Crossed Paths

 Matthew Laflin, Successful Businessman and Philanthropist

Matthew Laflin

Matthew Laflin was born in Southwick, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1803. He worked with his brothers on his family's farm and attended school whenever possible. The Laflin family had deep roots in gunpowder; Matthew's grandfather manufactured saltpeter (sodium/potassium nitrate) for the Massachusetts militia during the Revolutionary War, and he built a gunpowder mill in Southwick. Matthew's father also owned a gunpowder mill. When his father purchased a woolen textile mill, Matthew learned that business, too. (Following his grandfather's death in 1810, the Laflin Powder Company was greatly expanded, eventually becoming the Laflin & Rand Powder Company, later acquired by DuPont.)

Matthew took a strong interest in the family's gunpowder business, becoming a traveling salesman and earning a good amount of money, despite his first year in business ending with $800 in debt after his cargo exploded, killing his two horses and destroying his wagon.

He later partnered with one of his brothers and an in-law to manufacture gunpowder on a much larger scale. While searching for new markets, Matthew heard about the Illinois and Michigan Canal project and immediately headed west, hoping to sell blasting powder to the waterway's builders, which he did. However, work on the shipping route was halted for some time due to a financial crisis that the State of Illinois found itself in related to the Panic of 1837.
 
Matthew visited Chicago several times before permanently relocating there in 1837; on March 4 of that same year, Chicago was incorporated as a city. He started purchasing property around the city to capitalize on the country's westward expansion.

Matthew put his trust in the future of Chicago real estate; his excellent judgment of real estate values and his unwavering confidence in that city's future generated great wealth. (He bought nine acres for $900 and lived to see it make him more than $400,000.)

Around 1848-9, Matthew made real estate his primary focus, buying and controlling large tracts of land. He opened Chicago's first privately owned stockyard, the Bull's Head Market. Banking on the market's success, he built the Bull's Head Tavern and Hotel so the cattleman had a convenient place to stay. That led to him creating that city's first omnibus line, transferring guests to and from the hotel and stockyard. (Matthew was also part of a group that created Chicago's first waterworks system, which used wooden pipes.)

Being a man of outstanding character, Matthew was well esteemed and loved throughout the Windy City, who, to honor his generous nature and many contributions, named a street after him sometime before 1857. (Bad press seemingly had no impact on the public's view of Matthew, even when the newly established Internal Revenue Service publicly stated in 1863 that Chicago's richest man had no income.)

Mat Laflin Watch by Elgin

Matthew took an interest in various companies, including American Express, where he invested heavily. He was an original shareholder of the Elgin National Watch Company, sitting on their board of directors from 1868 to 1887. Over the years, the company released several pocket watches in his name that would become best-sellers as part of their Mat Laflin Collection, with the first "Mat Laflin" stamped watch released on January 2, 1868. (Matthew had about $10,000 worth of stocks and bonds stolen from his office on March 10, 1862.)

When the Great Chicago Fire (October 8–10, 1871) consumed the Chicago Academy of Sciences' museum and library, Matthew, through his son George, contributed $75,000, or three-fourths of the proposed neo-classical replacement building's $100,000 price tag. After it opened on October 31, 1894, the Academy's grand new home was named the Matthew Laflin Memorial Building. Today, the building houses the administrative offices of the Lincoln Park Zoo. (At Matthew's request, the Academy kept his gift a secret, but someone leaked the millionaire capitalist's name to the press on November 22, 1892. In addition to secrecy, Matthew made the following stipulations: the new building must be strictly fireproof, built in a location accessible to the poor, and open to the public seven days a week, free of charge.) 

Matthew Laflin Memorial Building

Greenwood Mine Scandal

In 1884, Matthew purchased a two-thirds interest in a new mining operation in the Black Hills from "Professor" Joseph Taylor of London for $100,000 on the allegation that the mine was rich in gold. He spent more money building a 120-stamp mill and digging an open pit mine. The Greenwood Gold Mining and Milling Company processed three thousand tons of ore before yielding its first portions of gold in January 1885, valued at about $5.

Matthew secured Taylor's arrest when the rock proved worthless, and a judge held him on $15,000 bail. Shortly after that, Matthew discovered that Taylor had swindled him. He filed a civil suit against Taylor, claiming the Englishman lied about the purchase price and pocketed the $43,000 difference. Things turned ugly as the case played out in open court, and Taylor filed a $200,000 defamation of character suit against Matthew, who prevailed in the court of public opinion.  

Matthew, one of the oldest and wealthiest Chicagoans, appeared tranquil as he sat in his armchair with his arms folded on May 20, 1897. He was 93 and worth $5 million when he passed away peacefully at about four-thirty that afternoon.

William Warren Boyington, Noted Architect

William Boyington

William Warren Boyington was born in Southwick, Massachusetts, on July 22, 1818. As a young man, his family relocated to nearby Springfield, where he learned carpentry under his father's tutelage.  At about age thirteen, an interest in architecture took him to New York City. He invested in architecture books and used every opportunity to learn architectural science and engineering before returning to Springfield to engage in his family's construction business. (He was also involved in politics, having served in the state legislature.)

Fire destroyed Boyington's office, consuming his tools, portfolios, and materials. Undiscouraged, he brought in partners with capital and rebuilt bigger and better.

Decreet, Boyington, & Co. had an extensive outfit in Springfield until a fire broke out in their planing mill on November 22, 1850. The fire destroyed the mill, the sash and blind shop, the carpentry shop, the engine house, and the lumber shed. The buildings were underinsured, and the company struggled due to mounting losses from the fire compounded by a dip in the economy, which forced it to suspend payments in early 1852. (The fire also impacted two neighboring businesses, claiming one and damaging the other.)

Columbus Memorial Building

The recession of 1853 hit Boyington's construction firm hard, so he moved to Chicago, where he became a well-respected architect, designing some of the most prestigious and extensive buildings before the Great Chicago Fire, which destroyed most of them.

Arguably, his most famous creation is the Chicago Water Tower and Pumping Station, which survived the Great Fire and remains a revered landmark today.

Boyington designed a multitude of churches, hotels, and private residences across the country. Some of his other more famous designs include the Hegeler Carus Mansion, the old Chicago Board of Trade building (1882 - 1929), the Illinois State Penitentiary (later renamed Joliet Prison;  1858 - 2002), the Illinois building at the World's Fair, the Queen Anne-style Wells Street Station of the Chicago and North-Western Railway (demolished 1910), the elegant Crosby Opera House (lost to the Great Fire), the magnificent royal palace like Windsor Hotel (Montreal, Canada), and the Grand Pacific Hotel (burned in the Great Fire before construction was complete).

Boyington also designed a convention center in Chicago called Wigwam, where Abraham Lincoln
received the Republican nomination when the party held its national convention there in 1860. The massive wood-framed structure, with a capacity of 10,000, was lost during the Great Fire. (Wigwam was the first structure in the country built specifically for a presidential convention and the first to feature onsite telegraph machines.)

As one of the three architects credited with the (new) state capitol building in Springfield, Illinois, Boyington's primary task was overseeing the completion of the stalled project. (The other architects were John C. Cochrane and Alfred H. Piquenard.)

Millionaire real estate investor Matthew Laflin hired Boyington for several projects, including completing designs for a new building in 1872, the intended use of which would be by large wholesale businesses. (When the Illinois Legislature approved constructing a new state house in 1867, Matthew, with lots of support from taxpayers, attempted to stop the project by filing a lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of the legislature's action.)

Chicago Board of Trade

The Great Chicago Fire destroyed roughly 17,450 buildings, including Boyington's home and office. The fire claimed Boyington's private papers, professional books, and an impressive library of miscellaneous works and articles, setting him back some $60,000. He immediately constructed a new house and started rebuilding his library until another fire broke out in 1874.

Having lost two of his residences in Chicago to fire in near rapid succession, Boyington moved to Highland Park, Illinois, where he served as mayor for two consecutive terms and built a beautiful home featuring a conservatory to showcase his love for cultivating flowers.

Boyington designed the Central Union Depot in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the summer of 1881. His planned terminal proved too grand, and the railroad scaled the project back extensively.

One of Boyington's final works was the Columbus Memorial Building, built in 1893 to capitalize on the World's Columbian Exposition. Leaving out no detail, he made the building awe-inspiring inside and out, with historical mosaics, solid bronze metalwork, solid mahogany woodwork, and the finest imported marble. (The building was razed in 1959.)

The prolific architect died in his Highland Park home on October 16, 1898; he was one of the town's oldest and wealthiest residents. He was interred at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago, which was fitting since he designed the cemetery's castellated Gothic-style limestone entrance. (Built-in 1864, Chicago designated Rosehill's entrance as a local historic landmark on October 16, 1980.)

Boyington's legacy lives on. A fanciful log cabin mansion he designed in 1893 recently sold for $3 million. And a Victorian he created in 1855 was listed at $975,000.

 

Chicago Water Tower and Pumping Station (circa 1892)

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This story appeared in the December 2023 issue of Southwoods

Author's Note: This short biographical-style story briefly touches on the lives of two remarkable men from Southwick while highlighting some of their many accomplishments. Interested readers are encouraged to explore more about their life and legacy.

 

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