William E. Dodge, Jr.
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William Earl Dodge Jr. (February 15, 1832 – August 9, 1903) was an American businessman, activist, and
philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
. For many years, he was one of two controlling partners in the
Phelps Dodge Corporation Phelps Dodge Corporation was an American mining company founded in 1834 as an import-export firm by Anson Greene Phelps and his two sons-in-law William Earle Dodge, Sr. and Daniel James (businessman), Daniel James. The latter two ran Phelps, Jame ...
, one of the largest
copper mining Copper extraction is the multi-stage process of obtaining copper from list of copper ores, its ores. The conversion of copper ores consists of a series of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with coun ...
corporations in the United States.


Early life

Dodge was born in New York City on February 15, 1832, the eldest son of Melissa (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Phelps) Dodge and William E. Dodge Sr. (1805–1883), a
U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
from New York. His father and maternal grandfather,
Anson Greene Phelps Anson Green Phelps (March 24, 1781 – May 18, 1858) was an American entrepreneur and business man from Connecticut. Beginning with a saddlery business, he founded Phelps, Dodge & Co. in 1833 as an export-import business with his sons-in-law as ...
, were co-founders of the import firm of
Phelps Dodge Phelps Dodge Corporation was an American mining company founded in 1834 as an import-export firm by Anson Greene Phelps and his two sons-in-law William Earle Dodge, Sr. and Daniel James. The latter two ran Phelps, James & Co., the part of the ...
. Dodge was very active in his support of the Union cause during the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, becoming a member of the
Union League Club The Union League Club is a private social club in New York City that was founded in 1863 in affiliation with the Union League. Its fourth and current clubhouse is located at 38 East 37th Street on the corner of Park Avenue, in the Murray Hi ...
and an advisor to the Women's Central Association of Relief. His service on a commission of the
State of New York New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...
to supervise the conditions of New York State troops in the field led the
New York Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an offici ...
to pass a resolution honoring him for his work.


Career

He began working for the Phelps Dodge Corporation, and in 1864 was named a partner in the firm.Beach, Frederick Converse and Rines, George Edwin. ''The Americana: A Universal Reference Library.'' New York: The Americana Co., 1911. Dodge and his cousin,
Daniel Willis James Daniel Willis James (April 15, 1832 – September 13, 1907) was the son of an American merchant who with his cousin, William Earl Dodge Jr., transformed Phelps, Dodge & Co. from a predominantly mercantile business into one of the largest copper p ...
, transformed the Phelps Dodge company from a placid and profitable import business into one of the world's largest and wealthiest mining corporations. The Phelps Dodge company had decided to enter the mining industry, and hired professor of
chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
James Douglas to make an inspection of mining claims in the
Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...
. Douglas suggested that the two men invest in the Detroit Copper Mining Company of Arizona, which owned a copper mining claim in
Warren, Arizona Bisbee is a city in and the county seat of Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, United States. It is southeast of Tucson and north of the Mexican border. According to the 2020 census, the population of the town was 4,923, down from 5,575 ...
.Cleland, Robert Glass. ''A History of Phelps Dodge: 1834–1950.'' New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952. In 1881, Phelps Dodge not only took a controlling interest in the Detroit Copper Mining Company but also purchased a minority interest in the adjoining
Copper Queen Mine The Copper Queen Mine was a copper mine in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. Its development led to the growth of the surrounding town of Bisbee in the 1880s. Its orebody ran 23% copper, an extraordinarily high grade. It was acquired by ...
in
Bisbee, Arizona Bisbee is a city in and the county seat of Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, United States. It is southeast of Tucson, Arizona, Tucson and north of the Mexican border. According to the 2020 United States census, ...
.Whitten, David O.; Whitten, Bessie Emrick; and Sisaye, Seleshi. ''The Birth of Big Business in the United States, 1860–1914: Commercial, Extractive, and Industrial Enterprise.'' Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005. After the Copper Queen and Detroit Copper both struck the Atlanta lode in 1884, Phelps Dodge bought out the remaining interest in the Copper Queen. The company merged its various mining interests into the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company in 1885, and installed Douglas as president and part-owner. With production in the Bisbee expanding, Dodge and his business partners formed the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad (later more widely known as the
El Paso and Southwestern Railroad The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad began in 1888 as the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad, a short line serving copper mines in southern Arizona. Over the next few decades, it grew into a 1200-mile system that stretched from Tucumcari, New ...
) in 1888. In time, Dodge sat on the board of directors of a number of mining, railroad, real estate, water, and other companies, and Phelps Dodge was on its way to becoming one of the largest mining companies in the world. Dodge had other interests outside of Phelps Dodge, too. He was a leader of the
Ansonia Clock Company The Ansonia Clock Company was a clock manufacturing business founded in Ansonia, Connecticut, in 1851 and which moved to Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, in 1878. The company has produced hundreds of different clock models, including Gingerb ...
,
American Brass Company The American Brass Company was an American brass manufacturing company based in Connecticut and active from 1893 to 1960. The company's predecessors were the Wolcottville Brass Company and the Ansonia Brass and Battery Company."Copper and Brass In ...
,
Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company The Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company was a mutual insurance company which offers personal, marine, commercial property, and casualty insurance.Atlantic Mutual Companies, ''Meeting the Challenges of Our Time: 2001 Annual Report,'' 2001. It is p ...
,
Lackawanna Steel Company The Lackawanna Steel Company was an American steel manufacturing company that existed as an independent company from 1840 to 1922, and as a subsidiary of the Bethlehem Steel company from 1922 to 1983. Founded by the Scranton family, it was once ...
, Morningside Realty Company, United Globe Mines, and the
New York Life Insurance Company New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the third-largest life insurance company and the largest mutual insurance, mutual life insurance company in the United States, and is ranked #69 on the 2025 Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporat ...
. He was vice president of the
New York Chamber of Commerce The New York Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1768 by twenty New York City merchants. As the first such commercial organization in the United States, it attracted the participation of a number of New York's most influential business leaders, inc ...
at the time of his death.


Philanthropic work

A
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
, Dodge was president of the American branch of the Evangelical Alliance and the National Temperance Society (as his father was before him), and vice-president of the
American Sunday School Union InFaith has its roots in the First Day Society (founded 1790). InFaith officially formed in 1817 as the “Sunday and Adult School Union.” In 1824, the organization changed its name to American Sunday School Union (ASSU). Then, in 1974, the ASSU ...
. He was active in the New York City chapter of the
Young Men's Christian Association YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
, and led the efforts to build the chapter's first and second buildings. He was chairman of the National Arbitration Committee, and helped raise funds for and guide the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
(he was chairman of the executive committee), the
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...
(he was vice-president for a time), and the
New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...
He was a member of the
Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...
,
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...
,
New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), originally founded as the Lyceum of Natural History in January 1817, is a nonprofit professional society based in New York City, with more than 20,000 members from 100 countries. It is the fourth-oldes ...
,
American Fine Arts Society The Art Students League of New York Building (also the American Fine Arts Society and 215 West 57th Street) is a building on 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh in the Frenc ...
, New York Geographical Society,
New-York Historical Society The New York Historical (known as the New-York Historical Society from 1804 to 2024) is an American history museum and library on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. It ...
, the
New England Society of New York The New England Society in the City of New York (NES) is one of several lineage organizations in the United States and one of the oldest charitable societies in the country. It was founded in 1805 to promote “friendship, charity and mutual a ...
, the
Century Association The Century Association is a private social, arts, and dining club in New York City, founded in 1847. Its clubhouse is located at 7 West 43rd Street near Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It is primarily a club for men and women with distinctio ...
, and the
National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...
.


Personal life

In April 1854, Dodge was married to Sarah Tappan Hoadley (1832–1909), daughter of David Hoadley, president of the Panama Railroad Company. Together, the couple had six children: *
Grace Hoadley Dodge Grace Hoadley Dodge (May 21, 1856 – December 27, 1914) was an American philanthropist who was the first woman appointed a member of the New York Board of Education. Early life Grace was born in Manhattan on May 21, 1856, the eldest of six chi ...
(1856–1914), who co-founded
Teacher's College Teachers College, Columbia University (TC) is the graduate school of education affiliated with Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, Teachers College has been a part of Columbia University since ...
and was the first woman to sit on the
New York City Board of Education The Panel for Educational Policy of the Department of Education of the City School District of the City of New York, abbreviated as the Panel for Educational Policy and also known as the New York City Board of Education, is the governing body of ...
. * William Earl Dodge III (1858–1886), who married Emmeline Harriman (1859–1938), daughter of Oliver Harriman, in 1879. After his death, she married
Stephen Henry Olin Stephen Henry Olin (April 22, 1847 – August 6, 1925) was a lawyer and the acting president of Wesleyan University and a member of New York society during the Gilded Age. Early life Olin was born on April 22, 1847, in Middletown, Connecticut. ...
. *
Cleveland Hoadley Dodge Cleveland Hoadley Dodge (January 26, 1860June 24, 1926) was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was active in New York City politics and was president of Phelps Dodge mining and served as "adviser and financier" to Woodrow ...
(1860–1926), who followed his father into the family business and founded the Cleveland H. Dodge Foundation in 1917. *
Mary Melissa Hoadley Dodge Mary Melissa Hoadley Dodge (August 21, 1861 – December 24, 1934) was an American heiress who moved to England and sponsored many causes during her life, including women's suffrage, theosophy and the arts. Move to London She was the daughter of S ...
(1861–1934), who did not marry. * Alice Clinton Hoadley Dodge (1865–1948), who married philanthropist William Church Osborn who served as the president of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
. * Morris Jesup Dodge (1867–1875), who died young. William E. Dodge Jr. died of
heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...
on August 9, 1903, at his summer home in
Bar Harbor, Maine Bar Harbor () is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. The town is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory, and MDI Biological Laborat ...
. In 1905, Sarah Tappan Hoadley purchased the
Willamette Meteorite The Willamette Meteorite, officially named WillametteMeteoritical Bulleti ...
, and after displaying it at the
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, commonly also known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, was a worldwide World's fair, exposition h ...
, she donated it to the
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...
in New York City, where it has been on display since 1906.


Residence

In 1863, Dodge built a summer retreat known as Greyston, a gambrel-roofed
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
mansion of granite designed by
James Renwick Jr. James Renwick Jr. (November 11, 1818 – June 23, 1895) was an American architect known for designing churches and museums. He designed the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D.C., and St. Patrick's Cathedral (Manhattan), St. Patric ...
, in
Riverdale, Bronx Riverdale is a residential neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of the Bronx. Riverdale, which had a population of 47,850 as of the 2000 United States Census, contains the city's northernmost point at the Colle ...
, New York City. With Lyndhurst, Tarrytown, and Ingleside, Dobbs Ferry, it is one of only three mid-nineteenth century survivors along the intensely redeveloped lower Hudson. His Dodge heirs donated it in 1961 as a conference center for
Teachers College, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University (TC) is the graduate school of education affiliated with Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, Teachers College has been a part of Columbia University since ...
, who used it until the 1970s, then sold it to Zen Buddhist Community, who sold it again.


Family tree


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodge, William E. Jr. 1832 births 1903 deaths 19th-century American railroad executives Temperance activists from New York (state) American businesspeople in insurance American manufacturing businesspeople American mining businesspeople American Presbyterians American businesspeople in metals Businesspeople in steel William E. Jr. People from Bar Harbor, Maine Businesspeople from the Bronx Phelps Dodge Philanthropists from New York (state) YMCA leaders