Robert Habersham Coleman

Early life

Coleman was born in Savanah, Georgia, the son of Susan Ellen Habersham (1835–1892) and William Coleman (1826–1864). His paternal great-grandfather, Robert Coleman, established an ironmaking dynasty in Cornwall, Pennsylvania in last quarter of the 1700s.

When his father died in 1864, nine-year-old Coleman and his seven-year-old sister Anne jointly inherited 1/3 of the Cornwall Ore Mines in Pennsylvania, as well as $1.2 million each in a trust (equivalent to $24,702,128 in today's money). The Cornwall Ore Mines was"the world's richest iron mine." His r wealth grew during the Civil War because of the need for munitions. Samuel Small, Coleman's guardian, protected the estate through economic crises by investing in farmland and herds of prize livestock. Small also expanded the inherited ironmaking business, purchasing Donaghmore Furnace in Lebanon and constructing the Burd Coleman Furnaces in North Cornwall, Pennsylvania.

Ellen Coleman purchased a residence on Madison Avenue in New York City. The family also spent time in her hometown of Savannah and traveled to England, France, and Germany in the summers. Coleman was educated by his mother. When he was fifteen, he enrolled in the Rectory, a school in Hamden, Connecticut.

Three years later, he attended Trinity College where he became interested in all things mechanical, especially trains. He became class president, president of the chess club, and a member and president of the Fraternity of Delta Psi (aka St. Anthony Hall). He also played first base and was manager of Trinity's baseball team. He was elected by his classmates to give the oratory at the exercises of February 22, 1877. He graduated from Trinity in 1877, next to last in his class academically—but he was selected as most popular. His popularity was probably influenced by "his generous parties, dances, sports, and musical pursuits."

When he turned 21 in 1877, Coleman received access to his trust fund. He also gained full ownership and control of the mines, iron furnaces, and land—his total inheritance was worth an estimate $7 million (equivalent to $211,640,625 in today's money).

Career

Iron business

In 1879 at the age of 22, Coleman became president of the Cornwall Ore Bank Company and quickly proved to be "a man of brains and enterprise." He was the fourth-generation in his family to manage the Cornwall Iron Furnace, in Cornwall, Pennsylvania.

Coleman was influenced by the new manager of the Cornwall Ironworks, Artemus Wilhelm, who was a risk-taker. In 1879, he acquired land in western Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and began constructing two modern anthracite furnaces, Colebrook I and Colebrook II, at Sixteenth and Cumberland Streets. He also worked to create the Lebanon Iron Company which utilized the raw material created in his furnaces. In 1883, he closed the old family Cornwall Furnace that was obsolete. He also bought all of his sister's shares in the family business. No longer needing a mentor, he terminated Wilhelm's services in 1885.

In 1889, work stopped at Colebrook Furnace I for several months after six men were killed there. Coleman took care of the widows and children. By December 1889, all six of his furnaces were back in operation.

Railroads

In 1881, Coleman attempted to purchase a controlling interest in the Cornwall Railroad (CRR) which was owned by his uncle-by-marriage, William Coleman Freeman. The CRR was an industrial line that served the Coleman mines and furnaces. Freeman turned Coleman down—twice. Freeman had also turned down the Pennsylvania Railroad's offer the year before, but Coleman must have taken Freeman's refusal hard as this was "the inciting incident in what has long been reported as a personal and business rivalry between the two cousins."

In 1882, Coleman built the Cornwall & Lebanon Railroad (C&L) at his own expense. He also founded the Colebrook Railroad, merging it with the C&L in 1886. To build the C&L, Coleman had to cross the CRR, which ended up in litigation and a lot of expenses, including building a large fill and iron bridge over the Cornwall. At one point, Freeman brought in 250 men to tear up 400 feet (120 m) of a newly constructed C&L branch, dumping its materials over a steep embankment. Coleman eventually won the court cases and his railroad was more profitable than his cousin's because it served both industries and passengers and connected to the Pennsylvania Railroad at Conewago Junction near Cornwall. In 1880, Pennsylvania was the largest railroad in the world.

The rivalry between the two cousins continued. One historian notes, "Often the passenger trains of the Cornwall Railroad and the Cornwall & Lebanon Railroad would race each other from Cornwall to Lebanon. One train would sometimes delay its schedule to wait for the other—and then the race was on! This must have been a great thrill for the more hardy passengers. I have been told that Mr. Robert Coleman himself took over the engineer's job on a few occasions to race."

Coleman maintained his trains with "fierce pride, making sure that metal remained polished and the interiors spotless." In 1885, he hired architects G. W. & W. D. Hewitt to design a Queen Ann style railroad station in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Coleman's seventeen-mile long railroad started in Lebanon and went to Cornwall and Elizabethtown. Along the way, it passed through a scenic wooded area in the mountains along Conewago Creek. There in 1882, Coleman created Mount Gretna, a pleasure stop on the railroad.

Initially, Mount Gretna offered visitors a picnic grove with wildflowers and natural springs. Although Mount Gretna gave people another reason to ride his railroad, Coleman was still competitive with Freeman who had previously created a pleasure resort, Penryn Park. In a few years, Coleman added a hotel, pavilions, a playground, an amusement park with a carousel, a store, a dance hall, and a skating rink to Mount Gretna. In 1885, Coleman dammed Conewago Creek, creating Lake Conewago for swimming and boating.

Other businesses

Coleman tackled his family's farms in Lancaster County, Lebanon County, and York County, Pennsylvania which consisted of 25,000 acres (10,000 ha). He modernized production and marketing, increasing profits. He founded a rolling mill. He also acquired a majority interest in the Lebanon Dimes Savings Bank and built a new building at 8th and Cumberland Streets in Lebanon.

Collapse

Around 1891, the Coleman family lost a lawsuit against the Grubb family—descendants of the original builder of Cornwall Furnace who still owned one-sixth of the ironworks and mines—who had been taking increasingly more ore without compensating the Colemans. Later in 1891, Coleman lost $1.5 million (equivalent to $53,750,000 in today's money) to the Pennsylvania Trust Company in court, indicating that his short-term loans related to the railroad in Florida were then past due.

When the financial Panic of 1893 started in November 1892 and the stock market virtually collapsed, Coleman was without the cash needed to repay his various mortgages for the Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Railway. When foreclosure proceedings started, he had no choice but to let the railroad go as his liabilities totaled $3.5 million (equivalent to $125,416,667 in today's money) . However, its sale took place during the height of the economic depression, and the company was rendered valueless. Ironically, Coleman's vision for the Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Railway was sound; within five years, it was profitable and would have made him millions. However, being over-leveraged, he was instead made penniless. Coleman also lost the Cornwall & Lebanon Railroad during the crisis; about 1/3 of the nation's railroads went into bankruptcy during this time.

Coleman then lacked the funds to pay employees to operate the iron mines and furnaces. He closed the Cornwall Furnace forever on February 11, 1883. Next, the Lebanon Dimes Savings Bank began to teeter. Coleman attempted to keep the bank afloat by paying its creditors with his funds. He would have been successful if not for another court case where he lost $2 million (equivalent to $71,666,667 in today's money) to the Pennsylvania Trust Company in August 1893. This destroyed what was left of Coleman's fortune. When he could no longer cover the bank's debts, it collapsed in late August 1893, taking its depositors' savings. In September 1893, the last operating Coleman furnace also closed.

Coleman's bankruptcy assignee was the Pennsylvania Company for Insurance on Lives and Granting Annuities. In On May 14, 1894, the Lackawanna Iron Company of Scranton, Pennsylvania purchased Coleman's mines and furnaces for a reported $3 million (equivalent to $111,634,615 in today's money), with a third of that being in cash. Their purchase included a 15% share in the Cornwall ore banks, two Cornwall anthracite furnaces, a 125 acres (51 ha) farm connected to the ore banks and the controlling interest in the Cornwall & Lebanon Railroad. The assignee said this sale would pay for all of Coleman's debts.

Philanthropy

When he gained control of his trust fund in 1877, Coleman made a $10,000 (equivalent to $302,344 in today's money) gift to the York Collegiate Institute in honor of his former guardian, Samuel Small Sr. Small, a wealthy banker in New York City, managed the Coleman siblings' trusts without compensation for sixteen years. In 1877, Coleman also donated $25,000 (or $755,859 in today's money) toward a $28,000 chapter house for his fraternity of St. Anthony Hall—while he was still a student at Trinity. The new Saint Anthony Hall chapter house was designed by architect and fraternity brother J. Cleaveland Cady and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

When he graduated from Trinity in June 1877, Coleman paid for a "magnificent ball" on the college's new campus. In 1878, he donated a large organ to Trinity College. Around 1883, Coleman was one of two major donors for the construction of Alumni Hall, a new gymnasium for Trinity. The gym was dedicated in 1887 and used until it burned in 1967. Coleman also served three terms as a trustee of Trinity College.

In 1879, with funding from the Coleman family, the construction of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Lebanon, Pennsylvania was underway. In 1880, Coleman paid for its completion. Designed by Henry Martyn Congdon of New York City, the church was consecrated in October 1880 in memory of his late wife Lillie. This Ruskinian gothic style church was built of grey stone and included a 100 feet (30 m)tall tower, seating for 500 people, floor tiles from Valencia, and a hydraulic engine in its basement to supply air for the organ. Later, Coleman provided funds to build a church in Mt. Pleasant, the village attached to the Colebrook Furnace. Called Trinity Chapel, its cornerstone was laid on May 27, 1888.

Coleman directed a portion of his wealth to support his 5,000 workers and their families. He built houses and schools for his workers. He paid their hospital bills. He also organized regular outings for employees. At Christmas, each employee received a bonus check, and each Cornwall family was given a turkey and toys for the children.

In 1887, Coleman donated musical instruments to the Perseverance Band of Lebanon. He ordered the finest instruments available from Paris and Germany, including a bassoon, euphonium, concert flute, two French horns, an oboe, an alto saxophone, a bass saxophone, a soprano saxophone, and a tenor saxophone.

Personal

On January 15, 1879, Coleman married Jennie Lillie Clarke (1853–1880) in Hartford, Connecticut. She was the foster daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lucius Barbour of Hartford, and the daughter of the late Sylvester Clarke who had been a clergyman in New Haven Connecticut. The couple spent their honeymoon traveling in a private railroad car, returning to live with the Coleman family house in Lebanon. This was a temporary arrangement, as Coleman hired William Bleddyn Powell, a Philadelphia architect to plan their new home. In 1879, the three-year construction project began on Cornwall Hall, on his family property in Lebanon.

On November 8, 1879, the couple sailed on a six-month trip to Europe where they planned on purchasing furnishings for Cornwall Hall. Lillie became ill with malaria in February, and they went to Italy for its curative climate. When she did not recover, they traveled to France for doctors. Lillie died in Paris on May 10, 1880. Her body was returned to Pennsylvania and entombed in the crypt underneath the altar at St. Luke’s in Lebanon, that was dedicated in her honor. In his grief, Coleman stopped work on Cornwall Hall and ordered that it be razed, obliterating "every trace of what was intended" in two weeks.

Coleman married Edith Elliott Johnstone (1858–1903) on October 1, 1884. Edith was an orphan from Savannah, Georgia that Coleman's family adopted during the Civil War. Not only did the Coleman and Edith grow up together, she had also been Lillie's bridesmaid. They had five children: Robert Coleman Jr. (born 1885), William Cassatt Coleman (born 1886), Ralph Elliott Coleman (born 1888), Neyle Habersham Coleman (born 1889), and Annie Caroline Coleman (born 1890).

The family lived in Elizabeth Farms, the house built by Coleman's great-grandfather, located near the Cornwall Iron Furnace facility in Cornwall, Pennsylvania. They decorated their home with furniture from Napoleon's palace and relics from Pompeii and Herculaneum. Around 1886, Coleman added a stable, designed by architect William Bleddyn Powell, that was large enough for nineteen horses and several carriages, with rooms above for grooms and attendants. Other additions to the estate included greenhouses, dog kennels, a swimming pool, bowling alleys, and Coleman's workshop where he tinkered and ran model trains. Coleman, who was a talented musician, also added a music hall or conservatory in 1887, along with pianos and a $10,000 ($358,333 in today's money) pipe organ with three manuals, fifty stops, and 2,000 pipes. This organ was said to be the finest work of its maker, the Rosewalt Pipe Organ Company of New York.

Honors

Trinity College presented a loving cup to Coleman during commencement week in May 1890 in honor of his generous support.

The Trinity chapter of Delta Psi made Coleman an active member for life, meaning his name was always at the top of their membership list in the Trinity yearbook.

In the chapter room of Saint Anthony Hall at Trinity College, the fireplace has a brass plaque honoring Coleman.

In 1932, Margaret Coleman Freeman Buckingham donated the Cornwall Iron Furnace with its stone furnace, steam-powered air-blast machinery, and related buildings to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This site is a museum and National Historic Landmark District.