John S. Trower, Caterer and Builder
Pennsylvania
In the decades after the Civil War, John S. Trower became one of the wealthiest African Americans in the United States. Born in eighteen forty-nine, he built his fortune through an acclaimed catering business he operated near here, earning a reputation that drew Philadelphia's elite clientele.
But Trower invested far beyond his own success. He co-founded the Downingtown Industrial and Agricultural School, giving Black students practical education and economic footing at a time when most institutions turned them away. He also established a building and loan association specifically designed to help Black families buy homes, and he gave generously to Baptist charitable causes.
He died in nineteen eleven, leaving behind institutions that outlasted him and a model of Black entrepreneurship and community investment in Gilded Age Philadelphia.
