Biographical Sketches of the Leading People of Chicago
Inter Ocean, November 3, 1894
LEVI Z. LEITER IN TOWN.
The Well-Known Millionaire Visits Chicago After a Long Absence.
Levi Z. Leiter arrived in town yesterday morning after a long absence. The millionaire spent most of yesterday at his office at No. 81 Clark street. Mr. Leiter spends very little time in Chicago and his visits are generally associated with his large property interests in the city. He is one of the largest security holders in the Alley “L” Road, and holders of stock in that enterprise connect Mr. Leiter’s coming with the movement to secure a down-town loop for the South Side Elevated Road. Of his plans, however, Mr. Leiter refused to speak yesterday, contenting himself with the statement that he was not opposed to the down-town loop scheme, as had been represented in some quarters. He also said that Drake, Parker & Co., proprietors of the Grand Pacific Hotel, would be offered a renewal of the release, which soon expires. He has no intention. he said, of tearing down the present building. It will be leased just as it now stands.
Chicago Tribune, June 10, 1904
Levi. Z. Leiter of Chicago died suddenly early yesterday morning at the Vanderbilt college, Bar Harbor, Me., where he was spending the summer with his family. The end came suddenly, following an attack of heart failure shortly after midnight. At his bedside were Mrs. Leiter and his daughters, Daisy and Nannie. Joseph Leiter, his son, who was in Ziegler, Ill., was summoned east by telegraph. A cablegram was sent also to Mr. Leiter’s married daughter, Lady Carson, wife of the viceroy of India, announcing her father’s death.
While the date of funeral will not be decided until after Joseph Leiter reaches Bar Harbor, it was announced last night that the services will be held in Washington, D.C., where the family has a winter home.
Mr. Leiter, who was 70 years of age, had suffered from heart disease for some time. On Tuesday, however, he took a twelve mile drive with his wife and spent the evening walking about the estate. When the attack seized him Mrs. Leiter administered restoratives and summoned a doctor, but her husband died before the physicians arrived.
One of Chicago’s Builders.
Mr. Leiter was one of Chicago’s foundation builders. He was one of the men to whose foresight and energy is due the city’s rapid rise as a commercial center. He helped to build up a great business, then he helped to build up the business section of the city, then he helped to build up the city’s culture. With at least five institutions that occupy a conspicuous place in the life of Chicago his name was connected as one of the few who fostered them from their beginnings.
These are the Commercial club of Chicago, of which he was the first president; the a href=”https://chicagology.com/goldenage/goldenage023/”>Chicago Art Institute, of which he was the second president; the Chicago Relief and Aid society, in which he served as director during the days that followed Oct. 9 1871; the Chicago Historical society, for whose renaissance he was largely responsible; and the Illinois Trust and Savings bank, of which he was one of the original stockholders.
From its beginning to its end the story of Mr. Leiter’s life was interwoven with romance. Even his name concealed a family romance. His young aunt, Barbara Zeigler, loved Levi Jordan, a young farmer, and they were engaged to be married. A short time before the date set for the ceremony Miss Ziegler was taken ill and tuberculosis developed. The wedding never took place.
Romance in His Name.
One of this young woman’s last requests was for permission to name the child of Mrs. Leiter, her sister, and her wishes were promptly acceded to. In almost her last hour the name of Levi Zeigler Leiter, thus petuating her own name and that of the man she was to have wed.
The village in which the builder of the Leiter fortune was born was founded by his ancestors. James Van Leiter came from Amsterdam to Baltimore in 1700. He purchased a large and beautiful tract of land in the western part of Maryland from Lord Craven. Henceforward Skipton-on-Craven was known as Leitersburg. In this village Levi Z. Leiter was born on Nov. 2, 1834. His father was Joseph Leiter.
Twenty years later three younf men who had been following humble pursuits in different parts of America came together in Chicago, resolved upon with that rapidly expanding but then comparatively small city.
Without any particular aim beyond that of an eagerness to succeed they set themselves resolutely to do the best that was in them to make their fortunes. These three young men were Potter Palmer, Marshall Field, and Levi Z. Leiter. Mr. Palmer was the first on the scene. Mr. Field and Mr. Leiter arrived during the next two years, the latter in 1854.
Establishes Himself in Chicago.
In his native town Leiter had obtained a good education, as country town educations go, and had spent several years working in a store. He was 18 when he started west. He was full of ambition and zealous to carve out his own destiny. The first stop in the westward journey was made at Springfield, O., where he entered the store of Peter Murray, a merchant of prominence in that city. He remained there some time, and then pushed on to Chicago. Arriving in this city, Leiter had no difficulty in securing employment with the firm of Downs & Van Wyck.
In the meantime Potter Palmer had launched out into a trade of his own. He opened a small drapery store in Lake street. At this time both Mr. Field and Mr. Leiter were employed in the wholesale drapery house of Cooley, Wadsworth & Co., the former as a salesman and the latter as office clerk. A firm friendship was established between the three young men, and all made good headway in their several undertakings, the two clerks in the course of a few years becoming partners in the firm they served.
Start of Field, Leiter & Co.
They continued in this partnership until 1865, when they sold their interest to John V. Farwell, and purchased a controlling interest in the business of young Palmer, which was continued for two years under the firm name of Field, Palmer & Leiter. In 1867 Mr. Palmer retired from the firm to follow other lines of money making and for the fourteen years following the business which he had established was carried on with augmented success under the title of Field, Leiter & Co. Of this combination Mr. Field was the merchant and Mr. Leiter the credit man.
When Field and Leiter decided to go into business for themselves they agreed that the west was large enough and wealthy enough to afford ample business for a first class concern such as they proposed to establish. Their motto was “Good goods brings a good class of trade; poor goods a poor class.” They instructed their buyers to buy only the best goods.
In furtherance of this idea Mr. Leiter decided that good merchants could pay promptly and on short time. Up to that time it had been the custom of merchants to extend to their customers a credit of four months. Leiter determined to extend only a sixty day credit, believing that only the best could afford to deal on that basis. Thereby he became known as the father of the short time, prompt paying wholesale business of Chicago.
Retires from Dry Goods Firm.
In 1880 Mr. Leiter, who had been steadily, warily, and silently extending his investments in real estate, began to think that land and buildings had more charm for him than the dry goods business, and intimated to Mr. Field that it might be well to make arrangements for leaving him in sole control of the dry goods business. The result was that on Jan. 1, 1888, Mr. Leiter disposed of his interests in the business. At that time his wealth was estimated at $6,000,000.
Since the firm of Field & Leiter became Marshall Field & Co. rumors have been persistent that there had been a difference between the partners. But the friends of Mr. Leiter tell many stories to show that this difference was more apparent than real.
Helps Stricken Chicago Rise.
While carving out his own fortune Mr. Leiter had helped to buld up Chicago. His greatest philanthropy is associated with the dark days following the fire. The good work that he did in helping to re-establish the business life of Chicago on a sound footing after the fire, restoring the city’s credit, and winning back the confidence of the outside business world, is not alone wrapped up in the rebuilding of the firm of Field & Leiter.
Through his good offices the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance company was prevailed upon not only to open local offices in Chicago after the fire but to make that city one of its working centers. This action resulted in reassuring other companies, and one after another they came back.
As a Public Spirited Citizen.
In 1877 Mr. Leiter took an active and prominent part in the organization of the Commercial club. In January of the following year he was elected its first president. About that time the subject of reviving the Chicago Historical society was under discussion. The society had lost its library, including a collection of valuable documents bearing upon the early history of Chicago, in the fire of ’71. A second fire caused heavy loss in 1874. Mr. Leiter was one of the large subscribers to the fund to erect a new building, his name heading the list.
The Chicago Art Institute was another institution which received Mr Leiter’s financial support. In 1881 he was elected its president, succeeding George Armour, its first president. Mr. Leiter was a contributor to many other organizations, and in later years the American Sunday School union was the chief agency through which he extended his philanthropy.
After his retirement from the active business Mr. Leiter devoted his time to looking after his extensive real estate interests. During the period of his “inactivity” he doubled and tripled his fortune. He built a mansion in Washington and divided his time between the capital, Chicago, and his country house at Lake Geneva, Wis. He also spent considerable time in travel.
Famous Leiter Wheat Deal.
Then came the “Joe” Leiter wheat deal, and the son’s adventures in the wheat market forced the father from his retirement. At the time of Joseph Leiter’s wheat deal Mr. Leiter’s fortune was estimated at from $18,000,000 to $24,000,000.
The wheat deal, which cost the Leiters a fortune, was begun in 1897. It was the great financial crisis in Mr. Leiter’s life. It was so dramatic that it had been made the basis for a novel and a play—”The Pit.” Wheat was boosted in price by the younger Leiter and his followers until the farmers of the west believed the day of their millennium had come. Wheat soared to the $2 mark. When the corner was at its height Mr. Leiter declared that his som had more bushels of Wheat than he had dollars. Then came the crash.1
What That Wheat Deal Cost.
That crash cost Mr. Leiter about $9,750,000, it is estimated. His fortune was so tied up that he was compelled to make a loan for $500,000, Mr. Field endorsing his personal note, to mortgage much of his State street property and to sell that occupied by Schlesinger & Mayer. In making this sale he again turned to his old partner, Marshall Field, to whom he disposed of the property for $2,100,000 cash. Twelve years before he had purchased the land for $212,000. Mr. Leiter is said to have been behind his son in offering to “help out” any one injured by the collapse of the “corner.”
The liquidation of the obligations incurred in the disastrous deal was effected by the sale of real estate, Mr. Leiter’s holdings in the Chicago City railway, the Illinois Trust and Savings bank, the Alley “L,” and other Chicago institutions not being touched. Immediately after the settlement the speculative boom began in the securities market. Out of this advance he is thought to have made about $3,000,000, and the Chicago bankers estimate his fortune at the time of his death at from $12,000,000 to $15,000,000.
His Downtown Real Estate.
Following is a list of the Leiter realty in the business district of Chicago, together with the valuations by the assessors:
The Leiter family, through the marriage of Mary Leiter to Lord Curzon, is known in Indian and English as well as American society. Mrs. Leiter was Mary Theresa Carver of Chicago, the marriage taking place in 1866. The children are Lady Curzon, Nannie and Daisy Leiter, daughters, and the son, Joseph.
Praised by Marshall Field.
The regard with which Mr. Leiter was held by his associated and the representative business men of Chicago was evidenced by the expressions given to The Tribune. Marshall Field declared::
- I am greatly grieved at the news of Mr. Leiter’s death. He and I came to Chicago as boys, he coming in 1854 and I in 1856. We entered the wholesale dry goods house of Cooley, Wadsworth & Co. at the same time, he taking up office work and I outside as salesman.
He showed unusual abilities from the start, and as brother clerks and partners we were together for twenty-five years. His ability grew with his years. Always possessing the highest integrity and good judgement, he attained the success one would naturally expect. He was always a great believer in Chicago, never wanting office, yet always desiring to improve the government. His death is a great loss to the community.
Tribute by H. N. Higinbotham.
Harlow N. Higinbotham, whose desk adjoined Mr. Leiter’s for twenty years and who succeeded him as credit man in the Field firm said:
- Mr. Leiter was a forcible, able and efficient business man. In times gone by when he was in the activities of business life he was abreast of the times in all things. He was an authority in all matters with which he had to deal. He was looked up to as a man of ability. When he spoke it was as a man with deep knowledge of his subject—he was the sort of man that really probed into the depths of every matter—his knowledge was never superficial.
In financial matter he stood high. He was known as the ‘credit partner.’ With him it was business first, last, and all the time. He was a man of severe hours. He believed in doing things himself. While active he stood at the head. His great activity impaired his health.
Chicago Tribune, August 22, 1897
Board of Trade gossip is not the most reliable news in the world, and men have been wrongfully accused ere this of making fortunes in big bulges when they were not guilty. Hence it follows that apologies are hereby tendered to any gentleman who may feel resentment because of his inclusion or exclusion in or from the above table. That large fortunes have been made in the upward movement of the grain market is beyond argument, but, like the foul ball that goes over the grand stand, the spectators of the game usually are too much interested in its progress to watch for what becomes of the ball after it leaves their ken.
“Smart” people on the curb are sure, however, that so and so has made a “killing” on the market, because they know he “got in early” and “staid with it.” If he “got out” surreptitiously, when he should have known better, it was his own fault, of course, and he is given no sympathy. The “I told you so” fellow is in his element at the foot of La Salle street these days.
The old timer on the board will find something interesting to say about each one of the happy number included in the above list. Most of them are men who have devoted a lifetime to the business and their present good luck is more nearly a matter of realized profits on many years of devotion to the business than outsiders will belikely to understand. There is one name, however, which is a striking exception to the rule. This is Joseph Leiter.
A new star of the first magnitude does not appear in the financial firmament every day, and perhaps none has ever risen more auspiciously than that of young Joseph Leiter. His name was unknown on the board six months ago. Now it is spoken with the same sort of awe and respect that R. P. Hutchinson and Ned Pardridge commanded in years gone by. For Joseph Leiter is credited with being the biggest winner in the world, with one possible exception, on this world wide movement in the upward tendency of the price of wheat. Two others share with him this distinction—Charles A. Pillsbury of Minneapolis and B. S. Barnes of St. Louis. But both of the latter are old hands at the game, and their success excites no wonder.
It is one of those moss covered, bifurcated traditions that sons of preachers always turn out badly, and that the sons of rich men never “amount to much.” But the world is full of examples to the contrary. When it first became noised that Leiter was “in the market” one curbstone gossip said the another:
“I hear Leiter is in heavy on the bull market.”
“O, I guess not. The wheat pit has no attractions for Levi Z. Leiter.”
“I mean Joe Leiter.”
“Who the devil is Joe Leiter?”
The profane curbstone orator knew very well who “Joe” Leiter was, but his amazement found no better expression. He had heard of “Joe” Leiter as the son of the one of the richest men Chicago has produced, and perhaps had “tabbed” and labeled Joseph as one of the “sons”—an appellation not uncommonly used persons who do not claim to be “sons” in designating others who do not claim to be “sons” in designating others who have the misfortune to be born with fathers of some note in the world.
It is nevertheless true that Joseph Leiter has been known to the public heretofore chiefly as a society man, who might possibly have an ambition to “burn” money instead of make it, so far as the curbstone and other divisions of the public knew. And when Joseph Leiter appeared on the horizon of the rising wheat market this summer the amazement was greater than if he had been plain “Joe” Smith or “Joe” Johnston.
Mr. Leiter saw a good thing and knew it when he saw it. The fact that he has made $500,000 or $1,000,000—as the gossips say—does not prove that he saw this good thing earlier or appreciated it more highly than others who have made less than 10 per cent of that figure. But it is believed that Mr. Leiter has made thousands where others have made cents, and henceforward he must submit to finding his name mentioned in the samll type market reports as well as in the society chronicles which are embellished with pictures of pretty girls.
Wheat Pit
Chicago Board of Trade, 1887
Of course Mr. Leiter himself does not appear in the wheat pit with disheveled raiment, fighting and gesticulating in the manner from which the galleries derive so much bucolic wonderment. It is doubtful whether he has been within the walls of the Board of Trade during the time that this comfortable little fortune was being piled up by his brokers. A quiet, unostentatious gentleman named George French has been ther, however. Yet even Mr. French has not precipitated himself into the hurly burly of the bit. Mr. French has been Mr. Leiter’s agent in his operations, and Mr. French in turn has dealt with the regular commission houses. There are three of these which are supposed to be carrying the Leiter line of bull wheat, the Allen, Greer & Zellar company, C. B. Congdon & Co., and Norton, Worthington & Co. The firm first mentioned has figured conspicuously in the market reports the last few weeks, and before Mr. Leiter’s name was mentioned in this connection frequent referrals were made to “the Allen-Greer crowd.” Doubtkess there are many persons associated with Mr. Leiter, through common interest, in the bull side of the market, and it was not until recently that Mr. Leiter emerged from the obscurity of an anonymous member of “the Allen-Greer crowd.” Mr. French, who has prospered himself, it is said, by the appreciation in the market quotations, and who is credited with being Mr. Leiter’s alter ego in the business, is a New Yorker, and other New York men are said to be affiliated closely with Mr. Leiter.
It was six months ago when Mr. Leiter first essayed the market. He was a bull then and made money. His brief career on the board has not been entirely a summer’s dream, if reports are to be credited. His September line was sold out at 75 cents to 78 cents, and he went short. But a brief reverse was a mere incentive to greater victories, and when the market got around 80 cents he was back on the bull side, and now is said to hold between 3,000,000 and 5,000,000 bushels on the September option, with an ssured profit on that alone of nearly half a million. He also is said to have made a neat sum in corn.
Among the other notable beneficiaries of Dame Fortune is found in the name of David R. Francis, ex-Governor of Missouri and a member of the Cabinet of former President Grover Cleveland. Mr. Francis is an old hand at the business and has made comfortable fortunes in past years the same way. It is one of the most essential facts inn telling the story that St. Louis and the St. Louis clique with which Mr. Francis is intimately associated were the first to “get in on the ground floor.” They were the biggest bulls at low prices and they have stuck it out through months of uncertainty. In fact, it is asserted that St. Louis and the seaboard have grabbed off the bulk of the profits in the Chicago market this spring and summer, a circumstance which Mr. Leiter’s success does much to balance. It is believed by Chicago operators that B. S. Barnes of St. Louis has made not less than a million dollars on wheat in the last six months. Credit is given more to Mr. Haarstick than to any other, although he may not be among the heaviest plungers, for it is said that the “tip” on which St. Louis has pinned its faith came originally from him. He is the owner of a barge line which transports immense quantities of wheat to Europe, and through his correspondents he had early information of the shortage in the supply of the rest of the world. His information was of such an accurate character that there was no reason to doubt it.
NOTES:
1The Trilogy of the Epic of the Wheat by Frank Norris, includes the following novels:
The Octopus; A Story of California.
The Pit: A Story of Chicago.
The Wolf: A Story of Europe.
These novels, while forming a series, will be in no way connected with ech other save only in their relation to (1) the production, (2) the distribution, (3) the consumption of American Wheat. When complete, they will form the story of a crop of wheat from the time of its sowing as seed in California to the time of Consumption as bread in a village of Western Europe.
The first novel, The Octopus, deals with the war between the wheat grower and the Railroad Trust; the second, The Pit, is a fictitious narrative of a “deal” in the Chicago wheat pit; while the third, The Wolf, will probably have for its pivotal episode the reliving of a famine in an Old World community, Mr. Norris died on Oct. 26, 1902 in San Francisco.
In 1903 The Pit was adopted into a play and into a card game which is still very popular today.
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