View source for Adolphus C. Bartlett

{{Short description|American businessman (1844–1922)}}
{{Infobox person
| name             = Adolphus C. Bartlett
| image            = Adolphus Clay Bartlett.jpg
| caption          = Bartlett ca. 1900
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1844|06|22}}
| birth_place      = {{nowrap|[[Stratford, New York]], U.S.}}
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1922|6|1|1844|6|22}}
| death_place      = {{nowrap|[[Pasadena, California]], U.S.}}
| occupation       = [[Business magnate]], [[philanthropist]]
| resting_place    = [[Oak Woods Cemetery]]
| spouse           = {{Plainlist |
* {{marriage|[[Mary Pitkin Bartlett|Mary Pitkin]]|August 27, 1867|December 19, 1890|reason=died}}
* {{marriage|[[Abbey Hitchcock Bartlett|Abbey Hitchcock]]|June 13, 1893}}
}}
| children         = [[Maie Bartlett Heard]] (b.June 11, 1868)<br>[[Frederic Clay Bartlett]] (b.June 1, 1873)<br>[[Bartlett Gymnasium|Frank Dickinson Bartlett]] (b.1880)<br>[[Florence Dibell Bartlett]] (b.1881)<br>[[Eleanor Collamore Bartlett]] (b.	July 17, 1894)
| website          =
| signature        =
}}
'''Adolphus Clay Bartlett''' (June 22, 1844 – June 1, 1922) was an American [[Business magnate|industrialist]], the president of [[True Value#History|Hibbard Spencer Bartlett & Company]], the company that originated the label ''True Value''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2700.html |title=Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co |website=Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org |date= |accessdate=2016-01-12}}</ref>
Bartlett was a pioneer [[Household hardware|hardware]] [[merchant]] and business leader in [[Chicago]]. Besides being the president of Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Company, he was an important donor to the [[Art Institute of Chicago]], the [[Chicago Historical Society]] and the [[University of Chicago]]. He served on several powerful boards in the city and contributed to the original [[Parliament of the World's Religions]], which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. Bartlett was a director of the [[First Chicago Bank|First National Bank]], [[RSA Insurance Group#History|Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company]], a member of the [[Chicago Board of Education]], trustee of [[Beloit College]], University of Chicago, president of the Home for the Friendless, vice-president of the [[Old People's Home (Chicago)|Old People's Home]], and a director of the Art Institute.<ref>Hardware Dealers' Magazine, Volume 58, by D.T. Mallett, published 1922</ref>
==Early life==
Bartlett was born in [[Stratford, New York]] in 1844 to parents Aaron Bartlett and Delia Dibeli Bartlett.<ref>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=eX0QOpl7iBQC |title=Who's who in America |volume=5|first1=John William |last1=Leonard |first2=Albert Nelson |last2=Marquis |date=1908}}</ref>  When he was ten years old his father died and his mother relocated to [[Salisbury, Herkimer County, New York|Salisbury Center, New York]] where he attended school until he was sixteen years old. He completed his education by attending [[Danville Community College|Danville Institute]] for one year and [[Clinton Liberal Institute]] for an additional two. After finishing school, Bartlett worked one winter as a school teacher and one summer as a clerk in a country store.
==Chicago==
===Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co.===
In 1863, at the age of nineteen, Bartlett moved to [[Chicago]] and took the position of office boy for Tuttle, Hibbard & Company, a [[wholesale]] hardware business. After earning a meager [[wage]] while working tenaciously for three years, he worked his way into a profit sharing, management position within the company. Bartlett was known for working more hours than any other employee, arriving first and leaving last each day. He also developed an organized sales force and handled every order that the company received, keeping a meticulous record in a ledger complete with all correspondence with buyers.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rW5t4MIgx40C Antique Electric Waffle Irons 1900-1960: A History of the Appliance Industry in 20th Century America by William George, Trafford Publishing, 2003 p. 84]</ref>  By 1869, after six years of working within the company, Bartlett was made [[general partner]].<ref>[http://www.rpwrhs.org/w/index.php?title=Bartlett,_Adolphus_Clay Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society HistoryWiki]</ref>
During his time as partner, the [[Great Chicago Fire]] occurred, nearly destroying the city as well as the company, however; due to the high demand for hardware during the rebuilding of the city, the business, ironically, prospered.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fmFJAQAAMAAJ Book-keeper (Detroit, Mich. : 1908), Volume 24, Business Man's Publishing Company, 1910, p. 493]</ref>  It was Bartlett's persuasive letter writing style which convinced suppliers to maintain their relationship with the company during the reconstruction. After fully recovering, the company continued to grow and in 1877 began to offer [[profit sharing]] to all members of the firm, increasing its overall value.
In 1882, the business incorporated under the name of Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Company and Bartlett was made secretary of the company. Following the death of [[Franklin Fayette Spencer]] in 1890, Bartlett was named vice-president. On January 1, 1904, after the death of [[William Gold Hibbard]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=O8lEAQAAMAAJ Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois: Biographical, Memorial, Illustrative, Volume 2 by Newton Bateman, Paul Selby, Josiah Seymour Currey, pub. 1920, p. 685]</ref> Bartlett was named president of the company. Under his leadership the company saw the completion of a new, fireproof, headquarters next to the [[Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Bridge|State Street Bridge]].
In 1914, after 50 years in the company, at the age of 70, Bartlett became the chairman of the board of directors. By taking on this role within the company, Bartlett achieved the ultimate "[[rags to riches]]" scenario, from sweeping floors to managing a worldwide corporation.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/seventyfiveyears00kell/seventyfiveyears00kell_djvu.txt "Seventy-five years of Hibbard Hardware; the story of Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co." by Hiibard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co., pub. 1930]</ref>
===Personal life===
[[File:Adolphus Bartlett Residence 2720 Prairie Ave Chicago.jpg|thumb|upright|The Adolphus Clay Bartlett home. 2720 [[Prairie Avenue]], Chicago, Illinois]]
The son of a [[sawmill]] operator turned school teacher, Bartlett was an [[only child]] and learned to appreciate his [[prosperity]] as he grew older. He married Mary Pitkin on August 27, 1867, together they had four children, [[Maie Bartlett Heard]], [[Frederic Clay Bartlett]], Frank Dickinson Bartlett, and [[Florence Dibell Bartlett]]. The family set up home at 2720 [[Prairie Avenue]] in Chicago.<ref name="chicagotribune1900">{{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1900/09/09/page/38/article/gallery-of-local-celebrities |title=September 9, 1900 - GALLERY OF LOCAL CELEBRITIES |website=Archives.chicagotribune.com |date=1900-09-09 |accessdate=2016-01-14}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=gLVwGNWDgsIC Chicago's Historic Prairie Avenue by William H. Tyre, Arcadia Pub. 2008, p. 63]</ref>
Bartlett's wife died in 1890, he remarried in June 1893 to Abbey Little Hitchcock of [[Toledo, Ohio]]. Together they had one child, [[Eleanor Collamore Bartlett]].   Hitchcock, born in 1862, was eighteen years younger than her husband as well and an 1885 graduate of the [[University of Michigan]]. She died in 1938 at the age of 75 in [[Paris, France]]. Bartlett and both of his wives are [[interred]] in [[Oak Woods Cemetery]], Chicago.<ref>Schoolmasters Club of Michigan, by University of Michigan, April 25–27, 1940 p.5</ref>  During his marriage to Abbey, Bartlett had [[Howard Van Doren Shaw]] secretly construct a summer home in [[Lake Geneva, Wisconsin]].<ref>[http://www.gazettextra.com/article/20130802/WC/130809938 Gazettextra.com by Ginny Hall, August 2, 2013]</ref><ref>[https://atthelakemagazine.com/shaw-architect-timeless-grace/ AtTheLakeMagazine.com by Anne Morrissy Feb. 28, 2018]</ref>  The home was known as ''[[The House in the Woods (Lake Geneva, WI)|The House in the Woods]]'', its construction began in 1905 and was completed in 1909. The June 1909 ''[[Ladies Home Journal]]'' featured the house and called it one of the most beautiful country houses in the nation.<ref>[http://www.gazettextra.com/20140606/get_a_glimpse_of_this_house_in_the_woods_from_lake_path Gazettextra.com by Ginny Hall, June 6, 2014]</ref>
[[File:The House in the Woods.jpg|thumb|alt=The House in the Woods, August 2018|This home was constructed for Adolphus C. Bartlett, the president of the [[Hibbard Spencer Bartlett & Company]], the company that originated the label True Value. Its architect was [[Howard Van Doren Shaw]].]]
[[File:Bartlett, Eleanor, Miss, with Buzzer the cat, portrait photograph.jpg|thumb|left|Eleanor Bartlett, portrait photograph]]
Bartlett's children demonstrated success in their lives, Maie married [[Dwight B. Heard]] on August 10, 1893. The next year the couple moved to [[Phoenix, Arizona]] and begin to collect [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] artifacts. Together they founded the [[Heard Museum]] in 1929 in order to house their personal collection of art. Much of the archaeological material in the Heards' collection came from La Ciudad Indian ruin, which they purchased in 1926. Frederic attended preparatory schools such as [[St. Paul's School (New Hampshire)|St. Paul's]] in [[Concord, New Hampshire]], and the Harvard School for Boys in Chicago, however; he chose not to go to college. Instead, at the age of nineteen, he left Chicago to study art in Europe. Chicago's [[World's Columbian Exposition]] of 1893 was a major inspiration for this move. In 1894, he became among the few Americans admitted to the [[Academy of Fine Arts, Munich|Royal Academy]] in [[Munich]]. Eventually, Frederic amassed a collection of [[Post-Impressionist]] and [[modernist]] paintings that were exhibited in several galleries. Florence Dibell Bartlett founded the [[Museum of International Folk Art]] in [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]] and [[Eleanor Collamore Bartlett]] married [[Mobile Alabama]] physician, Dr. William Perdue on September 5, 1916.
Frank Dickinson Bartlett died of [[appendicitis]] while traveling in [[Munich]], [[Bavaria]], July 15, 1900, at the age of twenty.<ref>[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1900/9/28/obituary-pfrank-dickinson-bartlett-of-the/ The Harvard Crimson, September 28, 1900]</ref>  As a memorial to his son, Adolphus constructed a [[Bartlett Gymnasium|gymnasium]] on the campus of the [[University of Chicago]], completed in 1904. Frank would have graduated from [[Harvard University]] in 1902, while preparing for college at the Douglas and Manuel Training Schools in Chicago and at Stone's School in Boston.
==Community service and philanthropy==
During his time in Chicago, Bartlett had several civic appointments as well as numerous philanthropic endeavors to better the city. He was appointed a member of the [[Chicago Board of Education]] in 1878. He was a member of the [[Union League Club of Chicago|Chicago Union League]], the [[Quadrangle Club (University of Chicago)|Quadrangle Club]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FDhMAQAAIAAJ Men of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries by John William Leonard, pub. 1908 L.R. Hamersly & Co., p. 158]</ref> as well as the Caxton and [[Chicago Literary Club]]s. Bartlett was appointed to the board of trustees during the inaugural meeting for the incorporation of [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra|The Orchestral Association]] which was held at the [[Chicago Club]] on December 17, 1890.<ref>[https://csoarchives.wordpress.com/tag/adolphus-clay-bartlett/ Chicago Symphony Orchestra - csoarchives.wordpress.com]</ref>
Bartlett was a trustee on two university boards, [[Beloit College]], in [[Beloit, Wisconsin]] and [[The University of Chicago]], where he was chairman of the Committee on Finance and Investment, and vice-chairman of Instruction and Equipment. It was in this position that he produced his most philanthropic endeavor, the funding of [[Bartlett Gymnasium|The Frank Dickinson Bartlett Gymnasium]]. The gym was built at a cost of $150,000 and continues to be utilized as a campus dining hall and the Center for Leadership and Involvement.
== References ==
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[[Category:1844 births]]
[[Category:1922 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Fulton County, New York]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Chicago]]
[[Category:People from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Members of the Chicago Board of Education]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]