Category: Industrial Revolution 1865-1900

WADE, JEPTHA HOMER I (11 Aug. 1811-9 Aug. 1890), financier and telegraph pioneer, was born in Romulus, Seneca County, N.Y., the son of Jeptha and Sarah (Allen) Wade. He operated a factory and worked as portrait painter before becoming interested in the telegraph. He became interested in the telegraph, and in 1847, as a subcontractor for J. J. Speedy, he began constructing a telegraph line from Detroit to Jackson, Mich. Wade soon added lines from Detroit to Milwaukee and to Buffalo by way of Cleveland. In 1849-50 he built lines from Cleveland to Cincinnati and St. Louis. In 1854 he consolidated his lines with those of Royal E. House to create a network of lines across the Old Northwest, and in Apr. 1856 their network was part of the 13-company consolidation of telegraph lines that created the Western Union Telegraph Co. Wade served as the general agent for Western Union, and he continued to develop new lines and telegraph companies in the West, forming the California State Telegraph Co. and the Pacific Telegraph Co.; the latter was connected to St. Louis and San Francisco by wire in Aug. 1861. Wade became president of Western Union in 1866, but poor health forced him to resign the following year.

Wade moved to Cleveland in 1856. He was a director of 8 railroad companies; helped organizing Citizens Savings & Loan Assoc. (1867), becoming its first president (1868); was president of Natl. Bank of Commerce and an incorporator of Cleveland Rolling Mill Co. (1863); became a sinking-fund commissioner in 1870 (serving 20 years); was an organizer and first president of LAKE VIEW CEMETERY Assoc.; and was an incorporator of Case School of Applied Science (1880). In 1881, Wade offered the city 75 acres of land along Doan Brook as a park (See WADE PARK). He also donated land to Western Reserve University. Wade married Rebecca Loueza Facer in 1832, who died in 1836. He married Susan M. Fleming in 1837. Wade had one natural child, Randall P., and 4 adopted children: Delia (Moore), Eusebra (Bates), Myra (Huggins), and Bessie (Reynolds).

Samuel Mather

From the Encyclopedia of Cleveland

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MATHER, SAMUEL (13 July 1851-18 Oct. 1931), industrialist and philanthropist, son of Samuel and Georgiana Woolson Mather, was born and educated in Cleveland. He planned attending Harvard, then working at his father’s business, Cleveland Iron Co., but had an mining accident requiring lengthy recuperation. In 1882, Mather affiliated with JAMES S. PICKANDS † and Jay C. Morse to form PICKANDS MATHER & CO., a rival to Cleveland Iron. After 2 years, the company leased a mine in the Gogebic Range, later acquiring interests in the Minnesota Mesabi and Michigan Marquette Ranges. Mather allied Pickands-Mather with the steel industry, providing resources and transportation; and facilitating the U.S. Steel merger in 1902. Success compounded his inherited wealth.

Mather was senior warden and vestryman of TRINITY CATHEDRAL, president of FEDERATED CHURCHES OF GREATER CLEVELAND, and a trustee and benefactor of HIRAM HOUSE. During WORLD WAR I he organized the War Chest, donating over $750,000, and receiving the Cross of the Legion of Honor from the French government. In 1919, he helped establish the COMMUNITY CHEST, contributing $100,000 annually, and in 1930 establishing a $1.6 million trust fund to insure its prosperity. Mather married FLORA STONE† in 1881 and fathered 4 children: S. Livingston (see SAMUEL LIVINGSTON MATHER†), Phillip, Constance, and Amasa Stone. When Mather died, he was the richest man in Ohio. His estate was divided among his children, grandchildren, and daughter-in-law, and various charitable causes. Major benefactors included WESTERN RESERVE UNIV., UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS CASE MEDICAL CENTER, JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY, Kenyon College, the Episcopal Church, St. Luke’s Hospital of Tokyo, Japan, and the Community Chest. Because of declining stock values in the Depression, the bequests could not be paid. As the value of the estate increased with market improvements, heirs contested the will, since Mather had changed the terms within a year of his death, and some bequests (notably one to WRU) were invalidated.

Cleveland’s Bygone Millionaire’s Row

Overview of Cleveland’s Millionaire Row.

“There is a stretch of Cleveland’s Euclid Avenue (US Route 20) that was once known as the most beautiful street in America. It was also known as “Millionaire’s Row”, because in the late 1800s to the early 1900s the street contained the homes of some of the richest and influential people in the city and the county. Some of the names of the families who lived on “Millionaire’s Row” included those of industrialist and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller; banker and industrial distributor George Worthington; arc light inventor Charles F. Brush; mining magnate Samuel Mather; industrialist and politician Marcus Hanna; John Hay, personal secretary to Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State under William McKinley; and Jeptha Wade, founder of Western Union Telegraph.”

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Amasa Stone Overview from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland

From the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

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STONE, AMASA (27 Apr. 1818-11 May 1883) was a contractor, railroad manager, financier, and philanthropist, born in Charlton, Mass. to Amasa and Esther (Boyden) Stone. He apprenticed in construction, and worked with his brother-in-law Wm. Howe to perfect the Howe truss bridge, buying the patent rights in 1842 and eventually constructing hundreds of bridges using his own improved design.

After building the Cleveland-to-Columbus spur of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad, in 1851 Stone came to Cleveland to superintend the road and build the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula. By 1852, he was a director of both roads; by 1857, he was president of the CP&A. He built or directed other railroads, including the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Road, taking part of his pay in stock, then investing his wealth as a major stockholder in Cleveland Rolling Mill and related mills throughout the country, as well as in several banks.

On 29 Dec. 1876, a Lake Shore Rd. Howe truss bridge collapsed at Ashtabula, plunging a train into a ravine, killing 92. An investigation implicated Stone who, ignoring engineers, had used an overly long span. The road’s chief engineer, Chas. Collins, committed suicide. He was also vexed by William H. Vanderbilt’s 1883 plan to consolidate the Lake Shore Rd. with the NICKEL PLATE ROAD. On 11 May 1883, after several steel mills he controlled failed, Stone committed suicide, leaving a wife, Julia Gleason Stone, 2 daughters, Clara Stone Hay and FLORA STONE MATHER†. His multi-million-dollar estate included a $100,000 bequest to Western Reserve University. In 1881 Stone had donated $500,000 to WRU to establish Adelbert College in memory of his son, who had died in a swimming accident at Yale in 1866. He was buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.

The Millionaire Yield of Cleveland

Magazine article published in Munsey’s Magazine in 1912. Overview of Cleveland’s bounty of millionaires during the 19th century

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Charles Brush Biography

from the Ohio Historical Society

Charles F. Brush was the inventor of the arc lamp. He attended the University of Michigan and then resided in Cleveland, Ohio. He spent much of his life attempting to understand electricity and how to make it useful to human beings.

In 1879, Brush succeeded in creating the first arc lamp. After some more experimentation and modifications, Brush created a lamp that burned as brightly as four thousand candles. Such a bright light, obviously, could not be used inside of people’s homes. Brush decided to market his invention to cities, so that they could light their streets at night. On April 29, 1879, Brush made a presentation of his invention to Cleveland residents. He had placed twenty arc lamps in the city’s Monumental Park. Not sure of what to expect, people in attendance wore smoked glasses to protect their eyes. After the demonstration, numerous women complained that the lights would make it impossible for them to conceal imperfections on their skin. Cleveland officials, however, were impressed, and soon Cleveland had lights across the city. Cleveland was the first city to have electric street lighting in the United States.

Brush continued to experiment with electricity for the remainder of his life. He was responsible for numerous discoveries involving electricity’s uses and received several dozen patents for his inventions.