William Hood Dunwoody

William Hood Dunwoody (March 14, 1841 – February 8, 1914) was an American banker, merchant, miller, art patron and philanthropist. He was a partner in what is today General Mills and for thirty years a leader of Northwestern National Bank, today's Wells Fargo.

Dunwoody sold American flour to British bakers, creating an export market and environment in which Minneapolis, Minnesota, became for a time the world's center of flour milling.[1] By 1901, he was one of sixteen millionaires in Minneapolis.

He is remembered today for his bequests that created the Dunwoody Institute (now the Dunwoody College of Technology), Abbott Hospital (now Allina Health), and The William Hood Dunwoody Fund of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Early years and family

Of Scottish descent, Dunwoody was a Quaker[3] but worshiped as a Presbyterian at Westminster Presbyterian Church. In 1684 his maternal ancestors John and Ann Hood and their family emigrated from

Minneapolis flour milling

To start, Dunwoody represented businesses in the east as a flour buyer. In 1871 his business was organized as Tiffany, Dunwoody & Co., under which he owned and managed the Arctic mill; Dunwoody also owned and managed the Union mill and was a member of H. Darrow & Company.[7]

Dunwoody distinguished himself by organizing the Minneapolis Miller's Association, under which millers for a time cooperated in buying wheat. The organization became the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce.[6]

He agreed with Cadwallader C. Washburn that flour could be sold directly to the United Kingdom and in 1877 Washburn arranged his trip there. Through "clouds of insults, uncertainties, and rumors," "Dunwoody made his quiet way."[10] Eventually in 1878 English bakers realized that American flour made more loaves per barrel than English flour.[10] Dunwoody overcame "most determined opposition", successfully arranged for direct export, and set patterns of business that persisted for years.[10] Exports to the United Kingdom and continental Europe increased from a few hundred barrels in 1877 or 1878 to four million barrels in 1895.[10][6] By 1900 exports peaked at about one third the output of Minneapolis mills.[11]

He became a silent partner in Washburn-Crosby & Company [13] (which became General Mills) with Washburn, John Crosby and Charles Martin.[14] There he oversaw the development of the production of "new process" white flour.[9] The prevailing motto of the time, reflecting Dunwoody's influence and the company's deep conservatism, was, "Addition, division, silence."[15] A reserved and shrewd capitalist,[16] he served a time as vice president of the company and was sometimes in demand because of his banking connections.

In 1888, after Washburn had died and Dunwoody himself was ill,[6] he traveled to Philadelphia to recruit James Stroud Bell (father of James Ford Bell, who founded General Mills in 1928). After the Pillsbury company was sold to foreign investors, in 1889 Dunwoody helped Bell stop an English syndicate from buying their company.[17] Then United States Milling Company of New York started to speculate and succeeded in buying the rival Northwestern Consolidated. In 1898 Dunwoody bought 75% of his company from the surviving Washburn brothers, preventing a takeover and making the company operators its owners for the first time.[18]

Legacy

Of a total of 4.6 million in gifts in his will, Dunwoody gave 2 million to build an industrial trade school for young people, with a focus on handicrafts, useful arts, the milling arts, and construction of milling machinery. He felt the milling business was threatened by young people's tendency to enter the "office end" of the business after they graduated from high school.[22] Kate Dunwoody gave an additional 1.6 million on her death in 1915.[23] In 1998 the institute was accredited by The Higher Learning Commission to award bachelor's degrees.[23] Today known as Dunwoody College of Technology, it occupies a campus near downtown Minneapolis. As of 2015 Dunwoody offers workforce training and continuing education, and programs in applied management, automotive, computer technology, construction sciences and building technology, design and graphics technology, engineering, radiologic technology, and robotics and manufacturing.[24]

The William Hood Dunwoody Care Center in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, earned 5 of 5 stars as one of the nation's best nursing homes according to U.S. News & World Report in 2015.[26][27] Dunwoody left $1 million in his will to build a retirement village in his birthplace.[28]

Dunwoody started Abbott Hospital for Dr. Amos Abbott, who had operated successfully on Kate Dunwoody.[29] The hospital was owned until 1963 by Westminster Presbyterian Church; it merged with Northwestern Hospital to become Abbott Northwestern Hospital and later became part of Allina Health.[29]

The Minneapolis Institute of Art purchased Lucretia (1666) by Rembrandt van Rijn, considered one of the finest Rembrandts in America, with $1 million from the William Hood Dunwoody Fund.[30] Among thousands of other works,[23] it also bought Olive Trees (1889), part of the final series by Vincent van Gogh.[31] At her death in 1915, Kate Dunwoody gave the institute their personal collection. It included two major works by Constant Troyon, a small work by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, a George Inness and work by Thomas Cole.[32]

Gallery

Some of the thousands of works from the Minneapolis Institute of Art purchased with The William Hood Dunwoody Fund:

alt	portrait of a man in his sixties or seventies wearing a suit seated at a desk
birth date	March 14, 1841
birth place	Westtown Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.
death date	February 8, 1914
death place	Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
resting place	Lakewood Cemetery
occupation	businessperson
signature	Signature of William Hood Dunwoody (1841–1914).png

William Hood Dunwoody

Early years and family

Minneapolis flour milling

Other affiliations

Death

Legacy

Gallery

Bibliography

External links

References