Matthias William Baldwin

Baldwin, Matthias William (1795–1866), U.S. inventor and philanthropist. Old Ironsides, his early locomotive (1830s), was the first of more than 1,500 locomotives designed and manufactured by Baldwin and his Baldwin Locomotive Works. His other inventions included processes for plating gold and for printing patterns on cloth. An abolitionist, he supported education for black children and founded the Franklin Institute.