Clarence Howard Clark
Encyclopedia
Clarence Howard Clark, Sr. (April 19, 1833 – 1906) was an influential banker, land owner, and developer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. In 1916, ten years after his death, the New York Times called him one of the city's "most prominent men of his day."
, on April 19, 1833, to Sarah Crawford Dodge and Enoch White Clark
. The family moved to Boston that same year, where Enoch, a financier, incurred substantial debts. They then moved to Philadelphia in January 1837, where Enoch and his brother-in-law, Edward Dodge, founded the banking firm E. W. Clark & Co. later that year.
That firm did well, earning enough to pay off the debts in seven years, then to propel the Clarks to a place among the city's wealthiest families. The firm opened branches in New York, St. Louis, and New Orleans, and made considerable money performing domestic exchanges in the wake of the 1836 revocation of the charter of the Second Bank of the United States
and the Panic of 1837
. The elder Clark died in 1856 of complications of nicotine poisoning. The firm went on to control many public utility and railroad properties.
In 1854, Clarence Clark joined the family firm. The firm was dissolved on December 31, 1857, and reformed the following day with these partners: Clark, his older brother Edward White Clark
, Frederick J. Kimball
, and H. H. Wainwright.
Clark was instrumental in developing West Philadelphia
, which was transformed over the 19th century from an area of farmland and light industry to a streetcar suburb
. Clark bought land from various sellers, including Nathaniel Browne, a lawyer and landowner who had developed West Philly's first residential blocks in the 1850s. Among his partners in development were William S. Kimball and a man named McKlosky. At one point, he owned "the ground from 42nd to 43rd Street, Walnut to Pine".
He moved to West Philly in the early 1860s, and built a mansion named Chestnutwold at 4200 Locust Street. It occupied a full city block on the southwest corner of 42nd Street, with parklike grounds open to the public and a private art gallery. He built up a large library, and had it meticulously catalogued in two volumes.
His was not the only millionaire's house set among what one historian called a "crazy quilt of farms and estates, crisscrossed by free-running creeks"; the Drexels
owned several houses at 39th and Locust and the Potts family had a brick mansion at 3905 Spruce.
As a developer, Clark took the rowhouse form that was becoming the standard dwelling and altered it by moving the buildings some 20 feet back from the street on their lots. His first example is the 4000 block of Locust Street.
In 1862, Clark helped found the Union League
of Philadelphia, a patriotic society that survives today as a city club.
By the end of the American Civil War
, Clark was president of the chartered First National Bank
. In 1867, he had John McArthur design a new building for this bank.
In 1876, Clark helped found the Centennial National Bank
, chartered on January 19 to be the “financial agent of the board at the Centennial Exhibition, receiving and accounting for daily receipts, changing foreign moneys into current funds, etc.", according to a January 22 piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The bank commissioned architect Frank Furness
to design its headquarters building
, which opened in April on the southeast corner of Market Street
and 32nd Street, across from the Pennsylvania Railroad
station. A branch office operated during the Centennial on the fairgrounds. Among other activities, the bank financed various West Philly development efforts.
In 1881, Clark helped E.W. Clark and Co. acquire the 11-year-old Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad, renaming it the Norfolk & Western Railway and taking a seat on the board of directors.
He was an active Unitarian
, 14th president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
, and a member of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania
.
He donated several acres of land that became West Philadelphia's Clark Park
, and land for the Walnut Street West branch of the Philadelphia Free Library.
Clark died on March 6, 1906.
; Amie died in 1870 during childbirth. In 1873, he married Marie Motley Davis and they had a son, Charles.
Clarence Jr. followed his father into his grandfather's business, hiring on as a clerk with E.W. Clark & Co. in 1879 and becoming a partner in 1885. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange in 1888 and served for 10 years as president of the Centennial National Bank. Clark Jr. built his own West Philly mansion near his father's house, at 4220 Spruce Street, on the southwest corner of 42nd Street.
He died of "a stroke of apoplexy" on January 10, 1916, at the Pineland Country Club
in Mullins, South Carolina
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. In 1916, ten years after his death, the New York Times called him one of the city's "most prominent men of his day."
Biography
Clark was born in Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, on April 19, 1833, to Sarah Crawford Dodge and Enoch White Clark
Enoch White Clark
Enoch White Clark was the founder of E. W. Clark & Co., a prominent financial firm based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that helped the U.S. government finance the Mexican–American War...
. The family moved to Boston that same year, where Enoch, a financier, incurred substantial debts. They then moved to Philadelphia in January 1837, where Enoch and his brother-in-law, Edward Dodge, founded the banking firm E. W. Clark & Co. later that year.
That firm did well, earning enough to pay off the debts in seven years, then to propel the Clarks to a place among the city's wealthiest families. The firm opened branches in New York, St. Louis, and New Orleans, and made considerable money performing domestic exchanges in the wake of the 1836 revocation of the charter of the Second Bank of the United States
Second Bank of the United States
The Second Bank of the United States was chartered in 1816, five years after the First Bank of the United States lost its own charter. The Second Bank of the United States was initially headquartered in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, the same as the First Bank, and had branches throughout the...
and the Panic of 1837
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis or market correction in the United States built on a speculative fever. The end of the Second Bank of the United States had produced a period of runaway inflation, but on May 10, 1837 in New York City, every bank began to accept payment only in specie ,...
. The elder Clark died in 1856 of complications of nicotine poisoning. The firm went on to control many public utility and railroad properties.
In 1854, Clarence Clark joined the family firm. The firm was dissolved on December 31, 1857, and reformed the following day with these partners: Clark, his older brother Edward White Clark
Edward White Clark
Edward White Clark was the head of E. W. Clark & Company, a prominent financial firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Biography:...
, Frederick J. Kimball
Frederick J. Kimball
Frederick James Kimball was a civil engineer. He was an early president of the Norfolk and Western Railway and helped develop the Pocahontas coalfields in Virginia and West Virginia....
, and H. H. Wainwright.
Clark was instrumental in developing West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though there is no official definition of its boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Line Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the southwest, and...
, which was transformed over the 19th century from an area of farmland and light industry to a streetcar suburb
Streetcar suburb
A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Early suburbs were served by horsecars, but by the late 19th century cable cars and electric streetcars, or trams, were used, allowing...
. Clark bought land from various sellers, including Nathaniel Browne, a lawyer and landowner who had developed West Philly's first residential blocks in the 1850s. Among his partners in development were William S. Kimball and a man named McKlosky. At one point, he owned "the ground from 42nd to 43rd Street, Walnut to Pine".
He moved to West Philly in the early 1860s, and built a mansion named Chestnutwold at 4200 Locust Street. It occupied a full city block on the southwest corner of 42nd Street, with parklike grounds open to the public and a private art gallery. He built up a large library, and had it meticulously catalogued in two volumes.
His was not the only millionaire's house set among what one historian called a "crazy quilt of farms and estates, crisscrossed by free-running creeks"; the Drexels
Francis Anthony Drexel
Francis Anthony Drexel was a Philadelphia banker.-Biography:He was born on June 20, 1824 to Francis Martin Drexel. He had two brothers, Anthony Joseph Drexel and Joseph William Drexel.He married Hannah J...
owned several houses at 39th and Locust and the Potts family had a brick mansion at 3905 Spruce.
As a developer, Clark took the rowhouse form that was becoming the standard dwelling and altered it by moving the buildings some 20 feet back from the street on their lots. His first example is the 4000 block of Locust Street.
In 1862, Clark helped found the Union League
Union League
A Union League is one of a number of organizations established starting in 1862, during the American Civil War to promote loyalty to the Union and the policies of Abraham Lincoln. They were also known as Loyal Leagues. They comprised upper middle class men who supported efforts such as the United...
of Philadelphia, a patriotic society that survives today as a city club.
By the end of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Clark was president of the chartered First National Bank
First Bank of the United States
The First Bank of the United States is a National Historic Landmark located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania within Independence National Historical Park.-Banking History:...
. In 1867, he had John McArthur design a new building for this bank.
In 1876, Clark helped found the Centennial National Bank
Centennial National Bank
-History:The bank was chartered on January 19, 1876 to finance the Centennial Exposition.The bank's headquarters building, designed by noted Philadelphia architect Frank Furness, was completed in April 1876. The building's interior was modified in 1893, and again in 1899, when Philadelphia...
, chartered on January 19 to be the “financial agent of the board at the Centennial Exhibition, receiving and accounting for daily receipts, changing foreign moneys into current funds, etc.", according to a January 22 piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The bank commissioned architect Frank Furness
Frank Furness
Frank Heyling Furness was an acclaimed American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his eclectic, muscular, often idiosyncratically scaled buildings, and for his influence on the Chicago architect Louis Sullivan...
to design its headquarters building
Centennial National Bank
-History:The bank was chartered on January 19, 1876 to finance the Centennial Exposition.The bank's headquarters building, designed by noted Philadelphia architect Frank Furness, was completed in April 1876. The building's interior was modified in 1893, and again in 1899, when Philadelphia...
, which opened in April on the southeast corner of Market Street
Market Street (Philadelphia)
Market Street, originally known as High Street, is a major east–west street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For the majority of its length, it serves as Pennsylvania Route 3....
and 32nd Street, across from the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
station. A branch office operated during the Centennial on the fairgrounds. Among other activities, the bank financed various West Philly development efforts.
In 1881, Clark helped E.W. Clark and Co. acquire the 11-year-old Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad, renaming it the Norfolk & Western Railway and taking a seat on the board of directors.
He was an active Unitarian
Unitarian Universalism
Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a...
, 14th president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society is a nonprofit organization that promotes horticulture-related events and community activities. It is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, and a member of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania
Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania
The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania is a non-profit educational institution located at 2207 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1892, GSP is one of the oldest genealogical societies in the United States...
.
He donated several acres of land that became West Philadelphia's Clark Park
Clark Park
Clark Park is a municipal park in the Spruce Hill section of West Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its are bordered by 43rd and 45th streets, and by Baltimore and Woodland Avenues....
, and land for the Walnut Street West branch of the Philadelphia Free Library.
Clark died on March 6, 1906.
Family
Clark married Amie Hampton Wescott and they had at least one son, Clarence Howard Clark, Jr.Clarence Howard Clark, Jr.
Clarence Howard Clark, Jr. was a financier in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and for 10 years the president of the Centennial National Bank there.-Biography:...
; Amie died in 1870 during childbirth. In 1873, he married Marie Motley Davis and they had a son, Charles.
Clarence Jr. followed his father into his grandfather's business, hiring on as a clerk with E.W. Clark & Co. in 1879 and becoming a partner in 1885. He was admitted to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange in 1888 and served for 10 years as president of the Centennial National Bank. Clark Jr. built his own West Philly mansion near his father's house, at 4220 Spruce Street, on the southwest corner of 42nd Street.
He died of "a stroke of apoplexy" on January 10, 1916, at the Pineland Country Club
Pineland Country Club
Pineland Country Club near Mullins, South Carolina is one of South Carolina's oldest country clubs. The golf course was designed by Gene Hamm and it opened in 1971....
in Mullins, South Carolina
Mullins, South Carolina
Mullins is a city in Marion County, South Carolina, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 5,029.Incorporated on March 4, 1872, Mullins was named after Col. William S...
External links
- Moody's on E.W. Clark & Co.
- http://books.google.com/books?id=WgUUFXPbMWQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=A+Descriptive+Catalogue+of+the+Books+Forming+the+Library+of+Clarence+H.+Clark+...+Philadelphia&source=bl&ots=I6vFme_cav&sig=YVL0h24QXa7bpSk-i1EX_6AI-Nk&hl=en&ei=SF-bTJXdHYSclgeg59i7Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=falseA descriptive catalogue of the books forming the library of Clarence H. Clark, 1888].
- Image of the mansion at 4200 Locust
- Spruce Hill Historic District Statement of Significance; limns Clark's role in West Philly development
- Bio by the New England Society of Pennsylvania
