Among his innovations was the electro-pneumatic action, Diaphone pipes and the modern Tibia Clausa with its strong 8’ flute tone. The Tibia eventually became a staple of theatre organs. Hope-Jones organs were also noted for such innovations as stop tabs instead of draw knobs and very high wind pressures of 10” – 50” to imitate orchestral instruments. He also used a system of unification which multiplied considerably the number of stops relative to the number of ranks.

Between 1887 and 1911, his company employed 112 workers at its peak, producing 246 organs. But shortly after merging his organ business with Wurlitzer in 1914, he committed suicide in Rochester, New York, frustrated by his new association with the Wurlitzer Company, it is said. From 1914 to 1942, Wurlitzer built over 2,200 organs: 30 times the rate of the Hope-Jones Company and more theatre organs than the rest of the theatre organ manufacturers combined. A number were shipped overseas with the largest export market being the United Kingdom.

The State Theatre in Baltimore purchased the standard Model E. The organ was shipped from the factory on December 27, 1926. Many such instruments were delivered and assembled in a day or two by a team of workers. One might consider this their version of “plug and play.” When “talkies” movies were introduced and became all the rage, it was the death knell of the theatre organ. Most instruments were dismantled and destroyed, but a few remained in their original unaltered form. This particular organ is one of those rare and treasured instruments. Roy Wagner of Glen Arm, Maryland acquired the State Theatre instrument (opus 1539) and moved it into his basement where it resided for over 40 years. Mr. Wagner provided tender love and care and hosted wonderful parties where the organ was the center of attention. Last year, he made it known that he wanted to pass the instrument to a new owner who would preserve and care for it as he had done. Dick Magnani, past President of The Engineers Club and Dale Whitehead, the Executive Director, both noticed an article in The Baltimore Sun about Mr. Wagner and the availability of the instrument. Could the Club and the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion Endowment Fund take on such a task?

The Trustees of the Endowment Fund and the Directors of the Club Board agreed to initiate a fundraising effort. If successful, they would move forward with the acquisition and installation of the instrument into the historic Mansion ballroom which once housed a large player pipe organ installed by Mrs. Garrett. The initial fundraising goal was reached and the project received the “green light.” The final concert at Mr. Wagner’s home was given on a Sunday afternoon in October 2011 where he played “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” a ballad from the same era as Wurlitzer and the same song Wagner played “before he cut the cable” at the old State Theatre on East Monument Street.

Fast forward to March 2012 – the instrument has been dismantled and moved to the Mansion and is in storage awaiting the completion of the pipe chamber that is suspended nine feet above the stage floor. The installation begins May 1st with an expected completion date of June 7.

Submitted by Dale Whitehead, ESB Executive Director.

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Mary Frick Garrett Jacobs

Mary Frick was young and fair when she married Robert Garrett, the elder son of John Work Garrett who was the President of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and Robert Garrett & Sons, bankers.  Number 11 West Mount Vernon Place was John Work Garrett’s wedding present to his son and new wife who were married in 1872; she was 21 years old.  In time, this young bride became the grande dame of Baltimore society.

Robert ascended in his father’s railroad; first as president of a short railroad line, then as Third Vice President moving to First Vice President of the B&O.  Following his father’s death, Robert Garrett became president of the railroad.  The strain of running his father’s enterprises, his father himself, and the nation’s economic conditions resulted in  Robert suffering mental and physical breakdowns before he was declared hopelessly insane by his physicians.  They were married 24 years when he died in 1896 at the age of 49.  The cause of his death was listed as “chronic nephritis”—kidney failure, the same cause as his father (Sander). With both father and son, their failing health was more complicated than kidney failure.

Six years later at Grace Protestant Episcopal Church on Park Avenue (a short walk away), she married Robert’s long-time personal physician, Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs who also came from pedigreed stock as a Mayflower descendant.    He was handsome, athletic, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, and six years younger than his wife. In 1902, she was reputed to be worth a conservative $20 million.  The couple entertained lavishly, traveled well, and shared many of the same interests and causes.

Much has been discussed about her magnificent mansions and their contents in Mount Vernon, Uplands (her family’s estate), and Newport, Rhode Island.  She also maintained a suite in New York’s Plaza Hotel during most of the year.  While she maintained an easy relationship with her staff, at the same time, she could be imperious with others, for example, tradesmen and architects (Dilts).  “She spent her days conferring with staff, attending to her many charities, overseeing the almost constant renovation work at the Mansion, and ordering the latest fashions (and sometimes returning if they didn’t suit her) from New York and Paris.”(Dilts). Her famous art collection is now part of the Baltimore Museum of Art.   It was known that she never bought a painting or any object of art for the mere name of the artist; the item had to be beautiful and pleasing to her.

She accumulated wealth and she spent it not only on her lifestyle, but she was very generous to her employees, her friends, and many charities.  Although she had two husbands (one of whom was a medical doctor), she remained childless.  Whether it was because or in spite of her fate, she had a great love for children.  She often stopped on the street when going to and from her car to speak to them singly or in groups whether they were rich or poor.  She held Christmas parties in the Hall of Mirrors for her staff and the messenger and newsboys of the city where they were entertained with vaudeville shows.  Each child received one dollar and a box of candy to take home.

Her generosity and caring extended far beyond children’s parties.  She established the Robert Garrett Hospital for children at 27 North Carey Street as a memorial to her late husband.  A training school for nurses was attached to the hospital. In the summer the children were taken from the hospital quarters to Mt. Airy, Maryland  which she provided.  Their mothers received round-trip railroad tickets to visit them whenever they wished.  Even after she turned the hospital over to the city in 1923, she maintained it with her own funds establishing six free clinics under the supervision of Dr. William S. Baer.   In 1928, she built and equipped the Hospital for Tuberculosis Children on the Eudowood grounds. Dr. Jacobs made contributions in medicine particularly the study, prevention, and cure of  tuberculosis, a leading dreaded disease at the time.

Her life was confined gradually to one room in her vast mansion.  In the summer of 1936, she made her usual trip to Newport where she died on October 20 at the age of 85.  She left an estate of $5.5 million (Dilts) and with it a legacy befitting the Garrett name and Dr. Jacobs who died three years later in the Baltimore mansion.  Above all, she was Mary Sloan Frick Garrett Jacobs.  There was no one quite like her in Baltimore.

Dilts, James.  The Garrett-Jacobs Mansion Gateway to the Gilded Age in Baltimore, brochure. n.p.,  2009.

Sander, Kathleen Waters. Mary Elizabeth Garrett and Philanthropy in the Guilded Age. Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins UP, 2008.

Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs

Dr. Jacobs is the Jacobs of the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion. The caduceus in the balustrade outside the ballroom is a subtle reminder of him. The lower level bar was once his medical office. Much has been written about Mary Frick Garrett Jacobs, but not nearly as much about Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs. He was Mrs. Garrett’s second husband; Robert Garrett was her first one who died in 1896.

Mary Garrett was the unquestioned leader of Baltimore society. In 1902, she was reputed to be worth a conservative $20 million; certainly many more times the money Dr. Jacobs had. On April 1 that same year, they were married at Grace and St. Peter’s Protestant Episcopal Church on Park Avenue in Baltimore. According to the same Baltimore Sun obituary, an ante-nuptial contract between each relinquished any claim to property of the other, was recorded the day the license was obtained. The contract gave to the contracting parties the right to dispose of the property belonging to them, respective, as if they had not been married. And, furthermore, each agreed not to claim any interest in the estate of the one first dying and not to contest the other’s will. With that tidbit out of the way, from where did he come.

Henry Barton Jacobs was born in 1858 at Hingham, Massachusetts of Mayflower stock having at least seven ancestors who came to America in that famous ship. He graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. degree in 1883. He was graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1887 with an appointment to the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital. While serving in this capacity, he accepted a position as private physician to Robert Garrett, a sickly man, who succeeded his father, John Work Garrett as president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Following Robert’s death in 1896, Dr. Jacobs was appointed Instructor in Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Medical School and in 1901 was promoted to Associate in Medicine.

Although Dr. Jacobs traveled year round with his wife from her Mansion in Mount Vernon, to her villa in Newport, Rhode Island, to her estate, Uplands (near Catonsville), and her apartment in Paris, France, he remained active in medicine and civic and social groups. While in Newport, he was president of the Spouting Rock Beach Association, which controlled Bailey’s Beach and president of the Redwood Library. He was governor of the Newport Casino and a vice-president of the Newport Improvement Association. In Baltimore, he was a member of the Maryland and Baltimore Clubs and Bachelors’ Cotillion. At a glance, he might appear as a pedigreed “animated luggage label” for his wealthy, restless wife–a man who would not, dare not compete with his her. Not so. Dr. Jacobs did give up an active medical practice; however, he made contributions in medicine particularly the study, prevention, and cure of tuberculosis, a leading dread disease at that time. He was a leader in all movements to stamp out the disease.

Before and during his marriage to Mary Frick Garrett, he was a founder of the Maryland Tuberculosis Association, President of the Hospital for Consumptives of Maryland, member of the board of managers of the Maryland State Tuberculosis Sanatorium, secretary of the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, president of the Laënnec Society for the Study of Tuberculosis, and a member of the International Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. Dr. Jacobs wrote numerous articles for various medical publications and authored American Students of Tuberculosis which was published in 1902. He had 5,000 books on medical subjects in his large library. In 1932, he donated to the Institute of History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, “what he believed to be the world’s only complete collection of the writings of Laënnec”, who laid the foundation for modern knowledge of chest diseases. These works were part of Dr. Jacobs’ collection of medical books, medals, and autographed letters which were included in the gift. Dr. Jacobs had placed stained-glass windows commemorating Laënnec, Jenner, Pasteur, and Osler in the room that housed the collection.

Throughout his life, he was involved with many national, local, civic and municipal improvement associations wherever he lived. Mary’s marriage to him kept her at the acme of society. His charming wife entered wholeheartedly into all his plans.

He has been described as a quiet, intelligent, conservative, beautifully educated man. A History of Baltimore, described him as “positive in his opinions and conclusions, though not dogmatic; farsighted in intellect; genial, cultivated and refined in his tastes, and with a heart filled with sympathy for the sufferings of humanity.”
Sources:
History of Baltimore, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1912
Hicks, Hugh Francis. Letter. The Baltimore Sun Aug. 30, 1960
Dorsey, John. Mount Vernon Place. Baltimore.: Maclay & Associates, 1983, pages 16-17.
“ Churchman and Social Leader Dies.” The Baltimore Sun 12/19/1939

John Work Garrett

In 1832, John Work and his brother, Henry inherited a small trading company worth less than $5,000 from their northern Irish immigrant father, Robert Garrett. By the Civil War, they had parlayed their inheritance into more than a million dollars—one of the greatest fortunes of the day. The brothers expanded the business into real estate development, shipping, stock speculation and investment banking participating in the dynamic growth of Baltimore City (Fee 17). Under John Work’s leadership, the Baltimore and Ohio railroad was the most profitable of them all (Fee 18).

Although the B&O had been around for three decades, it was struggling. Like most early railroads, the Baltimore and Ohio was financed by both private and public investors. Of the 30 railroad directors, 12 were elected by private stockholders, eight appointed by the Baltimore City Council, and 10 named by the state of Maryland. The city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland provided much of the original capital. The public stockholders favored low transportation charges over profits and wanted improvements financed out of earnings. The private investors wanted profits and dividend payments on their initial investments (Fee 18).

The conflicting interests became escalated and prolonged. The private investors led by Johns Hopkins wanted a 30% dividend, saying profits should go to them and not for new construction. In 1858, Hopkins nominated Garrett for the presidency of the railroad. It was a hard-fought battle. Garrett was elected by a narrow margin. The private stockholders had won (Fee 18). John Work Garrett’s power was unleashed for the next 20 years.

As the nation moved closer to the Civil War, Garrett helped put down John Brown’s slave rebellion in Harpers Ferry. On October 17, 1859, he heard that the Harper’s Ferry express train had been stopped by a ban of abolitionists led by John Brown. Garrett telegraphed the secretary of war, who sent Robert E. Lee with a contingent of troops on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. They quickly put down the slave rebellion and captured John Brown. He received a personal commendation from Virginia’s governor “for his fast, effective action against the Northern troublemakers” (Fee 18) As the slave issue grew, he was forced to decide between business interests over personal and family values. He chose business; giving the Union army his full support. He was richly rewarded with a railroad operating at peak capacity with record profits and no competition. During the Civil War, his railroad transported federal troops to battle. In the postwar expansion, his railroad was the lifeline for an American market. The Baltimore and Ohio’s railroad lines stretched from Baltimore to Pittsburgh, Chicago, Cincinnati, West Virginia, and Kentucky. To stay ahead of the competition, the Pennsylvania, the Erie, and the New York Central, Garrett established a railroad route linking Baltimore to the southern states after the Civil War.

Garrett usually kept his operating costs (including wages) below 50% of income, sometimes 35%. The rest was used to expand lines, add railroad cars, build wharves, warehouses, and even steamships. Baltimore became known as the Liverpool of America. His railroad absorbed many immigrants who either stayed in Baltimore for work building and extending the railroad tracks or they headed straight for the prairies on his passenger trains.
By 1876, the railroad was in splendid financial condition despite a major depression that was touched off by stock speculation and the overextension of credit that began in 1870. Garrett was not satisfied. Always the expert cost-cutter, he cut workers’ wages by 10%, then cut them again, and again. The depression caused much unemployment. Labor was cheap and unemployed workers were readily available. Then his desperate workers decided to strike; even The Baltimore Sun was sympathetic to them. Garrett broke the strike, alright. He broke the strike the way he broke John Brown and the abolitionists: with the help of state and federal troops.

His Homes
A year after the strike, Garrett bought Evergreen House on the outskirts of Baltimore situated on 26 acres of wooded grounds with a formal garden and classical sculptures. He already owned Montebello, a 1,400-acre weekend retreat adjacent to Johns Hopkins’ country estate. Enoch Pratt’s Tivoli, the Abell family’s Woodbourne, and Edward Patterson’s Homestead were nearby. Montebello dwarfed all of them including New York’s 843-acre Central Park which was opened to the public in 1853. Montebello featured a greenhouse, stables, racetracks, blooded stallions, and prize cattle. He also owned Deer Park, a home in Garrett County. In 1872, because of his success and national visibility during the Civil War, the Maryland General Assembly named the farthermost region of the state in his honor. This region of the state was near where “Robert Garrett, Sr.’s lumbering Conestoga wagons had trekked a half century earlier on the National Road” (Sander 60). Garrett also owned Landsdowne, a country home in Baltimore county not far from the Patapsco River. When he was not making the rounds to his estates, he and his family traveled to Newport, Cape May, and Europe.

In sharp contrast to Garrett’s opulent lifestyle, his railroad laborers with their families lived in cramped two-story rowhouses with few amenities and no indoor plumbing. “They had no gardens, no trees, no safe places for children to play” (Fee 24). The children had few prospects growing up there. “The boys, if they were lucky, would work on the railroads. The girls, if they were lucky, would find husbands with steady work.” (Fee 27). John Work Garrett’s four children were another matter, although not entirely.

His wife and children
John Work Garrett married Rachel Ann Harrison in 1846. He was 26 years old. Rachel, often called Rit or Ann, was one of ten children of Ann Marie and Thomas Harrison, a successful merchant and a member of Baltimore’s city council. From accounts, the Garrett marriage was a warm and loving relationship “where a man and wife were more completely a unit,” remarked a family friend. Their first son, Robert was born in 1847, T. Harrison, nicknamed Harry, born two years later; and Henry, born in 1851, followed by the only girl, Mary Elizabeth born in 1854. Robert, as the first-born had little choice, but to follow in his father’s footsteps. Following his formal education, he joined the firm Robert Garrett & Sons, the company his grandfather started. When he 25 years old, he married Mary Sloan Frick, a daughter of one of Baltimore’s prominent lawyers. The couple’s fathers served on many boards together. Two months after his father’s death, the B&O elected him, then first vice president to the presidency. Robert was not cut out for the rigors of the cutthroat railroad business. He could not eclipse his larger-than-life father. He suffered a mental and physical breakdown in 1887 from which he never recovered fully. He died in 1896 without heirs. Harry followed the prescribed family path. By 1871, he headed Robert Garrett and Sons international banking division. The year before when he was 21 years old, he married the pedigreed Alice Dickerson Whitridge. They had three sons. Along the way, he became one of the country’s great collectors of art, coins, and rare books. He drowned in a boating collision aboard his yacht the Gleam. It was his beloved brother, Harry’s death that ended any hope of Robert’s recovery. Henry, the youngest of the three brothers suffered from an undisclosed malady in infancy and remained an invalid for life.

Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” became “Papa’s secretary”. She could not run a railroad, but she would leave her mark on Baltimore and the nation. She is best known for her contribution to the Johns Hopkins Medical School. She spearheaded the Women’s Medical Fund Committee, a group of prominent, wealthy women throughout the United States who formed committees to raise the funds and set the admission standard. Mary Elizabeth donated $300,000 personally of the $500,000 that was needed for the medical school. “After long negotiations, the university trustees agreed to accept the women’s terms: to require the highest admissions standards of any medical school in the country, and to admit women on the same basis as men.” (Fee 30). Her father was once quoted, “If the boys were only like Mary, what a satisfaction it would be to me. I have often wished in these last years that Mary was a boy. I know she could carry on my work after I am gone.” She died in 1915 after a long illness. She never married. Of the four Garrett children, Mary left the greatest legacy.

His Decline and Death
In early 1873, John Work Garrett complained of extreme fatigue and dizziness. The exact nature of Garrett’s illness is not known, but in the years ahead he often would suffer from similar crushing debilitations” (Sander 61). His doctor recommended his wealthy patient have rest and relaxation during a grand and prolonged (18 months) tour of Europe.

In 1883 after another European trip with his wife and daughter, John Work returned home. On October 11, Rachel set out from Montebello in her carriage with her driver. The horses were high in spirit from not having been driven as much as usual during the Garrett’s European tour. They galloped. The carriage overturned. Rachel was thrown with a terrible force, struck her head on a rock, causing a brain concussion. Five weeks after the accident she died. She never recovered and neither did he. It’s been written that he had two great loves of his life: one was the railroad and the other was his wife (Sander 104). The death of his beloved wife of 37 years sounded the death knell for John Work Garrett. He was inconsolable. He lost all interest in his beloved railroad. Exhausted and defeated he turned over all his business to his sons. He died ten months after his wife’s death. The cause of death was listed as renal failure, but all who knew him understood that he died of a broken heart at 64.

Fee, Elizabeth, Ed. The Baltimore Book: New Views of Local History.
Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1991.
Sander, Kathleen Waters. Mary Elizabeth Garrett: Society and Philanthropy
in the Gilded Age: Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2008.

Mary Frick Garrett Jacobs, was the undisputed grande dame of Baltimore society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.  To associate with her and her husband, Robert “meant that one had arrived at the top of the social ladder. A nod from her in church or at the opera meant everything.  An invitation to their Mount Vernon Place Mansion was the most coveted in Baltimore.” (Sander 118)  Entertainment in her home took many forms.  There were teas, luncheons, lectures, magic shows, tableaux charades, some dancing, and vaudeville shows for the children.  Some of the best talent in the country made its appearance in Baltimore under her patronage, and she sponsored many performances for charitable benefits, a number of which were held in her home (Dehler 14).

She entertained lavishly in her Baltimore townhouse; however, some forms of entertainment that were practiced in New York and Newport were not tolerated in Baltimore for “Baltimore had its own social code; and while large sums of money were lavished on entertainment, the bizarre and the vulgar were frowned upon” (Dehler 2) which brings us to the Mansion and the Ballroom in it where much of her entertaining took place.

The original rowhouse at #11 Mount Vernon Place, the nucleus for the present mansion, was a wedding gift from John Work Garrett in 1872.  In 1884, she and Robert purchased #9 and in 1902 while married to Dr. Jacobs, she purchased #7.  In 1915, she purchased #13 the Janes’ house, had the rear demolished, leaving it only one room deep.  The extended house eventually had over 40 rooms, not including closets and halls, 16 fireplaces, and approximately 100 windows (Dehler 3).  It was the Garretts’ intention to transform their Baltimore townhouse into one that would “rival the grandest of the grand manor homes of the Astors and the Vanderbilts of New York.” (Sander 118).   Mary Frick Garrett Jacobs accomplished what she set out to do:  Her mansion became the grandest home in Baltimore for five decades.   However in 1939, this townhouse ceased to be a private residence for sure when Dr. Jacobs died in the Mansion three years after his wife who died in Newport.   It was decades before there were any major renovations by subsequent owners.  For part of that time, the Mansion remained empty and unheated until its last purchaser, the Engineering Society of Baltimore in 1961.

Ballroom Then and Now

Ballroom circa 1928

In 1908, the Ballroom was known as the Large Gallery measuring 70 feet by 30 feet.  It was a blend of French Classical Baroque and Rococo architecture. At the end of the Gallery were a stage and a very fine pipe organ.  In Katherine Dehler’s Our Heritage, she described the room as follows:  “Red satin damask with a frieze of small paintings cover the walls on which were hung five Brussels tapestries depicting the story of Scipio Africanus.  The furniture is Louis XIV and XV, and Regency in style and consisted of carved and gilded state chairs with six straight chairs, all covered in the same wine red material, a very beautiful marquetry Louis XV table, two other large tables, a pair of settees covered with crimson silk floral damask, and a sofa upholstered with crimson velvet.  Rare Persian rugs covered the floor.”  The renovation eventually cost $1 million—in today’s currency, well over $15 million (Sander 118).

The Original Architect
John Russell Pope was one of the most influential architects of his era.   He went on to become the leading proponent of neo-Classicism—most notably in Washington, D.C., where he designed the Constitution Hall, the National Archives Building, and the National Gallery of Art.  In Baltimore, he designed the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Masonic Temple of Scottish Rite, and the University Baptist Church.  Pope was responsible for the easternmost part of the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion, including the library, a hall paved in tiles of buff-colored Caen marble, a supper room, and a great ballroom.  Ballroom guests were surrounded by the Jacobs’ art collection—eventually valued at $2 million and donated to the Baltimore Museum of Art.

The Current Architect

The Stage

The Details

Ceiling Detail

What’s Technologically New or Improved

Guilded Edges

More than a Ballroom—It’s part of the fabric of Mt. Vernon
and Baltimore.

New Stain

Mount Vernon Square is about to embark on a multi-million dollar restoration program.  The Mansion and the Ballroom in it are already part of the fabric of the community.  The Garrett-Jacobs Mansion Endowment Fund established partnerships with its neighbors, such as, the Walters Art Museum, the Basilica of the Assumption, and the Maryland Historical Society.

Because of the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion Endowment Fund, the benefactors, the architect, historical preservations, the craftsmen, it looks as though we have accomplished what we set out to do.  What was once an exclusive private residence has returned to its former glory, but is open to everyone as an inclusive foundation.

Mrs. Garrett may give more than a “nod” perhaps she’d applaud with delight.

Robert Garrett, II

Born in 1847, he was followed by two brothers, T. Harrison (Harry), Henry (an invalid, most-likely from birth), and a sister, Mary Elizabeth. Robert was reared among the privileged graduating from Princeton College in 1867. However, when he was 16, he ran away from home to join the Virginia Company during the Civil War. His father persuaded him to return home and complete college.

On the appearance side, he had expensive tastes and the means to indulge himself. He was reputed to have owned 100 suits and to have sent 1,000 telegrams to his New York tailor on details like buttons and cuff sizes. The Chicago Tribune reported that he had 140 pairs of finely tailored pants (Sander 119). He carried a cane, wore a derby, and a purple flower in the lapel of his tight-fitting jackets. He was about 5’ 8” tall sporting mutton-chop whiskers. From accounts, he was vivacious and given to hearty laughter.

In1872attheageof25,he married Mary Sloan Frick, the daughter of one of Baltimore’s most prominent lawyers. Their fathers had served on boards together. She was 21 years old. He and Mary resided at 11 West Mount Vernon Place, a wedding gift from his parents.    The bride’s father bestowed “Uplands” the family ancestral estate near Catonsville to the newly married couple. It had the beginning of a well-matched, Baltimore society marriage.

Robert’s life had all the trappings and resources of great wealth and influence. He had little choice then to follow in his father’s footsteps (Sander 58), but Robert lacked his father’s determination, business acumen, and understanding of just, plain hard work like John Work’s father had shown him; nevertheless, he tried.

He joined Robert Garrett & Sons, the company his grandfather started. His career path swerved abruptly when he found himself being groomed to succeed his father at the B&O railroad (Sander 57). At the age of 24, four short years after being graduated from Princeton College, he was catapulted near the top by being elected president of the Valley Railroad, a short line in the Shenandoah Valley managed by the B&O. One year into his marriage, the country plunged into an economic depression. The stock market closed down for 10 days. Robert’s father became ill that year most likely from the strain of running his great enterprises. He offered to resign as president of the B&O, but the Board refused (Sander 61). John Work’s doctor ordered his wealthy, Victorian-age patient to have rest and relaxation during a prolonged European tour. B&O vice-president, John King took over as interim president (Sander 61).

In 1879, Robert was made Third Vice President of the B&O. Two years later, he advanced to First Vice President that he might be working closer to his father whose health was failing. Robert remained head of the Valley Railroad until he assumed the presidency of the B&O following his father’s death in 1884. Robert was 37— probably too much for most men in his age and it proved too much for poor Robert.

Robert had three distinct misfortunes that led to his nervous and physical collapses. They were: 1. His father’s death in 1884 that advanced him to the president of the B&O. 2. William H. Vanderbilt’s falling dead right in Robert’s arms in 1885, and 3. His younger brother, Harry’s ship drowning in 1888.    Even with long, recuperative trips, he never recovered from the triple blows.

Beginning with his father’s death that followed less than a year after his mother’s death, Robert was now the president of the B&O. For nearly three decades, John Work Garrett made the B&O, a one- man railroad. He did not think his sons were qualified. Robert, he said, only cared for amusement (Fee 27). The elder Garrett wanted a Baltimore and Ohio extension to New York, a favorite project. Robert and his father had discussions over it.    The elder Garrett considered the project as premature, too costly, and too great a risk. The larger-than-life risk taker rejected it. Robert was not deterred. He began the work almost immediately after his father’s death.

Robert tried to be as aggressive as his father, but railroading perhaps was not his natural vocation (Sander 132). On December 8, 1885, he arranged a meeting with William H. Vanderbilt, president of the New York Central Railroad and son of the omnipotent Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt (Sander 132). He wished to obtain the assistance rather than the resistance regarding a traffic arrangement with the New York Central and the Hudson River Railroad. Robert unfolded his plans for establishing terminal facilities on Staten Island for his railroad. The two adversaries attempted to hammer out a contract dispute. Robert was pitted against the son of his oldest railroad antagonist. From an account, it was a quiet conversation. Vanderbilt listened eagerly; making suggestions.    Suddenly Vanderbilt lurched forward and fell prostrate dead in Robert’s arms.    A blood vessel had burst in his brain. Robert denied vigorously the rumors that Vanderbilt’s death was brought on by a heated dispute.

From the time Robert assumed the B&O presidency, he found himself faced with mounting railroad debt and untenable business forces (Sander 131). He could not settle labor strikes, wrestle competitors in fare wares, nor quell chaos in his railroad. Robert’s B&O Telegraph Company could not compete with Jay Gould’s Western Union. It was a final defeat for Robert. All of these crushing forces where a backdrop to Vanderbilt’s death.

In October 1887, he submitted his resignation letter to the B&O Board of Directors. It was the first time in 30 years a Garrett did not head the B&O. He was succeeded by two other presidents in quick succession (Fee 27). Robert, his wife Mary Frick, and his sister, Mary Elizabeth took a trip around the world. They were accompanied by two physicians. The farther away he travelled from Baltimore and B&O business his health improved, but the curative effect ended when they received news that his brother, Harry had drowned when his luxury yacht, Gleam, collided with a steamer in the Chesapeake Bay on June 7. Harry went overboard. It was a week before the sea gave up its dead.

Harry’s death also ended any chance of Robert recovering from his mental and physical collapses. He had a complete breakdown in 1887. At some point, he was declared hopelessly insane by his physicians. He spent much of his remaining years confined to his Mt. Vernon Mansion under the care of his wife and resident, personal physician, Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs. In late June of 1896, Dr. Jacobs recommended a change of scenery, Deer Park the family estate in Garrett County. It did not matter. On July 29, Robert died in the cottage next to where his father had died 12 years earlier. The cause of death was listed as “chronic nephritis”—kidney failure—the same cause as his father (Sander 216). He was buried on August 1 in the Garrett family plot in Greenmount Cemetery. He was forty-nine years old and childless. By 1896, the railroad went into receivership, the same year as Robert’s death.

His tragic life “appears” pointless, one marked with repeated mental and physical illnesses that crippled him and his railroad.    He was not entirely to blame for the business failings, but took it just the same.    He and Mary were the pinnacle of Baltimore society and established in New York and Philadelphia society. They spent lavish amounts of money on themselves, their residences, their travels, and their clothes. Robert beautified Baltimore as well as himself and his homes.    As an example, in Mount Vernon, he installed a fountain and commissioned a bronze reproduction of a statute of George Peabody (Sander 119).    Yet, Robert was known for giving a generous contribution to every charity.

Robert was humanitarian toward his railroad workers. He originated the concept known as the B&O’s Employees’ Relief Association which provided sick and death benefits for its employees. Following his father’s death, Robert expanded the Association with a savings feature which “paid high interest on deposits, and a building and loan section which loaned money to employees for building or purchase of homes.” (Garrett). Mrs. Garrett supported a free dispensary and a summer home for children. A fund for the surgical treatment of children, a sanatorium in Mt. Airy, and a hospital for children bore Robert Garrett’s name.
George Bernard Shaw was right, but not entirely. Robert did his best under circumstances and conditions that might have broken any man. From accounts of his life and times, he was consistent in his integrity. He may be well remembered for leaving a legacy with his wife’s support of charitable works indicative of the Garrett family name.

Fee, Elizabeth, Ed. The Baltimore Book: New Views of Local History. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1991.
Garrett, James. “The Garrett Family: Were They Charitable Donors or Venture Philanthropists.” Garrett-Jacobs Mansion Symposium. Baltimore, Maryland. March 2005.
Sander, Kathleen Waters. Mary Elizabeth Garrett: Society and Philanthropy in the Gilded Age. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2008

Sincere appreciation to Mr. James Garrett, President of the Evergreen Foundation for sharing graciously background on the Garrett family.

Thank you to Mrs. René Herbst, Jr. (Carolyn) of The Women’s Auxiliary of the Engineering Society of Baltimore for her assistance.