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Clarence H. Geist

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Clarence Henry Geist
Clarence Henry Geist.png
Born(1866-01-10)January 10, 1866
LaPorte County, Indiana, U.S.
DiedJune 12, 1938(1938-06-12) (aged 72)
Villanova, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Resting place West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, U.S.
OccupationsUtilities executive, financier
SpouseFlorence Hewitt Geist

Clarence Henry Geist (1866 – June 12, 1938) was an American businessman who owned over 100 public utility companies and was the largest individual stock holder of public utility companies in the United States. His association with the water supply, including the Indianapolis Water Company and the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company, earned him the nickname "Waterboy". He was president of the C. H. Geist Company, and director of several other companies including the United Gas Improvement Company and the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. He owned the Seaview golf club in Galloway, New Jersey, and the Boca Raton Club. He played a major role in the development of Boca Raton, Florida, including construction of a water plant, bridges, and train depot to support his resort.

Contents

Early life and education

Geist was born and raised on a farm in LaPorte County, Indiana. He was educated at Valparaiso Normal School. [1] When he was 18, he worked as a horse trader in the Western United States, but returned East when he realized he could not make enough money there. [2] He settled in Blue Island, Illinois, [3] and worked for a year on the Rock Island Railroad as a conductor. [2]

Career

He entered the real estate business [4] and served as president of the Cottage Building and Loan in Blue Island. [5] Geist then set himself up as a natural gas distributor, where he supplied gas to Blue Island, Morgan Park, then a suburb of Chicago, and Illinois suburbs south of Blue Island that included Harvey and Chicago Heights. [6] He was associated with Charles G. Dawes and Rufus C. Dawes in the business of electric and gas utility companies. [2]

In 1905, Geist moved to Philadelphia and purchased control of the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company. [7] From 1912 to 1938 he was the principal owner of the Indianapolis Water Company. [8] He also founded, in 1910, the company today known as South Jersey Industries, when the Atlantic City Gas and Water Company merged with Atlantic City Gas Company. His association with water supply earned him the nickname "Waterboy". [7] He eventually owned over 100 utilities [9] and was considered the largest individual stock holder of public utility companies in the United States. [2]

He was the president of C. H. Geist Company, as well as president and director of American Pipe and Construction Company, the Philadelphia Suburban Water Company, and the Spanish River Land Company. He was a director of the United Gas Improvement Company [1] and the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. [10] He served on the board of trustees of Jefferson Medical College and the board of directors of Bryn Mawr College. [1] He was the founder and owner of the Seaview golf club in Galloway, New Jersey. [11] [12]

Boca Raton development

When Addison Mizner's Mizner Development Corporation went bankrupt in 1926 after trying to build the new resort of Boca Raton, Geist bought its assets in 1927 via an anonymous bid of $76,350. Included were the Cloister Inn, fifty houses, and 15,000 acres (6,100 ha) of land. [13] [14] He commissioned the New York architectural firm Schultze and Weaver to create an addition to the 100-room Cloister Inn, resulting in the 450-room Boca Raton Club, which was formally opened in January 1930. [15]

Geist made a low-interest loan to Boca Raton to finance its first municipal water plant (which he had convinced Boca Raton it needed) and provide water for the guests at his new hotel. [16] He built it in Mizner's style, for visual harmony. At the time, the Mediterranean-style plant was the most modern in the state. [17] He also paid for Spanish-style depot on the Florida East Coast Railway. Geist allegedly bought stock in the railroad in order to build a train depot for guests in his hotel to arrive. [18] He built bridges over the Boca Raton inlet and other waterways to facilitate traffic to his resort. [7]

Personal life

He married Florence Hewitt Geist and together they had three daughters. [2] He was an avid golfer, and though he walked with a cane, he participated in tournaments. [9]

He owned the Godfrey Residence, a mansion in Radnor, Pennsylvania, [19] and Launfal, a mansion in Villanova, Pennsylvania. [1] In 1924 he built La Claridad in Palm Beach, a mansion designed by architect Marion Sims Wyeth, who also designed Mar-a-Lago. [9]

Death and legacy

Clarence H. Geist mausoleum in West Laurel Hill Cemetery Clarence H. Geist mausoleum in West Laurel Hill Cemetery.jpg
Clarence H. Geist mausoleum in West Laurel Hill Cemetery

He died at his home in Villanova, Pennsylvania, on June 12, 1938 [1] and was interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. [20] His estate was valued at over $54 million. [21]

Geist Reservoir, a water source for Indianapolis, is named for him. [9] The bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway on Mizner's Camino Real is officially the Clarence H. Geist Memorial Bridge, replacing a temporary swing bridge built by Geist. [22] [23]

The Clarence H. Geist Memorial Organ was installed by the M. P. Moller company in 1939 at the Overbrook Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. [24]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Clarence H. Geist Dies at Age of 72". The Philadelphia Inquirer . June 13, 1938. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 17, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2020– via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "CLARENCE H. GEIST, UTILITY LEADER, 72". www.nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  3. ↑ The Annual Lakeside Directory of the City of Chicago – 1900 – Embracing a Complete General and Business Directory, Miscellaneous Information, and Street Guide. Chicago: The Chicago Directory Company. 1900. p. 712.
  4. ↑ "C. H. Geist and Edward Hopkinson, Jr., Elected members of U.G.I. [United Gas Improvement] Board" (PDF). Spanish River Papers. Vol. 16. 1987–1988. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2018. First published in U.G.I. Circle (internal organ), August, 1930
  5. ↑ "(Untitled)". Westville Indicator News. V (48): 2. January 27, 1902.
  6. ↑ "Items of Interest from Various Localities". The American Gas Light Journal. LXXVI (4): 124. January 27, 1902. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 Gillis, Susan. "Clarence Geist and The Boca Raton Club". www.thebocaraton.com. The Boca Raton. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  8. ↑ Britt, Tom (2015). "Germantown: The Lost City Under Geist Reservoir". Town Poste Network. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Mayhew, Augustus (July 13, 2010). "Clarence Geist: Palm Beach & Boca Raton". New York Social Diary. Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  10. ↑ White, Robert V. (1939). "One Hundred and Eighteenth Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company to the Stockholders Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 1938" (PDF). p. 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Mrs. Clarence Geist Entertains" (PDF). Spanish River Papers. 1987–1988. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2018. Reprinted from Palm Beach Post, 4 April 1925
  12. ↑ Heritage Time Capsules (November 13, 2014). "Time Capsule Buried at Historic Site in New Jersey". Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  13. ↑ Historical Society of Palm Beach County (2009). "Clarence Henry Geist". Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  14. ↑ Vickers, Raymond B. (1994). Panic in Paradise - Florida's Banking Crash of 1926. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press. p. 173. ISBN   0-8173-0723-0 . Retrieved February 8, 2026.
  15. ↑ Gillis 2007, p. 117.
  16. ↑ "Minutes from the City Commission meeting, June 16, 1928" (PDF). Spanish River Papers. Vol. 16. 1987–1988. p. (unpaged). Archived (PDF) from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  17. ↑ Gillis 2007, p. 108.
  18. ↑ Gillis 2007, p. 114.
  19. ↑ "Godfrey Residence". Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  20. ↑ Rosenfeld, Lucy D.; Harrison, Marina (2010). Architecture Walks - The Best Outings Near New York City. Piscataway, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 241. ISBN   978-0-8135-4734-3 . Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  21. ↑ "ESTATE OF C.H. GEIST PUT AT $54,130,684". www.nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  22. ↑ Chokey, Aric (July 20, 2017). "Boca's Camino Real bridge, one of 14 'deficient' in South Florida, up for repair". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  23. ↑ Streeter, Angel (December 3, 2011). "Historic status saves Camino Real Bridge in Boca Raton". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  24. ↑ "The Clarence H. Geist Memorial Organ". Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2018.

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