Early Life
After attending but not graduating from Lafayette College, Garrett began working as a clerk in his father's banking and financial services firm, Robert Garrett and Company, at the age of nineteen. The company's fleet of Conestoga wagons carried food and supplies west over the Cumberland Trail. In later years, the business expanded into railroads, shipping, and banking.
Garrett began purchasing the stock of B&O during a difficult period when the railroad was contending with the completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and internal conflicts created by its part private and public ownership. Of the 30 members of the B&O's board of directors, 18 were selected by Maryland and the City of Baltimore. On November 17, 1858, following a motion of board member and shareholder Johns Hopkins, Garrett became president of the B&O Railroad. The Garrett Company and the B&O interests had strong ties to the London-based George Peabody & Company, and through their business interests, Garrett and George Peabody became close friends. Garrett became deeply involved with the Peabody Institute.
Garrett married Rachel Ann Harrisson (1823–1883) and had four children. His daughter, Mary E. Garrett, a philanthropist and suffragist, helped found the Bryn Mawr School and secured the admission of women to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Among the Baltimore residences of the Garretts was Evergreen House, which was later donated by a descendant to the Johns Hopkins University.
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