Nelson Ludington, circa 1880

Nelson Ludington (January 18, 1818 – January 15, 1883) was a nineteenth-century American businessman, lumber baron and banker. Born in Ludingtonville, New York, he made his fortune in the Midwest based on resource exploitation: lumber, iron ore and copper.

He bought large tracts of timber land on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he was associated with the founding of the city of Escanaba. He also had a branch and the main lumber yards in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but eventually based his namesake company in Chicago, Illinois, which became the boom town of the upper Midwest. There he helped found and served as president of the Fifth National Bank of Chicago.

Early life and ancestry

Ludington was born on January 18, 1818, in Ludingtonville in Putnam County, New York,[1] as the fourth of sixteen children.[2] He was a direct descendant of William Ludington of the Ludington family.[1][3] His grandfather was Henry Ludington.[1][3][4]

Ludington took courses at the Tucker Hill Academy in a neighboring county.[1][5]

Career

Ludington's training for the business world started at a general store in Cold Spring, New York, a town located along the Hudson River.[1][5] He later became a clerk in a dry goods store in New York City, receiving further training in the retail business.[1][5] In 1839 he joined his older brother, Harrison Ludington, his uncle Lewis Ludington, and Harvey Burchard in the firm Ludington, Burchard and Company.[1][4][6] After two years Nelson Ludington purchased Burchard's share of the business, and changed the name of the firm to Ludington and Company.[5] Ludington sold his ownership share to the other partners in 1848.[1]

Ludington started in the lumber industry with Daniel Wells Jr. and Jefferson Sinclair in 1848 in a new firm called N. Ludington & Co. He recognized that the rapid expansion of western towns around the Great Lakes would increase market demand for lumber, so he bought up large tracts of timber lands.[6] Ludington constructed sawmills at Marinette and Escanaba, Michigan.[6] For the first few years of N. Ludington & Company, the main docks and lumber yards of the firm were in Milwaukee and was the main distribution point to places throughout the United States via shipping on the Great Lakes.[6]

Escanaba (originally called Flat Rock) was one of the places where Ludington established a sawmill.[7][8][9][10] He named the settlement.[11] Locals suggested it be named after the nearby river, known as the "Escanawba" by the local Ojibwa Indians, referring to the smooth, flat rocks on the river bottom.[12] His hired surveyor, Eli Parsons Royce, entered the name on the town design schematic, as he understood it from a local Indian.[12]

In 1863, Ludington became a director of the Fifth National Bank of Chicago, and later its president, before it became the National Bank of America. He accumulated a considerable fortune.[13]

Marriage and family

Ludington married Charlotte J. and they had two daughters.[2] He died on January 15, 1883, in Chicago.[14][15]

Legacy

His daughter Mary financed the Ludington Building in Chicago.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Conard 1893, pp. 479–480.
  2. 1 2 Hall 1896, p. 515.
  3. 1 2 Hotchkiss 1894, p. 290.
  4. 1 2 Nelson Ludington 1960, p. 233.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Hotchkiss 1894, p. 291.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Hotchkiss 1894, p. 292.
  7. ↑ Nursey 1890, p. 17.
  8. ↑ "Delta County's First Cemetery for Whites is Historic Landmark". Escanaba Daily Press. Escanaba, Michigan. December 31, 1929. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  9. ↑ Sawyer, Carl J. (October 10, 1949). "First Local Sawmill was built over a Century Ago". Escanaba Daily Press. Escanaba, Michigan. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  10. ↑ Dunathan, Clint (March 31, 1956). "Early-Day Lumber Center Now Has Many Industries". Escanaba Daily Press. Escanaba, Michigan. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  11. ↑ Dunathan, Clint (April 25, 1969). "Post Office, Downtown Anchor, May Be Slipping Far Westward". The Escanaba Daily Press. Escanaba, Michigan. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  12. 1 2 Dunathan, Clint (June 29, 1963). "Royce Is Called City's Founder; Helped Name It". The Escanaba Daily Press. Escanaba, Michigan. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  13. ↑ Hotchkiss 1894, pp. 295–296.
  14. ↑ Hotchkiss 1894, p. 117.
  15. ↑ "Pith of The News". Standard. Albert Lea, Minnesota. January 25, 1883. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  16. ↑ "Ludington Building". City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division. 2003. Archived from the original on June 7, 2007. Retrieved May 14, 2007.

Sources

Further reading

  • Dickson, Karl (2002). Stories of Small Town Sports. K. Dickson. Nelson Ludington gave the name of the city of Escanaba, Michigan.
  • Dunathan, Clint (1963). The Century book. Photo Offset Printing Co. Nelson Ludington gave the name of the City of Escanaba.
  • Johnson, Willis Fletcher (1907). Colonel Henry Ludington: A Memoir. Printed by his grandchildren Lavinia Elizabeth Ludington and Charles Henry Ludington : New York. ISBN 978-0548540381.
  • Krog, Carl Edward (1971). Marinette: biography of a nineteenth century lumbering town. University of Wisconsin. In 1867 Stephenson acquired three-eights interest in the Nelson Ludington Company. The following year ... In 1883, after the death of Nelson Ludington, Stephenson became president, acquiring a controlling interest in the firm.
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