Cyrus H. K. Curtis
Cyrus H. K. Curtis | |
---|---|
Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist | |
Official name | Cyrus H. K. Curtis (1850–1933) |
Type | Roadside |
Designated | November 07, 2005[1] |
Location | 1250 W Church Rd.(SR73), Wyncote |
Cyrus Hermann Kotzschmar Curtis (June 18, 1850 – June 7, 1933) was an American publisher of magazines and newspapers, including the Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post.[2]
Early life and education
Curtis was born in
Career
Curtis held a variety of newspaper and advertising jobs in Portland and Boston before starting his first publication, a weekly called the People's Ledger, in Boston in 1872.
In 1876, he moved to Philadelphia, then a major publishing center, to reduce his printing costs.[2][3]
Curtis's first wife was
Louisa Knapp continued as editor until 1889 when she was succeeded by
Curtis founded the
While Curtis was alive, his businesses, excepting the newspapers, were successful. Ladies Home Journal was for decades the most widely circulating women's magazine in the U.S., and The Saturday Evening Post enjoyed the highest circulation of any weekly magazine in the world. In 1929, the Post and the Journal together ran fully forty percent of all US magazine advertising.[2] One source lists Curtis as the 51st richest person ever, with a fortune of $43.2 billion adjusted for inflation (to 2008 dollars), which according to this source made him richer than J. P. Morgan.[6]
Curtis built Lyndon, a
Curtis was more than an occasional sailor, however, noting in a 1922 New York Times interview, "Yachting is not a hobby with me. It is a necessity. I spend half my time on this ship," and further noting that most of his meetings with staff or board members were held in the second Lyndonia's dining room.[8] Curtis had three large yachts built at Charles L. Seabury Co.: the 115-foot Machigonne in 1904;[Note 1] the 163-foot Lyndonia in 1907; and the 228-foot Lyndonia in 1920.[Note 2][7] Curtis was a founding member of the Camden Yacht Club in Camden, Maine, and its Commodore from 1909 to 1933, later donating the club's facilities to the town.[9]
In the summer of 1932, Curtis suffered a heart attack while aboard his yacht, the second Lyndonia. While he was recuperating at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, his second wife, Kate Stanwood Cutter Pillsbury Curtis, died suddenly. Curtis then remained in frail health until his death on June 7, 1933, at age 82, and he was interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.[10]
Soon after his death, most of the buildings on Curtis's estate were demolished, and his daughter founded the
Before his death, Curtis was elected to the
Philanthropy
Cyrus Curtis remains #20 on the list of the richest Americans ever.
In memory of his boyhood music teacher, Hermann Kotzschmar, for whom he had been named, Curtis in 1912 donated the Kotzschmar Memorial Organ to Maine's Portland City Hall Auditorium.[15] In Thomaston, Maine, he funded the 1927–29 recreation of Montpelier, the demolished 1795 mansion of Revolutionary War general Henry Knox.
Curtis was a major organizer and backer of the
Gallery
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Lyndon (1895), Wyncote, PA. Demolished, except for the 1903 ballroom addition, nowCurtis Hall.[16]
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Curtis Hall(1903), Church Rd. & Greenwood Ave., Wyncote, PA.
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The Lyndonia (built 1907).
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Curtis Building (1910), 6th & Walnut Sts., Philadelphia, PA.
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Dream Garden mosaic (1916) by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Maxfield Parrish, in the Curtis Building.
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Curtis Institute of Music (est. 1924), 18th & Locust Sts., Philadelphia, PA.
Notes
- ^ Not to be confused with the Machigonne built by the same builder in 1909 for William L. Douglas and later USS Machigonne (SP 507).
- Pan American World Airways' Southern Seas until it was commandeered by the US armed services for use in the Pacific theater during World War II.
References
- ^ "PHMC Cyrus H. K. Curtis (1850–1933)". Retrieved 2 April 2017.
- ^ a b c d Ingham, John N. Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders: A-G. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1983, pp. 230–234.
- ^ Hatch, Louis Clinton. Maine: A History, volume 4. Published by The American Historical Society, 1919.
- ^ "Magazine Art, Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-11-04. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
- JSTOR 3115961.
- Little, Brown, New York, 2008.
- ^ a b T. Colton (February 18, 2013). "Consolidated Shipbuilding, Morris Heights NY". Shipbuilding History. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
- ^ Feld, Rose C. (1922). "Cyrus H. K. Curtis, The Man: Musician, Editor, Publisher and Capitalist". The New York Times (22 October 1922). Retrieved 7 April 2013.
- ^ Staff of VillageSoup and Knox County Times and Jim Bowditch. "Camden Yacht Club: History". Camden Yacht Club. Camden Yacht Club. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
- ^ Visit Philadelphia
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
- ^ Anonymous. "Ad Hall of Fame Opens with 10 Industry Giants" Advertising Age; 06/14/99, Vol. 70 Issue 25, p77.
- ^ "The Wealthy 100". Archived from the original on 2014-10-11. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
- ^ List of World's Largest Pipe Organs Archived August 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Kotzschmar Organ Archived 2011-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Anonymous. After Curtis Time magazine, Monday, Jul. 17, 1933