merchandise, thereby ending their dependence on northern manufacturers. From 1860 until his death in 1896, he was the president of the National Farmers' and Planters' Bank of Baltimore. Pratt also became president of the Baltimore Clearing House and the Maryland Bankers' Association, in addition to establishing a role in several transportation companies. He was also a director for three other railroads, including the famous Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He was a contemporary and associate of philanthropist Thomas Kelso, (1784-1878), founder and endower of the Kelso Home and Orphan Asylum originally established by his home at No. 87 East Baltimore Street and opened January 1, 1874, who also endowed many local charities associated with the national denomination and the local Baltimore Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They served together on the board of the P.W. & B. Railroad Company. Philanthropy During his early years as a businessman, Pratt's philanthropy started with donations to his church, the First Independent Church of Baltimore (later the First Unitarian Church (Unitarian and Universalist), at North Charles and West Franklin Streets, where he served as a trustee for over 40 years. He paid off several of the congregation's large debts, bought a new organ, and financed significant remodeling of the church in the 1890s. Other early philanthropy included his patronage of the artist Edward Sheffield Bartholomew, Pratt commissioned many public sculptures and memorials throughout Baltimore, including the statue of George Washington erected in the city's new first and largest park of Druid Hill Park, acquired by the city in 1860, and laid out by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Pratt gave much of his time and wealth to Baltimore's cultural and charitable institutions. He served as a trustee of the Peabody Institute, founded in 1857, which began construction in 1860 and opened/dedicated in 1866, in the presence of its benefactor, fellow Bay Stater and friend, George Peabody, (1795-1869), who also formerly made his original fortune in "The Monumental City" during the 20 years of his first business, 1815-1835, at the time was the wealthiest man in the Americas. The new Institute's various cultural programs that were to be established of an art gallery, reference library, series of educational lectures, a music conservatory, and system of scholarship honors (engrossed certificates and monetary prizes with gold or silver medals) for honored graduates of the city's new public high schools ("Peabody Prizes"), which were continued for