Joseph Wharton was an American industrialist and philanthropist. He was instrumental in the development of the nickel and zinc metal industries in the United States. He created the first plant in the United States to produce metallic zinc, or spelter, and became the largest producer of nickel and pig iron in the country. His innovations in malleable nickel and magnetic nickel won him the gold medal at the Paris exposition of 1878. He was the largest shareholder in Bethlehem Steel, held multiple investments in railroads, and owned vast amounts of land containing iron, coal, copper and gold ores. He founded the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and was one of the founders of Swarthmore College.
Paris Sep 26th 1778 Honorable Gentlemen You need not I presume be informed of the difficulties which the People of the United States continue to suffer through the great scarcity…
Philada April 27th 1780 Dear Sir The many marks of your esteem for me at Passy, at the same time that they are so many proofs of the kindness of…
Philada June 4th 1798 Sir! To a mind endued with sensibility, and whose early passage in life, was blessed with the genial hand of prosperity, but whose old age is…