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Alexander Turney Stewart (October 12, 1803 – April 10, 1876) was an American entrepreneur who moved to New York and made his multimillion-dollar fortune in the most extensive and lucrative
dry goods Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and forme ...
store in the world. Stewart was born in Lisburn, Ulster, Ireland, and abandoned his original aspirations of becoming a Presbyterian minister to go to New York City in 1823. He spent a short time teaching before returning to Ireland to receive the money his grandfather had left him, purchase some
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
linens and laces, and return to New York to open a store. Stewart had extraordinary skill in business, and by 1848 he had built a large marble-fronted store on
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
between Chambers Street and Reade Street, which was devoted to the wholesale branch of his business. In 1862 he built a new store covering an entire city block between Broadway and Fourth Avenue and between 9th and 10th streets. It was eight stories tall and attracted the wonder and business of upscale New York. Trainloads of wealthy customers from outlying cities came to shop. Stewart made most of his money through wholesaling and especially New York City real estate. He opened branches of the company in other parts of the world and owned several mills and factories. He had an annual income of
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1,843,637 in 1863 (equivalent to $ million in ). His business success is estimated to have made him one of the twenty wealthiest people in history as of 2007, with a fortune equivalent to approximately US$90 billion in 2012.


Early years

Alexander Turney Stewart was born in Lisburn, Ireland, to Scottish Protestant parents on October 12, 1803. Three weeks after his birth, Stewart's farmer father died of tuberculosis. About two years later Stewart's mother remarried and followed her new husband to America, leaving Stewart behind to be raised by his grandfather, John Torney. Torney wanted his only grandson to become a minister in the Church of Ireland. At age seven Stewart was sent to a village school, and in 1814 entered Mr. Neely's English Academy. When Stewart's grandfather died in 1816 he was brought into the home of Thomas Lamb, an Irish Quaker. Upon completing his formal education at
Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is ...
he wrote to his mother in New York City. While incubating a desire to move there, the fifteen-year-old Stewart was prevailed upon by Lamb to gain some business experience by earning money as a grocer in Belfast. Quickly wearying of the work, Stewart packed his bags in the spring of 1818 and left for New York with the $500 he had earned as a bag boy. After six weeks at sea, Stewart arrived at his mother's home. He became a $300-a-year tutor at Isaac N. Bragg's Academy, a school for wealthy youths on
Roosevelt Street Roosevelt Street was a street located in the Two Bridges district of Lower Manhattan, which existed from the British colonial period up until the early 1950s, running from Pearl Street at Park Row (Chatham Street) southeast to South Street. ...
, and joined an
Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...
church run by Reverend Edward Mitchell. There he met his future wife, Cornelia Mitchell Clinch, the daughter of Susannah Banker and James Clinch, a wealthy ship chandler. Cornelia's brother Charles P. Clinch (1797–1880) was Acting
Collector of the Port of New York The Collector of Customs at the Port of New York, most often referred to as Collector of the Port of New York, was a federal officer who was in charge of the collection of import duties on foreign goods that entered the United States by ship at ...
.


A. T. Stewart & Co.

Historians know little about Stewart's life between 1818 and 1822, except that he returned to Ireland upon receiving his grandfather's inheritance of value between US$5,000 and $10,000. The will pertaining to Stewart stated: :I bequeath to my dear grandson ALEXANDER all the rest of my property, houses, and land, with the appurtenances thereto, stock, crop, and chattels of every kind. The money arising from the sale of the property devised to him to be subject to the payment by my said grandson ALEXANDER T. STEWART of an annuity to his grandmother, MARTHA STEWART, of three guineas a year during her life. Upon returning to New York City in 1823, Stewart married Cornelia on October 16. Before marrying, Stewart opened his first store, located at 283 Broadway, which sold Irish fabrics and domestic calicos purchased with funds from his inheritance and earnings as a tutor. The store opened on September 1, 1823, just across from
City Hall Park City Hall Park is a public park surrounding New York City Hall in the Civic Center of Manhattan. It was the town commons of the nascent city of New York. History 17th century David Provoost was an officer in the Dutch West India Company. ...
, north of Chambers Street on the opposite side of Broadway from where his later Marble Palace was to stand. Rented for $375 a year, it measured 12.5 feet wide by 30 feet deep, rather small by today's standards but average during the 19th century. A larger front section used for the business was divided by a thin wall from a smaller back section which served as Stewart's residence. Unlike other dry goods competitors located along Pearl Street, Stewart placed his store several blocks west on Broadway. He believed customers would travel to buy goods where they could most easily find the best prices, stating that the key to success was not where the store was placed, but rather where "to obtain wholesale trade to undersell competitors". When first opening the store, Stewart placed cases full of merchandise along the sidewalk in front of the store as a way of advertising his establishment. Stewart claimed that "the messy clutter in front of the store and pushing crowds advertised the business." As he rose to the top of the retail developers, Stewart included no signs on any place of his store and did not use any advertisements until May 13, 1831. He felt that anyone who wanted to shop in his store would "know where it was located." A natural salesman, Stewart realized that "you will deal with ignorant, opinionated and innocent people. You will often have an opportunity to cheat them. If they could, they would cheat you, or force you to sell at less than cost. You must be wise, but not too wise. You must never actually cheat the customer, even if you can.... You must make her happy and satisfied, so she will come back." Stewart held that the key to establishing a great business was to make friends with the customers and encourage their return, i.e., to focus on customer service. Between 1846 and 1848, the construction and finishing details of one of Stewart's most famous buildings, the "Marble Palace" at 280 Broadway, were completed. This establishment, "the cradle of the department store", sent A. T. Stewart & Company to the top of America's most successful retailers. The building, originally four stories over a ground floor supported on cast-iron Corinthian columns, survives at 280 Broadway at the corner of Chambers Street, just across from his first store. It offered imported European women's clothing. In addition to its merchandise, the second floor offered the first women's "fashion shows" as full-length mirrors enabled women to view themselves from different angles. The Italianate design, faced with Tuckahoe marble, featured four floors of pedimented windows, the first commercial building in the United States to display an extravagant exterior. Inside, Stewart wanted not only to display his merchandise, but to emphasize natural light from the structure's central rotunda and high ceilings. "The Marble Palace" claimed to be one of the first "big stores" that sold merchandise and was a huge financial success. In 1855 Stewart's personal fortune was estimated to be $2.25 million. In 1856 Stewart expanded his merchandise to include furs, "the best and most natural skins", as customers were told. In the 1850s, he also followed other retailers such as
Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wit ...
,
Lord and Taylor Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...
and B. Altman and Company to the area which was to be called " Ladies' Mile", on Broadway and Sixth Avenue between 9th Street and 23rd Street. However, in 1862, Stewart's "true" department store, referred to as the "Iron Palace", was built. This six-story building, with its
cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
front, glass dome skylight and grand emporium, employed up to 2,000 people. The immense structure occupied a major portion of a city block near
Grace Church Grace Church may refer to: Canada * Grace Church on-the-Hill, Toronto China * Grace Church, Guanghan Poland * Grace Church, Teschen or Jesus Church, a Lutheran basilica in Teschen, Poland United Kingdom United States * Grace Cathedral (dis ...
, from Broadway and Ninth Street to Tenth Street and
Astor Place Astor Place is a one-block street in NoHo/ East Village, in the lower part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs from Broadway in the west (just below East 8th Street) to Lafayette Street. The street encompasses two plazas at ...
. The establishment's nineteen departments included silks, dress goods,
carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...
s, and toys. By 1877 it had expanded to thirty departments, carrying a wide variety of items. As noted by '' The New York Times'', "a man may fit up his house there down to the bedding, carpets and upholstery." The Iron Palace building was taken over in 1882 by Hilton, Hughes & Co. (who were associates of Stewart), then by Wanamaker's department store in 1896, ultimately burning down in 1956
Drawings of the interior from the Hilton, Hughes era.


Mail order business

A. T. Stewart & Company did not go unnoticed throughout the country. Along with his successful retail store in New York City, Stewart also established himself as one of the wealthiest men in the United States by allowing women all over the country to purchase and order items from his wholesale department store. Beginning in 1868, Stewart began receiving letters from women in rural parts of the United States requesting his merchandise. Stewart promptly replied to these letters and orders by sending out the requested products and even paying the postage. Once their orders were received, women would send back the payment for them. Seeing potential for the mail order business, by 1876 Stewart had hired twenty clerks to read, respond and mail out the entailed orders. That year he profited by over $500,000 from the mailing business alone. Stewart's mail-order business' efficiency, convenience and profits gained so much attention from all over the country that other famous businesses such as Sears,
Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curre ...
and Spiegel's followed in his footsteps.


Defeated for Secretary of the Treasury

In March 1869 President
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...
offered Stewart the position of
Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
(after Joseph Seligman had declined it), but he was not confirmed by the United States Senate. One impediment to Stewart's appointment was a provision in the 1789 law which established the Treasury Department, prohibiting an importer from heading the Department. Grant requested the two houses of Congress to override the provision, but upon the objection of
Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...
, the request was not considered in the Senate. The main reason was that Republicans were angry with Stewart for supporting President Andrew Johnson, and for opposing high protective tariffs that the GOP promoted in its appeal to industry.


Fifth Avenue mansion

In 1869 and 1870 A. T. Stewart built the first of the grand Fifth Avenue palaces, on the northwest corner of 34th Street, across from the ''doyenne'' of New York society,
Caroline Schermerhorn Astor Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn Astor (September 22, 1830 – October 30, 1908) was a prominent American socialite of the second half of the 19th century who led the Four Hundred. Famous for being referred to later in life as "the Mrs. Ast ...
. His architect, as for the store, was
John Kellum John Kellum (1809–1871) was an American architect in practice in New York City. Kellum, born in Hempstead, Long Island, was trained as a carpenter; he was largely self-taught in architecture, and was taken into partnership in 1846 by th ...
. When all of Fifth Avenue was of brownstone rowhouses, Stewart's fireproof structure in French Second Empire style was faced with marble. It had three main floors and an attic in a mansard roof. A mezzanine floor at cornice height was used for storage. The house was separated from the sidewalks by a moat-like light well that lit the service areas in the basement. The main parlor ran the full length of the house's Fifth Avenue frontage. On the death of Stewart's widow in 1886, it was rented as premises for the Manhattan Club and was portrayed in paint in 1891 by
Childe Hassam Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impression ...
. The structure was razed in 1901 to make way for the new premises of the Knickerbocker Trust Company.


Central Railroad

Stewart incorporated the
Central Railroad of Long Island Central Railroad of Long Island was built on Long Island, New York, by Alexander Turney Stewart, who was also the founder of Garden City. The railroad was established in 1871, then merged with the Flushing and North Side Railroad in 1874 to form ...
in 1871 and completed it in 1873, running from Long Island City through his development at Garden City to a brick yard at (Old) Bethpage and docks at Babylon. This became part of the
Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average wee ...
system in 1876, and the parts that have not been abandoned are the
Hempstead Branch The Hempstead Branch is an electrified rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch begins at the Main Line at Queens Interlocking, just east of Queens Village station. It p ...
and Central Branch. The brickyard continued into existence until 1981, variously known as Bethpage Brickworks, Queens County Brick Manufacturing Company, and (after Nassau County split from Queens County in 1899) Nassau Brick Company.


Death and influence

Before Stewart died in 1876, he had succeeded in creating his own manufacturing facilities. He wanted to have his own mills to supply his wholesale and retail operations. With these mills, located in New York and New England, Stewart produced his own woolen fabrics and employed thousands of workers. Stewart also served on several New York State Chamber of Commerce Committees between 1862 and 1871. Though never elected as a New York State officer, he attended Lincoln's funeral as a Chamber delegate. Before his death he was building at Hempstead Plains, Long Island, the village of Garden City, with the purpose of affording his employees comfortable and airy housing at a moderate cost. After his death, his wife Cornelia erected several buildings in his memory, including St. Paul's School and The Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City; the latter also served as a mausoleum to both Stewart and his wife. Stewart died as one of the richest men in New York, just behind a Vanderbilt and an
Astor Astor may refer to: People * Astor (surname) * Astor family, a wealthy 18th-century American family who became prominent in 20th-century British politics * Astor Bennett, a character in the Showtime television series ''Dexter'' * Ástor Piazzo ...
. Worth an estimated $50 million, Stewart, unlike New York's other wealthy men who made their millions through real estate, had earned his wealth in retail trade. Out of the twenty-four clerks who entered A. T. Stewart & Company in 1836, six still worked for the company in 1876. To these long-term employees, Stewart showed his gratitude by leaving them more than $250,000 (equivalent to $ in ) in his will. The body of Stewart was stolen from its tomb, between nine o'clock on the evening of November 6, and daylight on the morning of November 7, 1878, 2 years, 6 months, 24 days after his burial at
St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery is a parish of the Episcopal Church located at 131 East 10th Street, at the intersection of Stuyvesant Street and Second Avenue in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The property has bee ...
. The remains were held for $20,000 ransom. The ransom was paid and remains were returned, although never verified as his. A local legend states that the mausoleum holding his remains is rigged with security devices that will cause the bells of the Cathedral to ring if ever disturbed. According to biographer Harry Resseguie, his vast fortune was soon lost. It:
Was either wasted in inept business ventures, poured into charities never contemplated by its owner, or frittered away in dissipation, luxurious living, or in fees to a swarm of lawyers during a quarter-century of litigation over the estate.
The bulk of the Stewart fortune, willed to Mrs. Stewart with Judge Henry Hilton as trustee, was the subject of protracted litigation, although a swarm of long-lost Turney relatives were quickly dismissed. Claims were based in part on Mrs. Stewart's hasty transfer of the dry goods business in 1876 to Hilton, in exchange for the $1,000,000 willed to Hilton, who carried on the business under the name E. J. Denning & Co. Mrs. Stewart, who lived quietly in New York and at the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York, which she inherited, died of pneumonia October 25, 1886, and ex-Judge Hilton died there 24 August 1899. In 1896, the Iron Palace was bought by John Wanamaker and reopened as " Wanamaker's". The Philadelphian Wanamaker had long been an admirer of Stewart and stated that one of his best qualities was his "personal attention to the details of the business... He could have had others to look after the details — they have to be looked after, but few attend to sweeping up, and that's what Stewart did." In 1917 the '' New York Sun'' newspaper bought Stewart's Marble Palace for its main offices. In 1966 the building was designated a landmark by the City of New York.


Posthumous libel

On May 1, 1890, a notice appeared in the ''New York Times'' announcing
Joseph Pulitzer Joseph Pulitzer ( ; born Pulitzer József, ; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American politician and newspaper publisher of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' and the ''New York World''. He became a leading national figure in ...
, Julius Chambers, et al. had been indicted for posthumous criminal libel against Alexander T. Stewart. The newspaper reprinted a letter to District Attorney Fellows citing statements in an April 14–19 series of articles in the '' New York World'' accusing Stewart of "a dark and secret crime", as the man who "invited guests to meet his mistresses at his table", and as "a pirate of the dry goods ocean.""Defending Stewart's Memory", ''New York Times'' (May 1, 1890)
/ref>


See also

* Stewart's was an unrelated, now-defunct,
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
-based chain of department stores * Stewart Dry Goods an unrelated now-defunct Louisville, Kentucky chain * A. T. Stewart (pilot boat) the name of this boat was nominated by the friends of Mr. Stewart


Notes


Further reading

*Birmingham, Stephen, '' Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York'', Berkley Books, 1985
All Biographies: Alexander Turney Stewart
2005. Webified Concepts, LLC.
Did You Know?: Featuring A Historically Significant Lower Manhattan Attraction
2005. Company 39, Inc. *Elias, Stephen. ''Alexander T. Stewart: The Forgotten Merchant Prince''. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1992. *Hubbard, Elbert. ''AT Stewart: Little Journeys To The Homes Of Forgotten Business Men''. V. 25: No. 4. East Aurora, NY: The Roycrofters, 1909. * Iarocci, Louisa. ''The Urban Department Store in America, 1850-1930'' (Routledge, 2017). * Laermans, Rudi. "Learning to consume: early department stores and the shaping of the modern consumer culture (1860-1914)." ''Theory, Culture & Society'' 10.4 (1993): 79-102. * Resseguie, Harry E. "Alexander Turney Stewart and the development of the department store, 1823-1876." ''Business History Review'' 39.03 (1965): 301-322
in JSTOR
* Resseguie, Harry E. "A.T. Stewart's marble palace—The cradle of the department store." ''New York Historical Society Quarterly'' 48.2 (1964): 130-162. * Resseguie, Harry E. "The Decline and Fall of the Commercial Empire of AT Stewart." ''Business History Review'' 36.3 (1962): 255-286. * Smith, Matthew Hale. "Alexander T. Stewart." Ch. IV of ''Sunshine and Shadow in New York''. Hartford: J. B. Burr and Company (1869): 52-62.


External links


1918 Biographical Sketch

Gilding the Gilded Age: Interior Decoration Tastes & Trends in New York City
A collaboration between The Frick Art Collection and The William Randolph Hearst Archive at LIU Post. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Alexander Turney 1803 births 1876 deaths Irish people of Scottish descent American people of Scottish descent American businesspeople in retailing Garden City, New York Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Long Island Rail Road people People from Manhattan People from Lisburn 19th-century American businesspeople Victims of body snatching