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Solomon Shwayder was born on December 19th, 1876 in Manchester, England. He was the oldest of the Shwayder brothers. He was also known as Sol, a name he had carried since childhood.

Isaac Shwayder, Sol's father, first immigrated to Central City, Colorado in 1879, and brought his family over in 1881. They settled in Black Hawk, Colorado, a mining town two miles from Central City where Isaac worked. In 1888, the family moved to Denver, Colorado.

Sol (and the rest of the Shwayder children) originally attended Franklin School in Denver, but graduated from West High School in Denver. In 1899, Sol graduated with honors from the University of Denver, having studied law.

In August of 1899, Sol left Denver to join the newly formed Durango Shoe & Clothing Company in Durango, Colorado. His role is currently unknown. The company was originally started by three business men and was incorporated in April of 1899 following the purchase of a pre-existing clothing store. Having officially opened in May, it operated within a larger store called The Famous and primarily served as a dealer for clothing for all ages, with a service to order custom fitting clothing. It also sold home furnishings. The clothing company announced its closure in April of 1901, selling off its entire inventory, but this was not the closure of The Famous, of which Sol is listed on the incorporating announcement. Interesting in hindsight, this inventory sale included trunks and valises.

Following that closure, Sol continued practicing law in Durango, working as an assistant to Attorney General N.C. Miller in 1903.

In October of 1903, Sol returned back to Denver and continued work as an attorney. Sol was also an inventor, and in 1904 a patent was filed for a "receptacle for storing alcoholic liquors."

In 1907, Sol left Denver and practiced law in Ely, Nevada. He opened a firm there named Belford, Shwayder, & McClelland. McClelland withdrew in 1907, and the firm renamed to Belford & Shwayder. There is no mention of this firm after February of 1908, it likely closed and Sol once again returned to Denver.

Sol married Ida Weitz (Jessie Shwayder's wife's, Nellie Weitz, younger sister born 1888) in June of 1908. They had four children together: Herschel (born August 3rd, 1910), Deborah (September 7th, 1917), Irving (September 28th, 1921), and David (October 21st, 1926).

Sol returned to Durango in 1909 to confirm the sale of the entire The Famous Store Co., serving as a member of the creditors' committee.

Sol joined the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company at some subsequent point. The earliest his name is associated is in February of 1912. He appears in the famous photograph of five members of the Shwayder family standing on a Shwayder suitcase. The popular date for this picture is 1916, but the linked trademark filing from 1921 claims use since 1914.

In a legal capacity, the earliest date that can confirm he was the company's attoney is early 1915. This was likely not his only role, as his title was simply manufacturer. He was later named a vice president sometime in the 1920s. There is very little sourcing available to say much more about Sol's involvement in the company.

Through the 1910s and 1920s, outside of his professional life, Sol was educated in world events and regularly expressed his opinions regarding politics in letters to newspapers. This period is also very difficult to track in published sources.

In 1928, as a follower of the Jewish faith, Sol and Ida visited Palestine.

In 1929, Sol revealed a proposal at his home among fellow members of the Jewish community. He proposed the formation of a society to "issue a call from Jerusalem to all Israel throughout the nations of the world, for the assembly of a Great Sanhedrin at the Holy City of Jerusalem... especially to consider and review the life and trial of Jesus of Nazareth."

Sol Shwayder is quoted as saying: "If our ancestors were guilty of any crime in this matter, or violated any law or commandment of God, let the Great Sanhedrin acknowledge our guilt and crave Divine pardon." Essentially, the movement sought to assemble in Jerusalem a council of 71 members from all over the world to review original documents and argumentation by Christian scholars to determine whether or not Jews were truly responsible for the death of Christ.

After submitting this proposal to several editors, it was subsequently published in several Jewish magazines. The movement reportedly involved prominent Jews of Denver, but did not lead to anything substantial following Sol's death.

In November of 1930, under the petition of Ida Shwayder, Jesse Shwayder became the conservator of Sol's estate following Sol's confinement to a sanitarium in California. There is no documented information prior to 1931 currently available as to why this happened. Subsequent reports, however, title Sol in 1931 as a "retired vice president of Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Co."

On May 20th, 1931, Sol Shwayder fell thirteen stories to his death at the Los Angeles Hotel Hayward. There are several elements of the story that cannot be reconciled, as different articles report different circumstances and different details, such as which exact floor the event occured from.

According to the above article, which interviewed Maurice Shwayder (who had spoken with the witness Mark Shwayder over the phone), Sol had been despondent over financial reverses (possibly in connection with the Great Depression). On a business trip to the west coast, Mark Shwayder decided to meet with Sol in Los Angeles and return with him to Denver.

According to Maurice, Sol was reportedly in Los Angeles to discuss his Sanhedrin revival with leaders on the west coast. According to another source, Sol had been in Los Angeles for six months due to his health which aligns with the prior sanitarium report.

Regardless, during the afternoon the two brothers were to leave back to Denver, Mark left the hotel room for a few minutes, and when he returned Sol "had fallen out of the window." Maurice also related "Mark declared it was clearly an accident—that Sol had apparently gotten near the window and lost his balance." Other reports, including the police report, quote Mark as reporting Sol "stepped to the window and leapt out".

Also according to Maurice, "a letter from Sol a few days [before] was very cheerful and in it he mentioned his health was much better." According to Mark, "his brother, while greatly depressed, had given no indication to take his life... The two were making preparations for their return trip..."

In 1970, Ida Shwayder purchased a $150,000 collection of 10,000 Jewish volumes for $65,000 and donated it to the University of Denver in Sol's name. It established the Solomon Shwayder Memorial Library in Hebraic Studies. At the time, the donation was cited by the chancellor as an unparalleled resource for the region, and it has expanded in the years since.

In one of Sol's letters outlining his plans for the Great Sanhedrin, published posthumonously by a Jewish journal, he closes with the prayer: "May God Almighty and the Lord Jesus of Nazareth... guide and lead you to the greatest fruition of your divinely ordained labors."