Edward Dean Adams (April 9, 1846 – May 20, 1931) was an American businessman, banker, power broker and

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

. He was the president of

Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power & Manufacturing Company was an American company, based in Niagara Falls, New York that was the first company to generate hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls in 1882. The company built upon several predecessor com ...

which built the first hydroelectric power plants in

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...

, New York. The

Adams Power Plant Transformer House Adams Power Plant Transformer House in Niagara Falls, New York is a National Historic Landmarked building constructed in 1895. It is the only remaining structure that was part of the historic Edward Dean Adams Power Plant, the first large-scale, a ...

is named after him. He was "conspicuously successful in corporate reorganizations". Adams appeared on the cover of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine on May 27, 1929. He also had wide cultural interests, including

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

Biography

Edward Dean Adams was born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 9, 1846 to

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

Adoniram Judson Adams and Harriet Lincoln Norton. He graduated from Norwich University with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in 1864, and attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

from 1865 to 1866 after spending a year in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. Adams joined a Boston stockbroker firm, T.J. Lee & Hill, in 1867, where he worked as a bookkeeper and a

cashier A retail cashier or simply a cashier is a person who handles the cash register at various locations such as the point of sale in a retail store. The most common use of the title is in the retail industry, but this job title is also used in the ...

. He married Frances Amelia Gutterson in 1872 and had three children. In 1878, Adams became a partner for private banking firm Winslow, Lanier & Co. Through the firm, he gained a wide array of positions- including trustee, board member, chairman, and president- of multiple organizations and enterprises, including the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company consolidated mortgage, the Northern Pacific Terminal Company of Oregon, the

Edison Illuminating Company The Edison Illuminating Company was established by Thomas Edison on December 17, 1880, to construct electrical generating stations, initially in New York City. The company was the prototype for other local illuminating companies that were establis ...

, the St. Paul and Northern Pacific Railway Company, the

New York, Ontario and Western Railway The New York, Ontario and Western Railway, more commonly known as the O&W or NYO&W, was a regional railroad with origins in 1868, lasting until March 29, 1957 (the last train ran from Norwich to Middletown, NY on this date), after which it was or ...

company, the Central and South American

Telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

Company, All America Cables, Inc., the

Central Railroad of New Jersey The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...

, the American Cotton Oil Company, the

Cataract Construction Company Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power & Manufacturing Company was an American company, based in Niagara Falls, New York that was the first company to generate hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls in 1882. The company built upon several predecessor com ...

, the International Niagara Commission, and the Niagara Development Company. He received the

John Fritz Medal The John Fritz Medal has been awarded annually since 1902 by the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) for "outstanding scientific or industrial achievements". The medal was created for the 80th birthday of John Fritz, who lived betw ...

in 1926.

Association with the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Adams was a trustee of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

for almost 40 years, and served in various capacities. He was a member and treasurer of the special committee for the acquisition of casts and reproductions; chairman of the Finance Committee (1905–1920), and a member of various committees, including the Executive Committee (1910–1931), the Building Committee, the Committee on Educational Work, the Committee on Prints, and the Library Committee. He also made many gifts to the museum, including a collection of reproductions of the more noteworthy of the bronzes from Herculaneum, in the National Museum at Naples; a collection of photographs of Renaissance architecture and ornament, and of Renaissance and baroque sculpture, medals and many other pieces. He was elected a benefactor of the museum in 1909.

Numismatic interests

Adams was active in the

American Numismatic Society The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is a New York City-based organization dedicated to the study of coins, money, medals, tokens, and related objects. Founded in 1858, it is the only American museum devoted exclusively to their preservati ...

, where he was a council member and on many committees involved in publishing the society's medals. He donated Japanese medals to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1906.These were a gift of Edward D. Adams and Jacob H. Schiff, 1906. http://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/60262?sortBy=Relevance&where=Japan&ft=medals&offset=40&rpp=20&pos=45 Westinghouse Generators at Niagara Falls

Westinghouse Generators at Niagara Falls

References

American business executives 1846 births 1931 deaths John Fritz Medal recipients American numismatists Businesspeople from Boston Burials at Kensico Cemetery {{US-business-bio-1840s-stub