Edward T. Stotesbury
Encyclopedia
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, February 26, 1849 – May 16, 1938, Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania
Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania
Wyndmoor is a census-designated place in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 5,498 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...
) was a prominent investment banker, a partner in Drexel & Co. and its New York affiliate J. P. Morgan & Co. for over fifty-five years.
Family
Stotesbury was born in Philadelphia of QuakerReligious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
parentage. His first wife was Frances Berman Butcher, who died in childbirth at age 31 on November 7, 1881. Three daughters were born of their marriage. The first daughter, Helen Lewis Stotesbury (August 21, 1874-September 9, 1874), died an infant. The second daughter, Edith Lewis Stotesbury (April 3, 1877–1935), married, on December 25, 1903, Sydney Emlen Hutchinson. The third daughter, Frances Butcher Stotesbury (November 7, 1881-October 14, 1950), married, on January 5, 1909, John Kearsley Mitchell.
On January 18, 1912, after having been a widower for thirty-some years, Stotesbury married Eva Roberts Cromwell (the widow of Oliver Eaton Cromwell) of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Their first project together was redecorating his twin Philadelphia townhouses at 1923-25 Walnut Street. They went on to build three palatial estates:
- Whitemarsh HallWhitemarsh HallWhitemarsh Hall was a huge estate located on of land in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, USA, and owned by banking executive Edward T. Stotesbury and his wife, Eva...
outside Philadelphia by architect Horace TrumbauerHorace TrumbauerHorace Trumbauer was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy. Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings, and much of the campus of Duke University...
(1916–21, demolished 1980) - El MirasolEl MirasolEl Mirasol is a village and municipality in Chubut Province in southern Argentina.-References:...
in Palm Beach, FloridaPalm Beach, FloridaThe Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
by architect Addison MiznerAddison MiznerAddison Cairns Mizner was an American resort architect whose Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival style interpretations left an indelible stamp on South Florida, where it continues to inspire architects and land developers. In the 1920s Mizner was the best-known and most-discussed...
(1919, demolished 1950s) - Wingwood HouseWingwood House"Wingwood House" was a neo-colonial home in Bar Harbor, Maine.The house was built in 1927 for Edward T. Stotesbury as a summer "cottage", and was designed by architects Magaziner, Eberhard & Harris. The 80-room mansion had a 30-room servants’ wing and was heated by 56 electric wall heaters, five...
in Bar Harbor, MaineBar Harbor, MaineBar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...
by architectural firm Magaziner, Eberhard & Harris (1927, demolished 1953)
His stepdaughter, Henrietta Louise Cromwell
Louise Cromwell Brooks
Henrietta Louise Cromwell Brooks was an American socialite and the first wife of General Douglas MacArthur. She was "considered one of Washington's most beautiful and attractive young women" .-Biography:...
, a divorcee with two children, married General Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
on February 14, 1922. They were divorced in 1929.
His stepson, James H.R. Cromwell, who was then married to Doris Duke
Doris Duke
Doris Duke was an American heiress, horticulturalist, art collector, and philanthropist.-Family and early life:...
, became a devoted New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
er. One day in 1936, Stotesbury told him, "It’s a good thing you married the richest girl in the world because you will get very little from me. I made my fortune and I am going to squander it myself; not your friend Roosevelt."
Career
One of the significant services which he performed in the course of his business career was assisting in the floating of the International Chinese Loan of 1909. He was also a director of the Reading Railroad, the Lehigh Valley Railroad
Lehigh Valley Railroad
The Lehigh Valley Railroad was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal.It was authorized April 21, 1846 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and incorporated September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad...
, the Philadelphia Fidelity Bank, the Girard Trust Company, the Cambria Iron Company
Cambria Iron Company
Cambria Iron Company is a National Historic Landmark located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1852 and made many important contributions to the iron and steel industry...
, Pennsylvania Steel Company, Latrobe Steel Company, Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, Keystone Watch Company, and the Jessup and Moore Paper Company.
In 1927, Stotesbury's fortune was estimated at $100 million. At the time of his death in 1938, it was down to an estimated $4 million. The Stock Market did crash in the years of the decline of his fortune. But in the last five years of his life, while the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
raged, the banker withdrew $55 million out of his account at J.P. Morgan (a rate of withdrawal of more than $10,000,000 a year).
Stotesbury died at eighty-nine on May 21, 1938 and was buried in The Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia.
Legacy
Every year since 1927, the Stotesbury CupStotesbury Cup
The Stotesbury Cup Regatta, sponsored by the Schuylkill Navy, is "the world's oldest and largest high school rowing competition." It is held annually in mid-May over a two-day period along the Schuylkill River near Boathouse Row in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although there is no official U.S....
Regatta has been held on the Schuylkill River
Schuylkill River
The Schuylkill River is a river in Pennsylvania. It is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River.The river is about long. Its watershed of about lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch is in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in...
in Philadelphia. It is one of the oldest and largest high school rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
regatta
Regatta
A regatta is a series of boat races. The term typically describes racing events of rowed or sailed water craft, although some powerboat race series are also called regattas...
s in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Stotesbury himself was a member and one-time president of the Bachelors Barge Club
Bachelors Barge Club
Bachelors Barge Club is an amateur rowing club located at #6 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuously operating boathouse in the United States. It went through renovations as part of the "Light Boathouse Row" initiative, in which new...
, one of the rowing clubs in Philadelphia.
Stotesbury, West Virginia
Stotesbury, West Virginia
Stotesbury is a former coal mining town in Raleigh County in the U.S. state of West Virginia that flourished during the 1930s. The community was named for Edward T. Stotesbury, then the president of Beaver Coal Company....
, a coal mining town in Raleigh County
Raleigh County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 79,220 people, 31,793 households, and 22,096 families residing in the county. The population density was 130 people per square mile . There were 35,678 housing units at an average density of 59 per square mile...
, was named for Stotesbury. The town was the former home of eight-term U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd.
Edward and Eva Stotesbury are characters in the Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
musical Road Show (2008).