The Biographical Dictionary of America/Baker, Charles Joseph

BAKER, Charles Joseph, banker, was born at Baltimore, Md., May 28, 1821; son of William and Jane (Jones) Baker. He was graduated at Dickinson college grammar school in 1841; established a paint, oil and glass business with his brother Henry J. Baker in 1842, which became Baker Brothers & Co., New York and Baltimore. He was a director of the Franklin bank, 1859, and president, 1860; president of the Canton chemical company, 1870-77, and was instrumental in procuring the construction of the Union railroad tunnel, which gave the Northern Central and Western Maryland railroads a tide-water terminus at Canton. He was a member and president of the city council of Baltimore, and acting mayor of Baltimore during the imprisonment of Mayor George W. Brown in 1861. He was a liberal contributor to charitable and religious institutions. He died Sept. 24, 1894.