Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Blair, John Insley, -1899

Philanthropist; born near Belvidere, N. J., Aug. 22, 1802; became a merchant and banker early in life, and in his latter years was the individual owner of a greater amount of railroad property than any other man in the world. He loaned more than $1,000,000 to the federal government in the early part of the Civil War; built and endowed the Presbyterian Academy at Blairstown, N. J., at a cost of more than %6,000,000; rebuilt Grinnell College, in Iowa; and erected Blair Hall for Princeton University. He was equally liberal to Lafayette College. He is said to have built more than 100 churches in various parts of the West, and founded many villages and towns along the lines of his many railroads. He died in Blairstown, N. J., Dec. 2, 1899.