William Yale Beach

William Yale Beach (1836 – 1910) was a banker and businessman from Connecticut, son of penny press pioneer Moses Yale Beach. His private bank was the first banking institution of Wallingford, and the largest in the city. He also did business with the freemasons and developed a number of streets in Wallingford.

Early life William Yale Beach was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, on January 7, 1836, to Nancy Day and Moses Yale Beach, members of the Yale family. Among his 7 siblings were innovator Alfred Ely Beach and politician Moses S. Beach. At the death of his father in 1868, he inherited the Beach estate, including his father's Italianate mansion built in 1846 at a cost of $62,000, or about 50 million dollars in 2024 money in relation to income. The house was built by architect Henry Austin with the contractor and laborers brought from Italy, and had 16 bedrooms.

Beach started his real estate ventures by created four streets in Wallingford, being Church, Meadow, Orchard and William streets, and built a housing development on the land he inherited. In 1871, he built a banking house between the corner of Main and Academy streets. From 1875 to 1876, William Yale Beach's private bank is recorded as the most important bank in Wallingford, and is among the 52 largest in Connecticut by territories.

Later life Beach would start doing his main real estate transactions in New Haven rather than Wallingford. He then passed most of his business career in New York and became a large real estate investor in the city. He is recorded doing business with the Freemasons of the Masonic Temples of New York and Boston.

Toward the later years of his career, he was connected with his brother Alfred Ely Beach and his nephew Frederick C. Beach at Scientific American Magazine in New York City. In 1886, he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was engaged in the lumber business.

He was also involved with the land donation of his father to Wallingford to establish a school named the Moses Y. Beach Elementary School. He was a member of the school committee with Samuel Simpson of Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co., stepson of Mary Yale. He was married to Emma A. Munson on October 2, 1861. He was the great-granduncle of Rev. Brewster Yale Beach.