Knox Taylor

Knox Taylor represented the fifth generation in lineal descent of a family under whose auspices the iron and steel industry of his native New Jersey town was conducted during the 180 years since its foundation. “I know of no other concern in the line of our great industry,” Taylor himself remarked in a public address at its 175th anniversary, “which can approach our successful and venerable record.” Under his direction the company undertook the difficult task of manufacturing naval gun-forgings for the government in 1917, thereby adhering to the tradition in conformity with which it had turned out military supplies for the United States government during every American war, since and including the War of the Revolution. Princeton graduate and life trustee of the University, his tastes and interests were broader even than his business career or the field of education. He was a hunter and an athlete; his college president has recalled the saying of young Taylor, when trying for the football team, that “if I do not make the team myself, I am determined that the man who is playing opposite me in practice games shall become the finest tackle in the United States.”

Alexander Dana Noyes
1923 Century Association Yearbook