| Alfred Irénée du Pont |
|
| Born |
May 12, 1864(1864-05-12)
Brandywine Valley, Delaware, United States |
| Died |
April 28, 1935 (aged 70)
Jacksonville, Florida, United States |
| Nationality |
American |
| Education |
Phillips Academy |
| Alma mater |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Employer |
DuPont, Nemours Trading Corporation |
| Home town |
Wilmington, Delaware |
| Net worth |
$56 million (value of estate at death) |
| Known for |
Industrialist, financier, philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) |
Bessie du Pont (neé Gardner) (1887-1906; divorce)
Mary (Alica) Heyward Bradford (1907-1920; her death)
Jessie Ball du Pont (1921-1935; his death) |
|
|
This article contains close paraphrasing of one or more non-free copyrighted sources. Ideas in this article should be expressed in an original manner. See the talk page for details. (March 2009) |
Alfred Irénée du Pont (May 12, 1864 – April 28, 1935) was an American industrialist, financier and philanthropist.
Early years
Alfred was born in the Brandywine Valley region of Delaware; the middle child and first male of five children of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, II and his mother, Charlotte Shepard Henderson. His father was a partner in the family gunpowder business founded by Alfred's grandfather and Alfred often accompanied his father on trips to the factory. His childhood was happy until, at age 13, both parents became ill and died within a month of each other. When the children learned that their relatives planned to split them up and sell Swamp Hall, the family home, the siblings refused. They took up weapons: an axe, a rolling pin, an ancient pistol and a shotgun. The relatives eventually agreed not to sell the home, but all the kids were sent to boarding school. Alfred attended Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts until age 18, when he enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had an exceptional mechanical aptitude and studied mathematics, chemistry, shopwork and German. Alfred was also a champion boxer. Both Alfred and his cousin, Coleman, who began at MIT one year ahead of Alfred, became members of the Sigma Chi fraternity and frequented evening events in Boston.
Family business
In 1884 he went to work at the family's gunpowder manufacturing plant in the Brandywine mills. Though he started in a low position, he eventually became known, according to the Alfred I. du Pont Foundation, as "one of the nation's top powder men."[1] Most of the over 200 patents he registered were related to this work.
Alfred married Bessie Gardner (1864-1949) in 1887, and she was the mother of his first four children. He was made a partner in the company at age 25 and traveled to Europe at the request of the U.S. Army's Chief of Ordnance to acquire the patent rights to make smokeless powder. A few years later, he was promoted to assistant superintendent of the Hagley and Lower Yards. The company was reorganized in 1899 and renamed, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. The existing partners became directors and Eugene du Pont, senior partner, became president.[2]
Saving the family business
In 1902, upon the death Eugene du Pont, the three senior partners considered selling the company to competitor Laflin & Rand.[2] Alfred proposed that he become chairman, but the other directors considered him too young (at 38) and inexperienced. With the looming threat of the DuPont business being sold, Alfred enlisted the aid of his cousins T. Coleman du Pont and Pierre S. du Pont. They had no money, but the cousins were able to convince other family members to exchange their company shares for a promissory note instead of cash, plus shares in the reorganized company.
According to the Trust organization, the company was purchased "for $15.4 million—$12 million in notes and 33,000 shares of the reorganized DuPont", with the partners retaining $8.6 million worth of shares (86,400).[3] The actual amount of money which the partners were required to pay was $2,100, at $700 each for lawyers' fees.
Coleman became president of the new E.I. du Pont de Nemours Company and Pierre was named Treasurer and Executive Vice President. Alfred served as Vice President for operations and took over the black powder manufacture and sat on the Executive Committee.
The trio envisioned changing the business from an explosives manufacturer into a diverse chemical company with new products that included paints, plastics and dyes. Alfred helped create the extensive research program needed to achieve that goal.
Divorce and remarriage
Alfred divorced his first wife, Bessie, in 1906 and the following year, married Mary (Alica) Heyward Bradford (1875-1920), Alfred's second cousin and a divorcée with one child whose husband worked at the DuPont factory. Most of the du Pont family considered his conduct scandalous, and he fell out of favor. Alfred fathered three children with Alicia; only one survived infancy.
Alfred ignored the criticism and gave his second wife a new home built on 300 acres (1.2 km2) in Wilmington, Delaware. Construction began in early 1910 and was completed in 1911. The Nemours Mansion and Gardens is a five story, 77-room, 47,000 sq ft (4,400 m2) structure that was designed by renowned architects, Carrère and Hastings, who also designed the New York Public Library, New York City's Frick Mansion, and Whitehall, the Henry Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Florida. The building looks like a French château and the architectural style is Louis XVI. The estate was named after the French town affiliated with his ancestor, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours.
Music
Alfred was an accomplished and passionate violinist and composer. Using friends and his factory workers, he formed an orchestra that was named the Tankopanicum Musical Club. According to the du Pont Trust, Alfred "published nine pieces of music [during his lifetime], eight marches and one gavotte, a French peasant dance, which was performed at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington in 1907."[4] John Philip Sousa, who was a friend, performed one of his marches.[4]
DuPont Securities Company
Within a few years of the buyout by the cousins, Coleman began to experience health problems, and his absences from work became more frequent and of a longer duration. Pierre became the de facto president, taking over most of Coleman's responsibilities. Pierre and Coleman wanted the company to buy Coleman's shares and redistribute them to some of the most highly valued executives outside the family,[citation needed] but Alfred opposed more ownership by non-family. Pierre, Coleman and several directors from outside the company formed the DuPont Securities Company to accomplish their goal from the outside.
Finally, in 1915, Coleman resigned as DuPont's president due to declining health, and Pierre purchased Coleman's shares through the securities company.[2] Alfred thought Coleman's shares should have been sold back to the company and joined a lawsuit with other family members, but failed to gain support from the DuPont shareholders. Two years later, a judge ruled that the sale to DuPont Securities was not improper and dismissed the legal action.
Alfred's departure
It is unclear whether he was forced to resign or did so voluntarily, but Alfred, still the company's second largest stockholder, left E.I. du Pont de Nemours Company in 1917 and, according to the du Pont Trust "established an investment firm Nemours Trading Corporation, and an import-export business in New York."[5] He also acquired a majority interest in the Delaware Trust Company.[6]
Still upset over leaving his family's company after 33 years, Alfred entered politics, mostly to impede the political ambitions of his cousin, Pierre.[citation needed] He dismantled the old DuPont machine that had dominated Delaware politics for years, and although he never held public office himself, he was largely responsible for bringing progressive reforms to Delaware, including an old-age pension plan effective statewide,[7] which he himself funded for a time.[5]
Widowed and third marriage
In January, 1920, Alfred's wife, Alicia died of a heart attack at the age of 45. Alfred received a letter from Jessie Ball later in 1920, with whom he had been corresponding since their meeting in 1898.[8] Jessie was an assistant principal at an elementary school in San Diego, California. Her father had died in 1917 and her mother died about the time Alfred's wife died.
In early 1921, Alfred boarded a train for the West coast. After a brief courtship, Jessie resigned from her position and they were quietly married by an Episcopal clergyman on January 22, 1921. They returned to the East coast and settled into Nemours. She was 37 and he was 57, but they had no children.[9][10] However, Jessie accepted Denise, a 6-year old child from Alfred's second marriage, as her own. Jessie was a great assistance to him in his work.[8]
Brother-in-law
Edward Ball was Jessie Ball's younger brother. He and Alfred hit it off and Edward began working for his brother-in-law in 1923 at the lofty salary of $5,000 a year, and moved to Delaware where he was publicly named manager of the Clean Food Products Company. Privately, he was Alfred's confidential business partner and became a shrewd financier and caretaker of the du Pont de Nemours estate fortune.[11]
Relocation
Alfred and Jessie made several trips to Florida on their motor yacht, Nenemoosha, and were contemplating a move south, when Alfred's cousin Pierre was named Tax Commissioner of Delaware in 1925. Alfred despised his cousin and could not bear the thought of Pierre sticking his nose in Alfred's business, so they decided to relocate. Alfred recalled his mother's stories about Jacksonville's beaches, alligators, and a huge river that flowed North to the Atlantic Ocean. The couple moved to Jacksonville, Florida in 1926, where they established permanent residency. In 1927, Alfred wrote:
"We are now in Florida to live and work. We expect to spend the balance of our days here. We have all the money necessary for any reasonable effort to help Florida grow and prosper. Our business undertakings should be sound, but our primary object should not be the making of money. Through helpful works, let us build up good in this state and make it a better place in which to live. In my last years, I would much rather have the people of Florida say that I helped them and their state than to double the money I now have."[6]
Epping Forest
Alfred purchased 58 acres (230,000 m2) of land on the St. John's River and built a 25-room mansion and landscaped grounds, as well as a berth for their motor yacht. It was small compared to Nemours, but adequate for their needs. Jessie named the estate, Epping Forest after the Virginia plantation of Mary Ball Washington, George Washington's mother and Jessie's relative.[6] Alfred designed the formal English gardens while Jessie selected the furnishings.
New business
Alfred opened offices in Jacksonville and formed Almours Securities, Inc., transferring everything he owned to it with the exception of Nemours. His assets were reported to total $34 million. Edward also moved to Jacksonville, and helped Alfred develop banking and real estate interests in the state. Florida suffered a real estate bust in 1927 and land values, particularly in South Florida, plummeted. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Edward purchased huge tracts of land in Florida's panhandle, often for "dollars an acre". They purchased shares in several banks before focusing their attention on Florida National Bank (FNB) of Jacksonville. A large interest was acquired in 1927, but they were unable to gain control until the Great Depression struck in 1929. The FNB stayed solvent throughout the 1930s because Alfred put $15 million of his own money into the institution to cover Bank runs.[12] During the early 1930s, six other Florida National Banks were opened throughout Florida, including Lakeland and Bartow; Jessie was named a director of the bank.
Death and legacy
When Alfred died in 1935 in Jacksonville, Florida at age 70,[13] his estate was valued at over $56 million, which, after estate taxes of $30 million, left $26 million.
The vast majority of his fortune was left in testamentary trust with Jessie named as the principal trustee with complete discretion regarding use of any money, but in reality, she deferred business decisions to her brother, who took control of the assets, which included the large Florida landholdings of the St. Joe Company and industrial interests, including the Florida East Coast Railway.[14] Jessie preferred to handle the philanthropic activities of the trust while Edward concentrated on making money. [15] The fortune did not become a charitable trust until Jessie's death in 1970, which explains why $30 million in estate taxes were paid in 1935. The Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust's charitable beneficiary is the Nemours Foundation, which runs children's medical facilities in Delaware and Florida.
The trust was valued at $72.5 million in 1939; $2 billion in 1981; $4.5 billion in 2006.[16]
Both Nemours and Epping Forest have been restored to their original splendor. A public school in Jacksonville, Florida is named after him. The Alfred I. duPont Middle School is located not far from his Epping Forest estate.
Alfred du Pont was designated a Great Floridian by the Florida Department of State in the Great Floridians 2000 Program. A plaque attesting to the honor is located at the entry gate to the Epping Forest estate in Jacksonville.[12]
See also
References
- ^ "Seeing Possibilities: A History of the Alfred I. du Pont Trust". Alfred I. du Pont Trust. p. 7. http://www.alfrediduponttrust.org/history/docs/dupont_broch.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
- ^ a b c DuPont Company website: Heritage-Alfred I. du Pont
- ^ Seeing Possibilities, 8.
- ^ a b Seeing Possibilities, 4.
- ^ a b Seeing Possibilities, 10.
- ^ a b c The Alfred I. du Pont Testimentary Trust website: Alfred du Pont biography
- ^ Answers.com: US History Companion-Du Pont, Alfred I.
- ^ a b History Associates Incorporated. "Jessie Ball du Pont papers". http://library.wlu.edu/specialcollections/jessiebd.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
- ^ "Mrs. Alfred du Pont is Dead.". New York Times. 1970-09-27, Sunday. "Mrs. Jessie D. Ball du Pont, third wife of Alfred I. du Pont, died today at her family estate near here at the age of 86."
- ^ "Powder Manufacturer's Wedding to Member of Old Virginia Family Is His Third.". New York Times. January 23, 1921, Sunday. "A wedding of wide interest was celebrated this morning in Los Angeles, when Alfred I. du Pont of the Famous Du Pont-de Nemours Powder Company and whose fortune is estimated at many millions."
- ^ Florida State University: Coastal Laboratory Tidings-Spring, 2000
- ^ a b Florida Department of State: Great Floridians 2000 Program-Jacksonville
- ^ "Alfred I. du Pont Dies in Florida; End Comes Suddenly to the Founder and Former Head of Explosives Company.". New York Times. April 29, 1935.
- ^ University of Florida Smathers Libraries: Special and Area Studies Collections-Edward Ball Papers
- ^ "Ed Ball at 91: Embattled, Implacable; The Millionaire Du Pont Trustee Faces Law Suits". New York Times. 1979-03-11, Sunday. ""I suppose some people might call me tight with a dollar," Edward Ball was saying the other day as the late winter sun cut through the blinds on his office windows and fell in warm rails on a lush oriental rug beneath his feet."
- ^ Alfred du Pont Trust: Financial History
External links
