Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick | |
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Born | |
Died | December 2, 1919 New York City, U.S. | (aged 69)
Resting place | Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Education | Otterbein University (did not graduate) |
Occupation(s) | Industrialist and art collector |
Known for | Strikebreaking, Frick Collection, Johnstown Flood |
Spouse | Adelaide Childs Frick (1859–1931) |
Children | Childs Frick, Martha Frick, Helen Clay Frick, Henry Clay Frick Jr. |
Signature | |
Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American
Early life
Frick was born in
Thanks to loans from the family of lifelong friend Andrew Mellon, by 1880, Frick bought out the partnership. The company was renamed H. C. Frick & Company, employed 1,000 workers and controlled 80 percent of the coal output in Pennsylvania,[5] operating coal mines in Westmoreland and Fayette counties, where he also operated banks of beehive coke ovens. Some of the brick and stone structures are still visible in both Fayette and Westmoreland Counties.
H. C. Frick and Andrew Carnegie
Shortly after marrying Adelaide Howard Childs,
The Johnstown Flood
At the suggestion of his friend Benjamin Ruff, Frick helped to found the exclusive South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club high above Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The charter members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club were Benjamin Ruff; T. H. Sweat, Charles J. Clarke, Thomas Clark, Walter F. Fundenberg, Howard Hartley, Henry C. Yeager, J. B. White, Henry Clay Frick, E. A. Meyers, C. C. Hussey, D. R. Ewer, C. A. Carpenter, W. L. Dunn, W. L. McClintock, and A. V. Holmes.[8]
The sixty-odd club members were the leading business tycoons of Western Pennsylvania, and included among their number Frick's best friend,
The Club fatally lowered the dam by between 0.6 and 0.9 metres (2.0 and 3.0 ft).[9] Poor repairs and maintenance, unusually high snow melt and heavy spring rains combined to cause the dam to give way on May 31, 1889, resulting in the Johnstown Flood. A screen placed across the spillway by the club to prevent fish from escaping also partly blocked the main spillway.[10] When word of the dam's failure was telegraphed to Pittsburgh, Frick and other members of the club gathered to form the Pittsburgh Relief Committee for assistance to the flood victims, as well as determining never to speak publicly about the club or the flood. This strategy was a success, and Knox and Reed were able to fend off all lawsuits that would have placed blame upon the club's members. With a volumetric flow rate that temporarily equalled that of the Mississippi River,[11] the flood killed 2,208 people[12] and caused US$17 million of damage (about $450 million in 2015 dollars).
The American Society of Civil Engineers launched an investigation of the South Fork Dam breach immediately after the flood. However, the report was delayed, subverted, and whitewashed, before being released two years after the disaster. A detailed discussion of what happened during the ASCE investigation, its participating engineers, and the science behind the 1889 flood was published in 2018.[13]
Old Overholt whiskey
In 1881, Frick, already wealthy, took control of his grandfather's whiskey company, Old Overholt.[14] Frick split ownership with Andrew Mellon and Charles W. Mauck; each owned one-third of the company.[14] The family's whiskey company was a sentimental side business for Frick,[14] and was headquartered in Pittsburgh's Frick Building.[15] In 1907, as prohibition became more popular across the country, Frick and Mellon removed their names from the distilling license, although they retained ownership in the company.[15] Upon Frick's death in 1919, he left his share of the company to Mellon.[15]
Homestead strike
Frick and Carnegie's partnership was strained over actions taken in response to the
Among working-class Americans, Frick's actions against the strikers were condemned as excessive, and he soon became a target of even more union organizers. Because of this strike, people like Alan Petrucelli had thought that he is depicted as the
Assassination attempt
In 1892, during the Homestead strike, anarchist
Frick, realizing what was happening, attempted to rise from his chair while Berkman pulled a revolver and fired at nearly point-blank range. The bullet hit Frick in the left earlobe, penetrated his neck near the base of the skull, and lodged in his back. The impact knocked Frick down, and Berkman fired again, striking Frick for a second time in the neck and causing him to bleed extensively. Carnegie Steel vice president (later, president) John George Alexander Leishman, who was with Frick, was then able to grab Berkman's arm and prevented a third shot, possibly saving Frick's life.
Frick was seriously wounded but rose and (with the assistance of Leishman) tackled his assailant.[18] All three men crashed to the floor, where Berkman managed to stab Frick four times in the leg with the pointed steel file before finally being subdued by other employees and a carpenter, who had rushed into the office.
Frick was back at work within a week; Berkman was charged and found guilty of attempted murder. Berkman's actions in planning the assassination clearly indicated a premeditated intent to kill, and he was sentenced to 22 years in prison.[5] Negative publicity from the attempted assassination resulted in the collapse of the strike.[19]
Private life
Frick married Adelaide Howard Childs of Pittsburgh on December 15, 1881. They had four children:
In 1904, he built Eagle Rock, a summer estate at
Frick was a fervent art collector whose wealth allowed him to accumulate a large collection.[22] By 1905, Frick's business, social and artistic interests had shifted from Pittsburgh to New York. He took his art collection with him to New York, rented the William H. Vanderbilt House, and served on many corporate boards.
For example, as a board member of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, Frick attempted the removal of
The Frick Collection is home to one of the finest collections of European paintings in the United States. It contains many works of art dating from the pre-Renaissance up to the post-Impressionist eras, displayed at the Henry Clay Frick House (built in 1913) in no logical or chronological order. It includes several very large paintings by J. M. W. Turner and John Constable. In addition to paintings, it also contains an exhibition of carpets, porcelain, sculptures, and period furniture.
Frick purchased the Westmoreland, a
Frick and his wife Adelaide had booked tickets to travel back to New York on the inaugural trip of the
Frick died of a heart attack on December 2, 1919, at age 69.[26] He was buried in Pittsburgh's Homewood Cemetery.[27]
Legacy
Frick left a will in which he bequeathed 150 acres (0.61 km2) of undeveloped land to the City of Pittsburgh for use as a public park, together with a $2 million trust fund to assist with the maintenance of the park. Frick Park opened in 1927. Between 1919 and 1942, money from the trust fund was used to enlarge the park, increasing its size to almost 600 acres (2.4 km2).
Many years after her father's death, Helen Clay Frick returned to Clayton in 1981, and lived there until her death in 1984.
Frick was elected an honorary member of the Alpha chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity at the New England Conservatory of Music on October 19, 1917.[27]
Henry Clay Frick Business Records (Archives)
The Henry Clay Frick archive of business records consisted of the documents regarding the business and financial dealings from 1849 to 1919. These original documents record the evolution of the period of American steel and coal industrial growth. Documentation includes first business activities, first coal firm,
The archive of Frick's great-grandfather, Henry Overholt (1739–1813), is also housed at the Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh Library System, University of Pittsburgh.[29]
See also
References
- ^ "Helen Clay Frick Foundation Archives Finding Aid". Guides to Archives and Manuscript Collections at the University of Pittsburgh Library System. University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
- ^ Erasmus Wilson (1898). Standard History of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Volume 1. Chicago: H.R. Cornell & Company. p. 1039.
- ^ Distinguished Biographers, Selected from Each State, Revised and Approved by The Most Eminent Historians, Scholars and Statesmen of The Day (1900). The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 10. New York: James T. White Company. p. 203.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Founded His Fortune in the Panic of 1873"
- ^ a b c d e f g Candace Falk; Barry Pateman; Jessica M. Moran (2003). "Sample short biographies". Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years, 1890–1901. University of California Press. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
- ^ "Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919)". Frick Art & Historical Center (Pittsburgh). Archived from the original on May 6, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
- ^ www.n-state.com, NSTATE, LLC. "Henry Clay Frick - People of Pennsylvania". www.netstate.com. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Court of Common Pleas (November 17, 1879). "Charter of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club". p. 7. Retrieved September 29, 2018 – via Digital Public Library of America.
- PMID 27441292. e00120.
- ^ "The Johnstown Flood, May 31, 1889". glessnerhouse.org. Chicago, IL: Glessner House Museum. May 26, 2014.
- ^ Sid Perkins, "Johnstown Flood matched volume of Mississippi River" Archived September 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Science News, Vol.176 #11, November 21, 2009, accessed October 14, 2012
- ^ Gibson, Christine. "Our 10 Greatest Natural Disasters". American Heritage (August/September 2006). Archived from the original on December 5, 2010.
- ISBN 978-3-319-95215-4.
- ^ a b c Wondrich, David (September 2, 2016). "The Rise & Fall of America's Oldest Whiskey". The Daily Beast. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
- ^ a b c Wondrich, David (September 12, 2016). "How Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey Lost Its Way". The Daily Beast. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
- ^ a b c Tuchman 1996, p.82
- ^ Petrucelli, 2008.
- ^ Krause, 1992, p. 354.
- ^ Krause, 1992, p. 355.
- ^ Skrabec, 2010, p. 16.
- ^ Lowry, Patricia (December 18, 2001). "Book assesses Frick family houses, both inside and out". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
- ^ Quodbach, Esmée (2009). ‘I want this collection to be my monument’: Henry Clay Frick and the formation of The Frick Collection, Journal of the History of Collections, V. 21 (November): 229–240.
- ^ "selections from the Helen Clay Frick Foundation Archives" (PDF). Helen Clay Frick Foundation.
- ^ Hughes, Edith (2010), "The 'Westmoreland' was a Mansion on Wheels", Westmoreland History, 15 (1): 4–6
- ^ Daugherty, Greg (March 2012). "Seven Famous People who Missed the Titanic". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
- ^ "Henry C. Frick Dies". The New York Times, December 3, 1919.
- ^ a b "Memory and Mourning: A Frick History of Homewood Cemetery". The Frick Pittsburgh. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
- ^ "Henry Clay Frick Business Records, Guides to Archives and Manuscript Collections at the University of Pittsburgh Library System". University of Pittsburgh.
- ^ Abraham Overholt & Company, 1881–1888, Guides to Archives and Manuscript Collections at the University of Pittsburgh Library System. University of Pittsburgh.
Bibliography
- Falk, Candace; Pateman, Barry; and Moran, Jessica M. Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2003.
- "Founded His Fortune in the Panic of 1873". The New York Times, December 3, 1919.
- "Henry C. Frick Dies". The New York Times, December 3, 1919.
- Krause, Paul. The Battle for Homestead, 1890–1892: Politics, Culture, and Steel. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992.
- Petrucelli, Alan W. "A Fresh Look: Viewing Vanka Murals a Religious Experience." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. July 14, 2008.
- Skrabec, Quentin R. Henry Clay Frick: The Life of the Perfect Capitalist. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2010.
- Tuchman, Barbara (1996). The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War: 1890–1914. The Macmillan Company. ISBN 0333306465.
Further reading
External videos | |
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Presentation by Martha Frick Sanger on Henry Clay Frick: An Intimate Portrait at the National Portrait Gallery, October 29, 1998, C-SPAN |
- Apfelt, Brian. The Corporation: 100 Years of the United States Steel Corp.
- Harvey, George (1928). Henry Clay Frick: The Man., an authorized biography by a close friend
- Hessen, Robert. Steel Titan: The Life of Charles M. Schwab. (1975)
- Sanger, Martha Frick Symington. Henry Clay Frick: An Intimate Portrait. New York: Abbeville Press, 1998.
- Sanger, Martha Frick Symington. The Henry Clay Frick Houses: Architecture, Interiors, Landscapes in the Golden Era. New York: Monacelli Press, 2001.
- Skrabec Jr, Quentin R. Henry Clay Frick: The life of the perfect capitalist (McFarland, 2010). online
- Skrabec Jr, Quentin R. The Carnegie Boys: The Lieutenants of Andrew Carnegie that Changed America (McFarland, 2012) online.
- Smith, Roberta. "Change Arrives on Tiptoes at the Frick Mansion". The New York Times, August 28, 2008.
- Standiford, Les. Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America. New York: Crown Publishers, 2005.
- Warren, Kenneth. Triumphant Capitalism: Henry Clay Frick and the Industrial Transformation of America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996; the standard scholarly biography.
- Warren, Kenneth. "The Business Career of Henry Clay Frick". Pittsburgh History vol. 73, no. 1 (Spring 1990): 3–15.
External links
- Official Frick Collection Website
- The Frick Art & Historical Center and Clayton
- Henry Clay Frick at Find a Grave
- Helen Clay Frick Foundation Archives
- Finding Aid for the Adelaide H.C. Frick Papers, 1874-1951
- Documenting the Gilded Age: New York City Exhibitions at the Turn of the 20th Century A New York Art Resources Consortium project.
- Texts on Wikisource:
- "Frick, Henry Clay". Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). 1922.
- . The Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1918.
- "Frick, Henry Clay". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.