History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/James Callanan
[Yours truly, J. Callanan]
JAMES CALLANAN is a native of Albany County, New York, where in the town of New Scotland, he was born on the 12th of November, 1818. He was educated in the-common schools of his native town, and at Cazenovia Seminary, where he remained three years. Later he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1845, at once entering upon practice at Albany. In 1863 Mr. Callanan was called to Iowa to look after real estate investments in and near Des Moines and has since made that city his home. He has been largely interested in many of the financial institutions of the Capital City, being one of the founders of the Hawkeye Insurance Company, president of the Capital City Bank, and a stockholder or director in the Citizens' National and State Savings Banks and in the Iowa Loan and Trust Company. He was one of the organizers and promoters of the Des Moines and Minneapolis Railroad Company and largely interested in mining properties. Mr. Callanan has been a life-long advocate of temperance and always been a large contributor to the cause. He has given liberal aid to a number of benevolent institutions of Des Moines, among which are the Home for the Aged, the Iowa Methodist Hospital and the Children's Home. He has been a liberal promoter of churches and education and was a large contributor in the establishment of Callanan College. He saved the closing of his Alma Mater at a critical period by buying the bonds of the institution. The aid that Mr. Callanan has rendered friendless boys and girls toward a start in the right direction, can never be known to the public. He has always been one of the chief promoters and a liberal contributor to the work of the Humane Society.