He was born at the Henry House in Bennington, Vermont in October, 1844.
He left Norwich Military School (better known as
Norwich University
Norwich University – The Military College of Vermont is a private senior military college in Northfield, Vermont. It is the oldest private and senior military college in the United States and offers bachelor's and master's degrees on-campus ...
14th Vermont Infantry
The 14th Vermont Infantry Regiment was a nine months' infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It served in the eastern theater, predominantly in the Defenses of Washington, from October 1862 to August 1863. It was a memb ...
Lake Washington
Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle.
It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...
Snoqualmie Pass
Snoqualmie Pass is a mountain pass that carries Interstate 90 (I-90) through the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Washington. The pass summit is at an elevation of , on the county line between Kittitas County and King County.
Snoqualmie Pass ...
to Seattle, which was completed in 1909. Seventy-one years after its completion, the Pacific Extension was abandoned by the Milwaukee Road due to bankruptcy.
Henry's 1901 home in the Harvard-Belmont District on Seattle's Capitol Hill was the first of many Victorian, Neo-classical, Colonial Revival, and Tudor Revival houses built in the early part of the century. It is noteworthy for having been built with a five-car garage at a time when automobiles were a novelty in Seattle.
He was president of the Metropolitan Bank and National Bank of Commerce in Seattle, and formed Pacific Creosoting Company on Bainbridge Island in 1906. A tanker which supplied creosote from Europe to this plant was named the ''H.C. Henry'' and was sunk by a German submarine in World War I on September 28, 1915.
In 1911, after the death of a son to tuberculosis, he donated land and funds to open Henry Sanatorium in Seattle, later renamed Firland Tuberculosis Hospital.
He was an investor in, and vice president of, the Metropolitan Building Company, which developed the
Metropolitan Tract
The Metropolitan Tract is an area of land in downtown Seattle owned by the University of Washington.orphans, he was awarded the
Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
medal in 1920.
He donated his art collection, which he formerly kept at his home and opened to the public for display, to the University of Washington in 1926 and donated the funds to build a new gallery to house the collection, which was to be the Henry Art Gallery.
Henry died in his sleep in his Seattle home on June 28, 1928 and is buried at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle.
After his life
In 1934, his sons donated land (including his original house) to the city for construction of a library. This was swapped for a smaller parcel closer to the Broadway shopping district, to become the Susan J. Henry branch of the Seattle Public Library, named for his wife. The branch was rebuilt and renamed in 2003 to the Capitol Hill Branch.Capitol Hill Branch (SPL)
The Snoqualmie Pass route was converted to a
Rail Trail
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...
after Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul went bankrupt in 1980. See
Iron Horse State Park
Iron Horse State Park, part of the Washington State Park System, is a state park located in the Cascade Mountains and Yakima River Valley, between Cedar Falls on the west and the Columbia River on the east.
The park is contiguous with a ...
.
Eagle Harbor was designated a
superfund
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...