Background
He was born in Richmond, Indiana, the son of John M. Westcott, who was the founder and president of the Hoosier Drill Company, a noted manufacturer of farm implements.
He was born in Richmond, Indiana, the son of John M. Westcott, who was the founder and president of the Hoosier Drill Company, a noted manufacturer of farm implements.
DePauw University; Swarthmore College.
Educated at DePauw University and Swarthmore College, Burton Westcott proved a capable executive and eventually rose to become treasurer of the Hoosier Drill Company. A 1903 corporate merger involving Hoosier Drill, Superior Drill, and several other firms created the American Seeding Machine Company. Its executive offices were located in Springfield on the southwest corner of Liberty Avenue and Plum Street.
That year Burton Westcott, newly elected treasurer of the corporation, arrived to make his home in Springfield.
lieutenant was a position he would hold for the next twenty-one years. Years in Springfield, Ohio
The elder Westcott continued to prefer horses to motor cars, and, in 1916, Burton Westcott brought the Westcott Motor Carolina Company to Springfield, presiding over the firm as president until 1924.
Hand-assembled from parts manufactured elsewhere, the Westcott motor car was produced in large buildings, valued at more than $150,000, on Warder Street. He served on the Springfield Town Council from 1916 to 1922.
He was elected president of the Town Council in 1921, a position equivalent to mayor.
Westcott"s home, Westcott House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, has been restored as a museum in Springfield. Passing
The Westcott Motor Carolina Company was placed in receivership in January 1925, and was sold at auction to a syndicate of local Springfield businessmen in April of that year. After a series of illnesses, Burton Westcott died in his home on East High Street on January 10, 1926.
A staunch Republican, he had admirers from both political parties, and there was general agreement that he helped to curb fairly widespread corruption in the city"s administrative affairs, thereby placing Springfield on a firm financial foundation.
Westcott was an early member of the Springfield Country Club and a director of the Lagonda National Bank.