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Henry Dalton - Partner of Pickands, Mather & Company
12611 Lake Shore Boulevard
Henry Dalton was chairman of the Mather Iron Company and president of the Interlake Steamship Company, which operated the second-largest iron ore shipping company on the Great Lakes.
Dalton's industriousness caught the attention of Samuel Mather, who hired Dalton in 1883, at age twenty, as a bookkeeper in the newly formed Pickands, Mather & Company. Dalton quickly moved up and, in 1893, became the firm's fourth general partner. He became a senior partner following Mather's death in 1931. Dalton honored his friend and partner in 1924 and 1925 when he contributed to Kenyon College for The Samuel Mather Science Hall.
Henry George Dalton was born on October 3, 1862, in Cleveland to Frederick and Ellen Dalton. Henry spent his early years in the family apartment above his father’s pharmacy on West 25th Street near Lorain Avenue. He attended Cleveland public schools until age fourteen when he went to work on Whiskey Island for the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad, keeping track of lake cargo.
Dalton married Julia Kaufholz on January 19, 1886. Julia was born on January 23, 1862, in what was then Ohio City. Her parents, Frederick and Elizabeth Kaufholz, were early settlers. Henry and Julia had two children, both of whom died in childhood.
Julia Dalton was interested in child health activities at Lakeside Hospital. She was a member of the women’s board of University Hospitals and a leader in the Garden Club of Cleveland.
In 1925 and 1930, Henry Dalton was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge to analyze the United States Shipping Board's merchant marine policies. As a director of Youngstown Sheet & Tube and Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Dalton clashed with Cyrus Eaton in a legal battle over a proposed merger of the two companies in 1930. Subsequently, he resigned his directorship in the Bethlehem Corporation, but on February 6, 1932, he became chairman of the board of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company.
He was a director of the National City Bank, Youngstown Steel Door Company, Youngstown Steel Company, Ohio Bell Telephone Company, Steel Company of Canada, Ltd.; American Puddled Iron Company, Missouri Pacific Railway Company, and the New Orleans, Texas and Mexican Railway.
Dalton was a patron and supporter of the Cleveland Orchestra, and a vice-president, trustee, and executive committee member of the Cleveland Museum of Art. He chaired the Great Lakes Exposition in 1936. Also, in 1936, Dalton became the first recipient of Western Reserve University's doctor of humanities honorary degree, and in 1938, he was presented with the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce's Public Service Medal.
A reticent man, who kept his thoughts to himself and made his own decisions, was called ”the silent iron king.” When he received the Chamber of Commerce public service medal, his speech of thanks totaled just twenty-four words.
Social memberships included the Chagrin Valley Hunt, The Country, Kirkland, Mid-Day, Pepper Pike Tavern, and Union clubs, plus the Metropolitan and Links of New York.
Julia died on August 4, 1935, at age 73 following an illness of several months. Henry suffered a stroke in 1938. He underwent an emergency appendectomy on December 20 and died on December 27, 1939, from bronchial pneumonia at Lakeside Hospital. At his bedside were two nephews, Harry and George Kendrick, both of Cleveland. Both Julia and Henry were buried in Lake View Cemetery.