Hugh Theodore Inman (December 24, 1846 - November 14, 1910) was a member of the prominen
Inman Family
of Atlanta and was the wealthiest man in Georgia at the time of his death. He was born in Dandridge, Tennessee, son of Shadrach Inman and grew up there with his brothers

Samuel M. Inman Samuel Martin Inman (February 19, 1843 – January 12, 1915) was a prominent cotton merchant and businessman in Atlanta, Georgia, who is best known for the neighborhood in Atlanta that bears his name. Inman is also commemorated in the name of t ...

and

John H. Inman John Hamilton Inman (23 October 1844 – 5 November 1896) was an American capitalist who invested in cotton, coal, iron and steel, and railroads, especially in the impoverished American South during the Reconstruction Era. While he is remembered ...

, who were also successful cotton traders and industrialists. He owned an interest in the Inman, Swann, & Co. of New York City. He engaged in the cotton trade in New York City until moving to Savannah, Georgia, and then ultimately Atlanta where he continued in the cotton trade. He was a founding member and first president of the

Exposition Cotton Mills The Exposition Cotton Mills were cotton mills located in what is now the West Midtown area of Atlanta at the upper end of the Marietta Street Artery, an area rich with industrial heritage architecture. They were built on what had been Oglethorpe ...

, which was founded in 1882. By 1890, it had 500 employees and had spun fifty million yards of yarn. Along with his brothers he was an investor in the Atlanta Steel and Hoop Company, later known as

Atlantic Steel The Atlantic Steel Company was a steel company in Atlanta, Georgia with a large steel mill on the site of today's Atlantic Station multi-use complex. Atlantic Steel's history dated back to 1901 when it was founded as the Atlanta Hoop Compan ...

. It was Atlanta's first steel hoop mill. Hugh founded clothing manufacturer Inman, Smith and Company with his son, Edward, in 1896. By 1902, it had 300 employees and was producing 1000 pairs of pants per day. Hugh and son, Edward, provided financial support and were vice-presidents of Atlanta Woolen Mills, which had 450 employees in 1902 and did yearly business amounting to $500,000. He owned the Kimball House Hotel in downtown Atlanta which he gave as a wedding gift to daughter Annie and son-in-law

John W. Grant John W. Grant (July 26, 1867, West Point, Georgia – March 8, 1938) was a member of the Georgia School of Technology board of trustees and a well-known Atlanta, Georgia, merchant around the 1880s. He was the grandson of John T. Grant and th ...

. His son, Edward Hamilton Inman, owned the

Swan House (Atlanta) The Edward Inman "Swan" House is a mansion in Atlanta, Georgia. It was designed by Philip T. Shutze and built in 1928 for Edward and Emily Inman. The house is currently part of the Atlanta History Center, and it has been featured in '' The Hung ...

. At the time of his death, he had amassed an estate exceeding $2,000,000 (approx. US$54 million in 2019 adjusted for inflation) making him the wealthiest man in the state. In August 1910, he went to a sanitarium in New York City suffering from neurasthenia and died there three months later of pneumonia.

References

1846 births 1910 deaths History of Atlanta 19th-century American businesspeople People from Dandridge, Tennessee {{atlanta-stub