John Aylard Finch (1852 in England – June 20, 1915, in Hayden Lake, Idaho) was an affluent English immigrant, businessman and philanthropist in the Inland Northwest region of the United States.

Early life

John Aylard Finch was born in England in 1852 to parents Sophia Aylard Finch and William Finch. When John was 5-years-old, the family immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio where he would begin school when he was eight. He finished school at 13 and began working in the iron and steel industries. His work took him to Montreal, Canada, Chicago, Illinois, Denver, Colorado, and finally

Leadville, Colorado The City of Leadville is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorad ...

, where he began his career in mining and met longtime business partner Amasa B. Campbell.

Career

Mining

In 1891 Finch and a syndicate of capitalists including Campbell and Patsy Clark incorporated Hecla Mining in Burke, Idaho. Finch served as a principal implementing the policies of his district's Mine Owners Association (MOA). In early 1892, the MOA reduced pay for "low skilled" underground workers by $0.50 per day. Coeur d'Alene district miners asserted that all underground work is equally dangerous and refused to work if their workmates weren't properly compensated. In July 1892, Finch, on behalf of the MOA, was found to have been communicating with Thiel Detective Service Co. detective Charlie Siringo, who was contracted as an undercover informant for the purpose of unionbusting. In response, Union members organized the

1892 Coeur d'Alene labor strike The 1892 Coeur d'Alene labor strike erupted in violence when labor union miners discovered they had been infiltrated by a Pinkerton agent who had routinely provided union information to the mine owners. The response to the labor violence, disastro ...

which culminated in a gunfight between Union members, mine guards and

strikebreakers A strikebreaker (sometimes called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite a strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who were not employed by the company before the trade union dispute but hired after or during the str ...

at Finch's Gem Mine and the dynamiting of an abandoned ore mine nearby, which killed several people. On July 13, the Governor of Idaho declared Martial Law in Shoshone County which lasted for four months. General

Thomas H. Ruger Thomas Howard Ruger (April 2, 1833 – June 3, 1907) was an American soldier and lawyer who served as a Union general in the American Civil War. After the war, he was a superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New ...

telegraphed that 200 additional troops had been ordered from Fort Keogh. The governor had telegraphed General James F. Curtis to arrest all persons implicated in the recent outrages. The local jail could not house all of the striking workers, and a number of miners were confined in a large outdoor

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

. Undercover Thiel detectives would continue to provide Union secrets to Finch & Campbell Mining Firm as late as April 1901. With the help of Siringo's testimony, 18 Union leaders were convicted in relation to the Coeur d'Alene miners' dispute, including future Western Federation of Miners founder and Industrial Workers of the World leader George Pettibone. By 1893, Finch & Campbell had expanded their mining enterprises to British Columbia.

Politics

In 1891, Finch was elected to the Idaho Senate.

Other business ventures

As his investments in mining began to pay off, Finch went on to become president of the Coeur d’Alene Hardware Company White & Bender, Blalock Fruit Company of Walla Walla and the National Lumber & Box Company of Hoquiam. He named Campbell vice president of all of these companies. He was also a significant stockholder in the Davenport Hotel when it opened in 1914.

Personal life

In 1896, Finch married Spokane socialite Charlotte Swingler. In 1898, prolific Spokane architect Kirtland Cutter designed Finch Mansion in the

Georgian Revival style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover— George I, George II, ...

. It was one of three Cutter homes built on that block in 1898 and set the tone for architecture in Spokane. In 1903 Finch commissioned Cutter to design his Hayden Lake, Idaho estate in the

Swiss Chalet style Swiss chalet style (german: Schweizerstil, no, Sveitserstil) is an architectural style of Late Historicism, originally inspired by rural chalets in Switzerland and the Alpine (mountainous) regions of Central Europe. The style refers to traditi ...

. The original chalet burned down in 1930, shortly after being sold by Finch's widow in 1926. Finch was the president of Spokane's first country club and donated land to Saint Luke's Hospital and the Spokane Children's Home.

Legacy

Finch died on June 20, 1915, at his home in Hayden Lake, Idaho. He left 60% of his wealth to his wife and the rest to local charities and to "public good." The John A. Finch Memorial Nurses Home in Spokane, Washington opened in 1929. The John A. Finch School opened Monday, January 28, 1924. In 1947 the city of Spokane was gifted $250,000 for the purpose of developing the 65 acre John A. Finch Arboretum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finch, John A 1852 births 1915 deaths People from Hayden, Idaho English emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from Idaho Philanthropists from Idaho Idaho state senators 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American philanthropists