According to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Salmon was "responsible for rebuilding the north side of West 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the first decades of the 20th century".
[6] Just prior to his marriage to Elizabeth J. Davy of Rochester, New York, in early 1919 Salmon was elected President of the New Symphony Orchestra.
Walter Salmon Sr. had been involved in the sport of Thoroughbred racing for a few years when he began to win consistently after he signed Eugene Wayland as his trainer in 1918.
[9] The following year he decided to also breed Thoroughbreds for himself and established Mereworth Farm, a 1,200-acre property on Yarnallton Pike near Lexington, Kentucky.
Such was his importance to the industry that Walter Salmon's Mereworth Farm was one of those profiled by racing historian Edward L. Bowen in his 2003 book, Legacies of the Turf: A Century of Great Thoroughbred Breeders.
In addition to his Preakness[12] and other top race wins, Display sired the 1935 American Horse of the Year and Hall of Fame inductee, Discovery whom Salmon sold as an unraced two-year-old to Alfred G. Vanderbilt II.