Walker served as director of the first school district of Pennsylvania, and was twice elected to the council of Philadelphia. He purchased the Saturday Evening Post in 1874 and was its editor for a short time.
He was engaged in the production of oil; in 1875, he moved to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in land, lumber and coal developments.
Walker was elected as a Republican to the Forty-seventh Congress. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1882 but his name was presented by his friends.
He returned to Philadelphia in 1890 and became a manufacturing chemist.
Death and interment
Walker died in Philadelphia in 1903, and was interred in the Laurel Hill Cemetery.