William A. Clark
William Clark | |
---|---|
United States Senator from Montana | |
In office March 4, 1901 – March 3, 1907 | |
Preceded by | Thomas H. Carter |
Succeeded by | Joseph M. Dixon |
In office March 4, 1899 – May 15, 1900 | |
Preceded by | Lee Mantle |
Succeeded by | Paris Gibson |
Personal details | |
Born | William Andrews Clark January 8, 1839 Woodlawn Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouses | Katherine Stauffer
(m. 1869; died 1893)Anna La Chapelle (m. 1901) |
Children | 9, including Huguette |
Education | Iowa Wesleyan University |
Signature | |
William Andrews Clark Sr. (January 8, 1839 – March 2, 1925) was an American entrepreneur, involved with
Biography
Clark was born in
He settled in the capital of Montana Territory, Bannack, Montana, and began placer mining. Though his claim paid only moderately, Clark invested his earnings in becoming a trader, driving mules back and forth between Salt Lake City and the boomtowns of Montana to transport eggs and other basic supplies.
He soon changed careers again and became a banker in
The November 1903 Congressional Directory notes that Clark "was a major of a battalion that pursued Chief Joseph and his band in the Nez Perces invasion of 1877."[4]
Between 1884 and 1888, Clark constructed a 34-room, Tiffany-decorated home on West Granite Street, incorporating the most modern inventions available, in Butte, Montana. This home is now the Copper King Mansion bed-and-breakfast, as well as a museum.[5] In 1899, Clark built Columbia Gardens (amusement park) for the children of Butte. It included flower gardens, a dance pavilion, an amusement park, a lake, and picnic areas. An evening scene between characters Arline Simms (played by Anne Francis) and Buz Murdock (played by George Maharis) from the Route 66 television series 1961 episode "A Month of Sundays" was shot on location at Columbia Gardens where she emotionally falls into his arms on the grand staircase. Clark later built a much larger and more extravagant 121-room mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City, the William A. Clark House.
He died on March 2, 1925, and is interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York City.
Political career
Clark served as president of both Montana state constitutional conventions in 1884 and 1889.
Clark yearned to be a statesman and used his newspaper, the Butte Miner, to push his political ambitions. At this time, Butte was one of the largest cities in the West. He became a hero in Helena, Montana, by campaigning for its selection as the state capital instead of Anaconda. This battle for the placement of the capital had subtle Irish vs. English, Catholic vs. Protestant, and non-Masonic vs. Masonic elements.
Clark's long-standing dream of becoming a
Clark died at the age of 86 in his New York City mansion. His estate at his death was estimated to be worth $300 million, (equivalent to $4.15 billion in 2023)[6], making him one of the wealthiest Americans ever.[7] [8]
In a 1907 essay,
He is as rotten a human being as can be found anywhere under the flag; he is a shame to the American nation, and no one has helped to send him to the Senate who did not know that his proper place was the penitentiary, with a ball and chain on his legs. To my mind he is the most disgusting creature that the republic has produced since Tweed's time.[10]
Family
Clark was married twice. His first marriage was to Katherine Louise "Kate" Stauffer in 1869 until her death in 1893.[11][12]
Together, they had seven children,[13][14] including Charles Walker Clark and William Andrews Clark Jr.
After Kate's death in 1893, William married his second wife, the woman who had been his teenage ward, Anna Eugenia La Chapelle (March 10, 1878, Michigan – October 11, 1963, New York). They claimed to have been married in 1901 in France. Anna was 23 and William was 62.[15] They had two children:[13][14]
- Louise Amelia Andrée Clark (August 13, 1902, Spain – August 6, 1919, Rangeley, Maine)
- Huguette Marcelle Clark (June 9, 1906, Paris, France – May 24, 2011, New York City)[16]
In early 1946, Anna commissioned the
Clark donated 135 acres to the
William Andrews Clark Jr.
Clark's son, William Andrews Clark Jr., founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1919, left his library of rare books and manuscripts to the regents of the University of California, Los Angeles. Today, the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library specializes in English literature and history from 1641 to 1800, materials related to Oscar Wilde and his associates, and fine printing.
Huguette Marcelle Clark
Huguette (pronounced
In February 2010, she became the subject of a series of reports on MSNBC after it was reported that the caretakers of her three residences (including a $24 million estate in Connecticut, a sprawling seaside estate in Santa Barbara, California and her Fifth Avenue apartments valued at $100 million) had not seen her in decades. These articles were the basis for the 2013 bestselling book Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune. by investigative reporter Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr.
Her final residence was
Walter Clark
Clark's nephew, Walter Miller Clark, son of James Ross and Miriam Augusta (Evans) Clark, along with Walter's wife, Virginia (McDowell) Clark, were passengers on the
Some of Mr. Clark's personal items were retrieved in the debris field during an expedition to the site of the sinking in 1994. They were identified by engraved initials. They included shaving soap, toiletry items, cuff links, and gambling chips.[21]
Legacy
Clark's art collection was donated to the
Clark County, Nevada
The city of
Clarkdale, Arizona
Clarkdale, Arizona, named for Clark, was the site of smelting operations for Clark's mines in nearby Jerome, Arizona. The town includes the historic Clark Mansion, which sustained severe fire damage on June 25, 2010. Clarkdale is home to the Verde Canyon Railroad wilderness train ride which follows the historic route that Clark had constructed in 1911 and home to the Copper Art Museum.[22]
See also
- Andree Clark Bird Refuge, Santa Barbara, California
- Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode
- List of historic properties in Clarkdale, Arizona
- Mary Andrews Clark Memorial Home – a landmark Los Angeles home for women built by Clark as a memorial for his mother
Notes
- ^ "Copper King William A. Clark". Copper King Mansion. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
- OCLC 33818143
- ISBN 978-0-345-53453-8.
- ^ a b "S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. November 9, 1903. p. 66. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- ^ Tribune Staff. "125 Montana Newsmakers: The Copper Kings". Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
- Gross Domestic Product deflatorfigures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
- ^ Matt Schudel,
Huguette Clark, copper heiress and recluse, dies at 104, The Washington Post, May 24, 2011; retrieved November 15, 2017.
- ^ Pitts, Stanley Thomas (May 2006). An Unjust Legacy: A Critical Study of the Political Campaigns of William Andrews Clark, 1888-1901 (PDF). University of North Texas: M.S. thesis. p. 205. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
- LCCN 84062878.
- ^ "Senator Clark of Montana." In Mark Twain in Eruption, ed Bernard DeVoto, 1940.
- ^ "Daughter of Connellsville's controversial billionaire dies". The Tribune-Review. May 28, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
- ^ Hopkins, A.D. (February 7, 1999). "William Andrews Clark (1839-1925): Montana Midas". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on November 17, 1999. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
- ^ ISBN 9780345545565. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
- ^ a b "The Family of W. A. Clark" (PDF). Penguin Random House. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
- ^ "At 104, mysterious heiress is alone now - Business - Local business - Huguette Clark mystery - NBC News". NBC News. August 19, 2010.
- ^ Dedman, Bill (May 24, 2011), Huguette Clark, the reclusive copper heiress, dies at 104, MSNBC, archived from the original on January 1, 2012, retrieved May 24, 2011
- ^ "Camp Andree Clark". Archived from the original on May 28, 2011. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
- ISBN 978-0345534521.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ Fanelli, James (September 7, 2010), "Huguette Clark's lawyer fires back at relatives who want him ousted", New York Daily News, retrieved September 8, 2010
- National Public Radio, Margot Adler, June 17, 2014. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Gillan, Jeff (April 10, 2017). "Titanic sank 105 years ago this Saturday, taking a piece of Las Vegas with it".
- ISBN 9780549679448. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
Sources
- Dedman, Bill; Newell, Paul Clark Jr. (2013), Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune, New York: Ballantine Books, ISBN 978-0-345-53452-1
- NBCNews.com: Huguette Clark, the reclusive heiress, and the men managing her money, an NBCNews.com special report
- United States Congress. "William A. Clark (id: C000454)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Hopkins, A.D.; Evans, K.J. (2000), The First 100, Las Vegas: Huntington Press, ISBN 0-929712-67-6
- Mangam, William (1941), The Clarks An American Phenomenon, New York, NY: Silver Bow Press, OCLC 390214