Winfield Scott Stratton
Winfield Scott Stratton | |
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Cripple Creek Mining District boom | |
Spouse | Zeurah Stewart (divorced) |
Relatives | 1 |
Winfield Scott Stratton (July 22, 1848 – September 14, 1902) was an American
Early life
On July 22, 1848, Stratton was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Stratton's parents were Mary and Myron Stratton.[1] Stratton is a descendant from the Windsor, Connecticut line of the Stratton family.[2] Stratton's mother had twelve children; of four boys, he is said to be the only one who lived beyond childhood.[3] In 1860, Mary and Myron had nine children aged from 22 years to six months of age: Diantha, Harriet, Anna, Winfield, Mary, Virginia, Luella, Jesse and Ada. Stratton was the only male child at that time.[4]
Education
Stratton learned carpentry in his father's shipyards.[5] After he moved to Colorado, he studied geology at Colorado College and studied metallurgy at the Colorado School of Mines in 1874.[5]
Career
In August 1872, Stratton worked as a carpenter for $3 a day in Colorado Springs, Colorado area. Stratton joined the Carpenter's Union, and built furniture and homes during the winter, including working on the house of Helen Hunt Jackson and the McAllister House.[1][5][6]
In 1874, he began prospecting for gold and silver in the summers.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/IndependenceMine_Stone347.jpg/220px-IndependenceMine_Stone347.jpg)
Stratton filed a claim for the Independence mine in Cripple Creek, Colorado on July 4, 1891.[5] He used the money from the sale of the Martha Washington mine to work the Independence Mine.[6] He found a gold vein close to the surface worth $3 million in 1893. He earned an average of $1 million each year until 1899,[5] which made him the first millionaire of the Cripple Creek Gold Rush.[1]
In 1899, Stratton sold Independence mine for $11 million.[1][5][7]
Stratton also had an interest in the Portland mine. Stratton invested in real estate in Denver, Colorado.[5]
Philanthropy
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Colorado_Springs_City_Hall_by_David_Shankbone.jpg/220px-Colorado_Springs_City_Hall_by_David_Shankbone.jpg)
He provided the land to build the
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Colorado_Springs_%26_Interurban_Railroad_car_1907_or_1908.jpg/220px-Colorado_Springs_%26_Interurban_Railroad_car_1907_or_1908.jpg)
He bought the streetcar system that became the Colorado Springs and Interurban Railway and spent $2 million improving it so that it had 36 miles of tracks and 56 cars. The line ended in the southwest park of Colorado Springs at Stratton Park, which Stratton donated to the city. The Colorado Springs and Interurban Railway became one of the best streetcar systems in the country.[1]
The Colorado Springs Millionaires played at the city's first professional baseball stadium, which was built by Stratton. It was located at the corner of Cheyenne Boulevard and South Tejon.[1] He donated the money in his estate for the Myron Stratton Home.[5]
Mr. Stratton had done for this city and the Cripple Creek district very much what Mr. Tabor had earlier done for Denver. His wise and public-spirited use of the money have entitled him to a place in the public remembrance which will endure for many years.
— Obituary for Stratton, The Evening Telegraph, Colorado Springs, September 15, 1902[8]
He gave money to prospectors or others in need
Personal life
Stratton lived a simple life in a wooden house on Weber Street after he became wealthy.[5] He did not seem to have long-lasting relationships with women until he had a short marriage with Zeurah Stewart. She became pregnant before their marriage in 1876. Stratton did not believe that the baby was his child and was often angry and jealous. She returned to her family and the marriage ended.[5][3] He had a housekeeper for many years named Eliza, with whom he could be brusque. She was called the "suffering but faithful housekeeper Eliza" in the Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early American West book.[3] He became reclusive and eccentric. He drank and read a great deal, but rarely had guests or went out socially.[11]
Stratton was fond of a quote by William Henry Channing, 19th-century religious thinker and part of the Transcendental movement:[8]
- To live content with small means, to seek elegance rather than
- luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not
- respectable, to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;
- to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart;
- to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry
- never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious,
- grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
Stratton lived at 115 N. Weber St. in Colorado Springs. He had failing health due to cirrhosis of the liver and diabetes.[8] By the time he was 43, he was tall, thin and frail with silky white hair.[3] His personal physician Dr. D.H. Rice traveled with him on long journeys because of his poor health. He died at his home on September 14, 1902, at 54 years of age. His body was visited by more than 8,600 people at the Mining Exchange Building the day before he was buried in southeastern Colorado Springs at Evergreen Cemetery.[8]
When he died, most of his estate went towards the creation and maintenance of the Myron Stratton Home. He did, though leave $50,000 each to his son, Harry Stratton of Toulon, Illinois and other relatives.[12][a]
Legacy
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Stratton_statue_by_Walker.jpg/188px-Stratton_statue_by_Walker.jpg)
Stratton left the bulk of his estate for the establishment of the Myron Stratton Home, for "the aged poor and dependent children." It is named for his father Myron Stratton.[13]
A bronze statue of Stratton by Nellie Walker was placed on the grounds of his estate in 1909.[b]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Stratton-statue2.jpg/188px-Stratton-statue2.jpg)
Another casting of Walker's statue of Stratton stands in downtown Colorado Springs.
Stratton was inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame.[14]
In 1967, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.[15]
Places named after Stratton
- The town of Stratton, Colorado, on the state's eastern plains.
- Stratton Park, Colorado Springs.
- Stratton Hall at Colorado School of Mines, completed in 1904, was named after Stratton, who gave the school its first philanthropic gift of $25,000. He had been appointed as a CSM trustee in 1899 and was elected president of the board in 1901.[16]
- Stratton Spring; a mineral spring drilled to a depth of 283 feet completed February 21, 1936 at the loop where the trolleys turned around at 955 Manitou Avenue in Manitou Springs, Colorado.
- Winfield Scott Stratton Post Office in Colorado Springs; named by an act of Congress in 1995; Stratton had sold the land the post office was built on to the federal government at a fraction of its value with the understanding that it would be used for the post office.
- Stratton Elementary School in Colorado Springs.
- Three connected streets in Colorado Springs, named Winfield, Scott, and Stratton streets.
Popular culture
The
Notes
- ^ There were conditions for the bequest to his son. If he contests the will, he gets nothing. If he dies, his heirs get nothing. He would not get the money until he signed a waiver that he would not contest the will.[12]
- ^ The sculptor of the work ended up living at the Myron Stratton Home for the last years of her life.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Carpenter, Lisa (March 29, 2009). "Stratton, a reluctant millionaire, left his mark on Colorado Springs". gazette.com. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
- ^ Stratton, Harriet Russell. A Book of Strattons: A Collection of the Records of the Descendants of the Early Colonial Strattons in America from the Fifth Generation to the Present Day. New York: Frederick H. Hitchcock, Genealogical Publishers, 1918. Vol. II, Pp. 321 – 340.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87004-043-6.
- ^ "Winfield Stratton, age 11, Jeffersonville, Indiana, son of Myron and Mary Stratton", 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Winfield Scott Stratton 1848 - 1902" (PDF). Pikes Peak Library District. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ^ a b c "The Picturesque Colorado Springs Millionaire Thought To Be Ill Beyond Recovery". Telluride Journal — Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. September 11, 1902. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-415-19009-1. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Marold, Richard (September 17, 2019). "Springs Experience: The death of Winfield Scott Stratton". Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-4766-6345-6.
- ISBN 978-0-8061-5353-7.
- ISBN 978-1-60732-420-1.
- ^ a b "Vast Wealth with Erect and Endow Home for the Poor and Helpless". The Weekly Gazette at Newspapers.com. September 25, 1902. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ^ Stratton, Harriet Russell. A Book of Strattons: A Collection of the Records of the Descendants of the Early Colonial Strattons in America from the Fifth Generation to the Present Day. New York: Frederick H. Hitchcock, Genealogical Publishers, 1918. Vol. II, Pp. 325 – 326.
- ^ "Inductee Database". mininghalloffame.org. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ^ "Hall of Great Westerners". National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- ^ "Giving Societies". Colorado School of Mines. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
- ^ "Sixty-seven Miles of Gold on Death Valley Days". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
Further reading
- McKenna, Clara Anne (1998). A Golden Legacy: Winfield Scott Stratton and the Myron Stratton Home, 1848-1998. Colorado Springs: Myron Stratton Home. OCLC 40555637.
- OCLC 32174323.
- Strickler, David P (1964) [1963]. The Fight for the Stratton Millions. Colorado Springs: J.J. Lipsey, Western Books. OCLC 4575871.
- Waters, Frank (1972) [1937]. Midas of the Rockies (trade paperback) (reprint ed.). Chicago: Sage Books. OCLC 357334.
External links
- Mining Hall of Fame bio
- ColoradoVacation Biography
- Myron Stratton Home Website
- Winfield Scott Stratton at Find a Grave
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