citizen When
he reached the village, practical young
butcher, he found that the friend with
whom he was to have formed copartner-
ship had made better arrangements with
another, and made the excuse that Young
Plankintou's capital was inadequate to
the enterprise designed. Angry at the be-
trayal of confidence, business failing
which he never forgave in any one during
MS long career afterward. he resolved to
start in opposition. Possessing 1920. he
rented "A house to shelter his wife and
child at IS per month, bought COW for
50 and turned her out to pasture and fat
ten on the open wild land where his pala-
tial house now stands on Grand avenue
while he rented land and proceeded to
erect a butcher shop which cost him SlOS
Fourteen days after his arrival he was re-
failing his nsats.
\ Big Business from the start.
Industrious, honest. economical, he be-
came the leading butcher of the town and
his business the first year averaged nearly
$1,000 per month. His increasing bust
ness demanded new quarters and he
moved, but II was popularity of his life
to retain the title to all realty which he
had once occupied, and at the time of his
death the land upon which he first found
home in Milwaukee was in his name.
IN 1856 he entered into partnership with
Frederick Layton, and the new firm be-
gan the packing business which ut the
time of dissolution in 1861 had reached
proportions eq Ial TO any house west of
Cincinnati.
Extending His Operations.
For three years Mr.. Piankinton contin-
ued alone, and in 1864 united with p. ID.
Armour under the name of Plankinton &
Armour The business was extended to
cover the now famous establishments in
Chicago. New York, Kansas City, and
elsewhere. In 1884 the firm divided. Mr.
Plankinton retaining the Milwaukee house
and continuing the business here till
1SSS, when falling health and increasing
business responsibilities impelled him to
dispose of his packing house
Had Faith in Real Estate.
Mr.. Plankinton then turned his atren-
ton to the development of his realty hold
ings and the building up of the business
portion of the west side, the value of
which his foresight discovered and his en-
terprise demonstrated to be real When
resid ents o. the now most populous and
wealthy division in Milwaukee were
skeptlcal and the east siders were scornful
John PlankintOn was investing his money
by hundred of thousands as an earnest of
his faith. The hotel bearing his name
was founded in a swamp
Taught the Fogies Lesson.
While the wealthy east siders hesitated
TO risk their dollars in the exposition en-
terprlSe confident that it must come their
way, "Uncla John" subscribed a majority
of the stock and located the biggest build
ing in town remote from the then bust
ness center On tract of land which had
best been utilized as a natural skating
rink in winter and a frog pond in sum
mer He built the Library block, which
then stood as tower on Fifth street and
the avenue, and since made it appear
squatty by structures all along the street
below, and last summer completed the
first experiment of an office building
more than SIX stories high.
His Personal Charact eristics.
He never evinced a desire for public
recognition or individual distinction be-
yond that gained by his private enter
prises He was almost exclusively man
of business and wholly devoted TO it. Mr..
PlankInton was often urged to enter pol
itics, and could have had almost any
honor in the gift OF the Milwaukee people,
but invariably discouraged the idea Ex-
act in all his dealings with men, and firm
almost to obstlnacy, he was of kindly
disposition and his transformations chari-
ty was mosC generous. Mr. Plankinton
was married twice. His first wife died in
1872, and in 1875 he married Miss Anna
Bradford, OF Milwaukee,