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Lewis Ginter
Richmond's Gilded Age Icon
Brian Burns
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eBook - ePub
Lewis Ginter
Richmond's Gilded Age Icon
Brian Burns
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About This Book
A biography of the nineteenth-century influential Richmond businessman.
As a Confederate war hero, philanthropist and entrepreneur, Lewis Ginter was many things to Richmond. Performing integral missions for "Stonewall" Jackson and Robert E. Lee, Ginter was commended for gallantry on the battlefield and became affectionately known as the "Fighting Commissary." After the war, Ginter was the first major marketer of the hand-rolled cigarette in America. He developed one of America's first streetcar suburbs and built the magnificent Jefferson Hotel, a symbol of Richmond's ambition and prosperity. But beyond the well-known history of this River City icon, there are many aspects of his personal and professional life that few know about. Join local writer Brian Burns as he delves into the hidden history of Ginter's extraordinary life to fill in the gaps between Ginter the man and Ginter the legend.
"By using many original sources, [Burns] writes of details of Ginter's life that even longtime Richmond-history buffs may not know." â Richmond Times-Dispatch
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BetriebswirtschaftSubtopic
WirtschaftsbiographienChapter 1
Ascent
Apale, lonely looking young man stood in the doorway of his little toyshop on cobblestoned Main Street in antebellum Richmond, hoping that someoneâanyoneâwould venture in. Above the door was a sign painted with his name: Lewis Ginter.
It was autumn in the mid-1840s. Although the quaint, one-of-a-kind shop was in the heart of the capitalâs business district, business was slow. It had been slow for weeks, ever since he hung his shingle on the door. All the elements of supply and demand appeared to be in place. Heâd created a most beautiful display of special toys in his window, and there was an abundance of playful children in this small city on seven hills. The trouble, heâd discovered, was the competition. The grown-ups were buying toys for the children at the dry goods stores, and the little boys and girls were getting some themselves at the confectionaries, where the smell of cakes and candy drew them inside as if under a spell.
Slim yet attractive, Lewis Ginter had a kind, oval face that bespoke his Dutch ancestry. His nose was very nearly straight. About twenty-one years oldâthe age of majority in the Southâhe stood just five feet, five inches tall. There in his doorway, with his brown hair neatly combed, his hazel eyes stared off into space. This was more than a tad frightening. He didnât know how to get things moving.
Just then, Lewis saw a group of little children sauntering by his shop and glancing toward his window. Shepherding them was their mammy, in a plain dress. The children started jumping up and down while tugging at their caregiver. Lewisâs heart pounded. A few moments later, the ebony-skinned woman guided the group of little ones toward his door.
Courteously clearing a path, Lewis cheerfully welcomed them all in. The childrenâs eyes widened with wonder as they scanned the shelves of toys. This was fantasyland. Everywhere there were toys, each one pure and simple but of every kind that a childish heart could desire.
Lewis directed the smiling childrenâs attention to the low counter, where he was piling a big collection of toys on top. Each was in its own pasteboard box with a glass window in front. Among the adorable characters were a fairy-like dancer, a bear and a monkey. As the children watched intently, Lewis appeared to make a magical wave of the hands and a quick jostle of the toy boxes, setting the characters into motion. In a split second, the whole counter came alive with a miniature circus. The children giggled in amazement.
More children came into the shop with their mammies and stepped up to the counter to see the show. Without missing a beat, Lewis piled more toys on the counter. There were seesaws, teetering and tottering. Miniature band organs that would make sweet melodies as long as their crank was turned. Whole troops of tin soldiers. Wooden-jointed dolls that could sit down, lie down or stand up. Dolls tucked snugly in their cradles that would cry if they were rocked.
Later, one of the little girls was captivated beyond her wildest dreams when Lewis placed a beautiful, waxen doll in her arms. He gently pointed out that it had blue eyes and golden curls, just like her own. But this doll was unlike any Richmond had ever seen: its eyes could open and shut.
Lewis Ginter had worked his magic, indeedâthe whole crowd left his shop that day with their arms full of toys. Itâs been said that he even sacrificed his profits just to make the children happy. Little did young Ginter know that he would one day become one of the Southâs business titans and, through his generosity, the most beloved man in his adopted city.
It was the spring of 1842 when the precocious, seventeen-year-old Lewis Ginter arrived from New York City seeking his fortune. Orphaned since the age of ten, he had been talked into coming to the small city of Richmond by a close friend, John C. Shafer. A meek and mild sort with dark hair, Shafer was about four years older than Ginter.
Once Ginter and Shafer arrivedâwhether by stagecoach, train or steamerâthey knew at once that they were in the South. The air was delightfully softâquite a difference from the raw and fickle weather of New York. The leaves of spring gave a vibrant green cast to the landscape. Magnolia blossoms perfumed the air.
After collecting their luggage, the two were free to explore. More important than anything Ginter may have brought with him, whether he knew it or not, were his intellect, artistic eye and burning desire for success.
The pair were met with a simpler, more tranquil scene than that of today. On Richmondâs grid of streets were the occasional horse and carriage, and most of the streets had no paving. A languid town of only twenty-two thousand people, Richmond was a refreshing change from the mad, hectic Northern metropolis that Ginter and Shafer left behind.
John C. Shafer, the man who brought Lewis Ginter to Richmond. Photo by E.J. Rees & Co., Richmond. Valentine Richmond History Center.
But this one-hundred-year-old city had a liveliness all its own. It was centered on the gleaming Capitol Building, which stood in stately grandeur on the brow of Shockoe Hill. On the Capitolâs southern side was a handsome portico with towering Roman columns overlooking the river and the city. It was undeniably the pride of Richmond.
Thomas Jefferson designed the edifice in 1785, based on an ancient Roman temple in Nimes, France, the Maison Carree. So moved by the classic, columned building at first sight, he had positively âfallen in love.â Using it as inspiration for the Capitol Building was part of his campaign âto improve the taste of my countrymen, to increase their reputation, to reconcile to them the respect to the world, and procure them its praise.â
Soon, Lewis Ginter would positively idolize this architect, philosopher and statesman named Thomas Jeffersonâthat is, if he didnât already.
By the time Ginter and his friend arrived in Richmond, Jeffersonâs influence was already spreading throughout the city. Greek Revival houses built in the early 1800s were simple but dignified, frequently occupying a quarter of a square. Predominantly brick or stucco, they featured classic details like columned porticos or porches and cornices with heavy brackets or dentil molding. Scattered throughout the city were numerous churches in Greek Temple style with their steeples towering above the cityscape.
The Capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson. Ginter would come to idolize the statesman and arts lover. Library of Virginia.
Ginter and Shafer couldnât help but be enchanted by the city, situated as it was along the curving bank of the James River. It was as pretty as a picture. With the river flowing over granite ledges amid waving hills and valleys, it was as if Mother Nature had said, There shall be a city there.
Richmond also had a rich history, and history can have a beauty all its own for men like Lewis Ginter. In the early eighteenth century, the land was owned by Colonel William Byrd II. He first conceived the plan of laying out his lands for a town, which he did in 1733, and Richmond was established as a town by the General Assembly of Virginia in May 1742.
Richmond held the distinction of being center stage in laying the foundation for American democracy. It was in Richmond that Patrick Henry delivered his eloquent âGive me liberty or give me deathâ speech at St. Johnâs Church in 1775. Richmond was where the U.S. Constitution was ratified, and it was also where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1779. Ginterâs generation revered their Revolutionary forebears.
The cityâs business quarter was on Main Street, with a hodgepodge of shops, banks, residences, hotels, carriage factories and sawmills. On the north side of Main, between Sixth and Seventh Streets, stood a large and hospitable-looking boardinghouse called the Edgemont. Ginter and Shafer couldnât afford such luxury, however, and found a room to share in the residence of a nice gentleman named John F. Alvey.
Soon after Ginter and his friend arrived in Richmond, they knew deep down insideâthis was home. Like many businessmen and capitalists who came before them, they could see the cityâs economic advantages. In the way of manufacturing, the James River and Kanawha Canal connected the city to the outlying countryside rich in mineral resources, as well as farmland producing immense quantities of tobacco, wheat and corn, all ripe for trade. And the riverâs unlimited waterpower made the city well suited for milling, as seen by Richmondâs flour, cotton and paper mills.
When Ginter first settled in the quaint city, he took a job as a clerk in a hardware store. But with a keen intelligence and unbridled ambition, he was looking onward and upward.
AN APPETITE FOR SUCCESS
Each night at closing time, the table was empty.2
Shortly after that special day when young Lewis Ginter dazzled the crowd at his toy store with his miniature circus, things began looking up for him through the kindness of a fellow Richmonder. Known simply as Mrs. Clopton, she was the wife of prominent Judge John Bacon Clopton. In those days, Richmondâs churches each held a fancy fair during the winter in the courtroom of the city hall at Broad and Eleventh Streets, and Mrs. Clopton was the keeper of the âpost officeâ at the fairs. Sheâd heard about the poor, friendless, young shopkeeper, soâwith that renowned Richmond hospitalityâshe offered to add a toy table to the fair.
Every day, young Ginter would bring his toys and arrange them artistically on the beautifully decorated table, all ready for the fair attendants. Each toy was ticketed at a price that would give the fair, as well as himself, a fair profit. Each night at closing time, the table was empty.
The fair organizers also fashioned an exhibit of mechanical toys, with the tiny booth staffed by a group of little girls. The exhibition money went to the fair, and the toy was raffled off at closing time for the benefit of young Ginter. It was here at these festive fairs that Richmonders became acquainted with Ginterâs shop. Before winterâs end, business was brisk and prosperous in the little toyshop on Main Street with âLewis Ginterâ over the door.3
A scrupulous entrepreneur from the start, Ginter was focused on building up his business. With a âretiringâ personality, he âcared little for gaiety, nothing for what was known as society life,â4 so most Richmonders knew very little about him. To widen the appeal of his store, Ginter decided to add ânotionsâ to his shelvesâan assortment of small products like needles, buttons and thread.
With good instincts in business and an eye for beauty, Ginter fine-tuned his approach again, offering the very things sought after by Richmondâs cultivated society.
By 1845, about three years after young Lewis Ginter first arrived in Richmond, he had accumulated enough capital to branch out into the house furnishing business. His shop was on the south side of Main Street, near Fifteenth. It was called the Variety Store.
The neat and pretty shop dealt in fancy goods, jewelry, clocks, woodenware, fanciful combs and brushes and the like. With a knack for attractive merchandising, Ginter âdisplayed in an imminent degree that exquisite taste and love of the beautiful in the number, variety, and arrangement of the pretty things he collected and exhibited for sale,â said a newspaper of his day.5
He had more experience in this game than his young, innocent face suggested. While growing up in New York, he had sought work at a young age, and his artistic sensibilities led him to stores where fancy articles and art fabrics were for sale. At the tender age of nineteen, heâd taken his first trip to Europe from Richmond to purchase clocks and other fine merchandise. This was at a time when steamships like the RMS Britannia, with their paddle wheels, took a full three weeks to make the crossing.
Another one of Ginterâs priceless qualities was his off-the-charts energy level, both physically and mentally. The most focused of workers, he seemed to be ârestless and dissatisfied unless engaged in some active work.â6 Just in his early twenties, it was clear: this man was going somewhere.
Ad for Ginterâs store in the 1845â46 city directory. Valentine Richmond History Center.
ENTERING RICHMOND SOCIETY
Little excuse was needed to bring people together where every one was social, and where the great hono...