Jonas Gilman Clark was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He had a successful career and was involved in various kinds of business ventures.
Background
Jonas Gilman Clark was born on February 01, 1815, at Hubbardston, Massachusetts, United States, the son of Elizabeth and William Smith Clark. He was a descendant of Hugh Clark, who settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, early in the seventeenth century.
Education
Clark received a common school education.
Career
From sixteen to twenty-one Clark served an apprenticeship in the carriage-maker’s trade and after he came of age he set up for himself in the manufacturing of carriages, exchanging his product with the nearby farmers for hard wood that he made into chairs to sell in Boston and elsewhere for cash. Later he found the tinware business profitable and opened hardware stores at Lowell and Milford; but in 1853 he sold these and engaged in the shipping of furniture and other goods to California and the selling of miners’ supplies during the gold excitement in that state. He accumulated money and invested it in San Francisco and New York real estate. A temporary breakdown in health caused him to take a European trip.
Clark became a member of the famous Vigilantes, organized to put down lawlessness in San Francisco, and was one of the five men who formed the Union League of California during the Civil War, thus cooperating with those who were active in holding the state loyal to the Union. During and after the war he invested heavily in government bonds. His investments in New York and Boston real estate were increasingly profitable.
During the fifteen years following the Civil War he lived much of the time in New York City, and in 1881, he sold to John D. Rockefeller nine lots on Fifth Ave. , New York City, at a profit of over sixty-six per cent. A series of journeys to Europe opened Clark’s eyes to some of the benefits of schooling to the individual and the state. As his contacts with educated men increased there, gradually took form in his mind certain more or less definite plans for a contribution to higher education in America. These began with nothing more ambitious than a scheme to enable young men in Massachusetts towns to have the advantage of college training at lower cost than was possible in existing New England colleges. Conversations with President Eliot of Harvard, President White of Cornell, and other university authorities expanded these ideas as time went on.
In 1880 Clark became a resident of Worcester, Massachusetts, and soon decided that the school or schools which he intended to found should be in that city. During eight years he spent all his leisure time in visiting foreign universities and technical schools. The purpose to found an institution that should aim definitely at the expansion of knowledge came to possess his mind. By 1887 he was ready to name his board of trustees and to announce the founding of Clark University. His original gifts for this purpose, including notes and buildings and grounds, totaled $1, 000, 000—the largest amount ever given in New England, up to that time, by any individual for education. The university was to be, in the words of its founder, “without any religious, political or social tests. ”
The corner-stone of the first building was laid in October 1887; in the following year Dr. G. Stanley, of Johns Hopkins University, was called to the presidency, and on October 2, 1889, the institution was formally opened. The members of the faculty brought to their tasks an unusual zest, which quickly gave the infant university a renown that became more than national. Yet for an institution that promised and attempted great things the available money resources were painfully inadequate. The founder’s extreme reticence and refusal to take his trustees into his confidence helped to bring about a situation that appeared to president, trustees, and faculty alike as nothing less than tragic. After the death of Clark in 1900, however, it was found that his will left the residue of his estate to the University and provided for the establishment of Clark College.
Achievements
Connections
Early in life Clark married Susan Wright of Hubbardston, who was a most loyal and helpful companion throughout his career. She was devotedly interested in the University and herself founded fellowships and scholarships in it.