Edward Burgess Butler (December 16, 1853 – February 20, 1928) was an American businessman who founded

Butler Brothers Butler Brothers was a retailer and wholesale supplier based in Chicago. It was founded in 1877 as a mail-order company by Charles Hamblet Butler, George Henry Butler, George H. Butler and Edward Burgess Butler. History In the 1920s, Butler Brothe ...

department stores. He served as the first president of the Pasadena Society of Artists.

Biography

He was born on December 16, 1853, in Lewiston, Maine to Manly Orville Butler and Elizabeth Howe. He had eight siblings: two of them, George H. Bulter and Charles H. Butler formed a partnership with Edward. Manly owned a grocery store. In 1858, his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and he attended the Boston public school system. Together with his brothers, George and Charles, he founded

in Boston in 1877. For five years he sold goods throughout New England and Canada as a traveling salesman. He married Jane Holly in 1880, she was the daughter of William Henry Holly, of

Norwalk, Connecticut , image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg , mapsize = 230px , map_caption = Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County and ...

. With his wealth he collected works by George Inness, and later donated the collection to the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. Having trained under

Frank Charles Peyraud Frank Charles Peyraud (1 June 1858, Bulle, Switzerland - 1 May 1948, Highland Park, Illinois)Biography by Nancy Peyraud @ the Illinois Historical Art Project, was an American landscape painter of French-Swiss origin. He worked in a modified Im ...

, Butler became a landscape painter. For a time he exhibited his works under a pseudonym, "Edward Burgess". In 1908, he exhibited at the

. One of his oil paintings was displayed at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Butler moved to

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

after he retired from business. He died in

on February 20, 1928.

Titles

* Director of Illinois Merchants Trust Company * Chairman of Ways and Means committee * Chairman of the World's Columbian Exposition * President of the Glenwood, Illinois Manual Training School * Trustee of Hull House * Trustee of Chicago Orphan Asylum * Trustee of Girls' Refuge * Trustee of First State Pawners' Society * Trustee of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Edward Burgess 1853 births 1928 deaths People from Lewiston, Maine American businesspeople in retailing American art collectors 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Businesspeople from Pasadena, California 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists