VILLARD, HENRY (1835-1900), American journalist and financier, was born in Speyer, Rhenish Bavaria, Apr. 10, 1835. He emigrated to America in 1853 and engaged in journalistic work for German-American newspapers and later for leading American dailies. He reported the Lincoln-Douglas debates for eastern newspapers, the Pikes Peak gold rush for the Cincinnati Daily Commercial and the Civil War from the field of action for the New York Herald and New York Tribune. In 1881 he purchased the Nation and the New York Evening Post.
Through acting as agent for German bondholders he became interested in railway finance. In 1875 he aided in reorganizing the Oregon and California Railroad and the Oregon Steamship company and in 1876 became president of both companies. He was receiver of the Kansas Pacific Railroad in 1876-78. In 1879 he organized the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company which built a line along the Columbia river from Portland to Wallula.
In 1881 Villard secured control of the Northern Pacific and be came its president. Its transcontinental line was completed under his management but the costs so far exceeded the estimate that both Villard and the road became insolvent in 1883 and Vil lard was removed from the presidency. He later recouped his losses so that from 1889-1893 he served as chairman of the board of directors of the same company. In 1890 he bought the Edison Lamp Co. at Newark, N.J., and the Edison Machine Works at Schenectady, N.Y., and formed them into the Edison General Electric Co. of which he was president until its reorganization in 1893 as the General Electric Co. He died at Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., Nov. 12, 1900.