Adrian G Iselin

Adrian Georg Iselin
Born	January 17, 1818 New York City, New York
Died	April 1905 New York City, New York
Occupation	Banker, financial investor

Adrian Georg Iselin (1818-1905) was a New York financier who invested in and developed real estate, railroads, and mining operations. Iselin was born of Swiss ancestry in 1818. For many years during his early business career he was engaged in importing with his brother, William Iselin, being one of the most successful merchants of New York in the middle of the century. After retiring from the importing trade, he established the banking house of Adrian Iselin & Co., but has been entirely out of active business since 1883.

Early life

In 1845 married Elanora O'Donnell of Baltimore, the daughter of General Columbus O'Donnell and his wife Eleanora. Her father was at the head of one of the foremost families of that city, and was a leading financier of Maryland, being connected with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and other important corporations.

Iselin eventually became the chief investor in the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal and Iron Company. At the outbreak of the Civil War his Wall Street firm of A. Iselin and Company was so strong that it helped to finance the United States Government. Before his involvement with coal in Pennsylvania, Iselin was one of the directors of the Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad Company in Minnesota. The town of Adrian, Minnesota, which developed after completion of the rail lines, was named after his mother, Mrs. Adrian Iselin.^[1]

Family legacy

The coal-mining town of Iselin, one of the many company towns in Indiana county founded by the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal and Iron Company, was named after him. The Iselin family also controlled the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway Company, which transported coal from Pennsylvania to markets along the Great Lakes and Canada. He and his family were responsible for the building a number of Catholic churches in his Coal Company towns including St. Adrian's in Adrian, Pennsylvania, as well as several hospitals, including the Adrian Hospital in Puxnsutawny, and the Indiana Hospital in Indiana, Pennsylvania.^[2][3]

Personal life

Socially, Adrian Iselin and his family were among the wealthiest of New York high society. In New York City Iselin was a stockholder in the Metropolitan Opera House and Real Estate Company, along with other wealthy men that included Cornelius Vanderbilt and J.P. Morgan.^[4] Iselin was one of the incorporators of the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. For many years he was the Consul of the Swiss Republic in New York.

An avid yachtsman, Adrian was drawn to the Long Island Sound shore community of New Rochelle, New York in 1858 as the site of his country estate All View. Over forty years he transformed the farms along the New Rochelle waterfront and Davenport Neck peninsula into extraordinary waterfront estates for each of his children.

When he retired from business in 1878, Iselin decided to focus much of his attention on improving conditions within his community of New Rochelle. Using the family's large expanses of farm land in the northern end of town, he constructed a reservoir system which became the areas first water company.^[5] He also established the first City Savings Bank and built a fully equipped "gymnasium" for the resident public to use. Adrian and his wife, and subsequently their daughters Miss Georgine and Mrs. Elenora (Delancey Kane) were major funders of Catholic causes, establishing Saint Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church and its parochial school, as well as New Rochelle Hospital.^[6] Sons Adrian, Jr., William E., Columbus O'Donnell, and Charles Oliver were all successful businessmen. Adrian and Columbus bought extensive property in the community and developed the Residence, Neptune, Homestead and Sycamore "residence park" neighborhoods.

Iselin died in 1905 leaving the management of his investments and companies to two of his sons, Adrian Jr. and Columbus. Adrian Jr. was responsible for the expansion of the Company into Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Ernest Iselin, son of Adrian Jr., was director of the company from 1929 to 1934 and chairman of the board from 1936 to 1954. According to his March 29, 1905 New York Times obituary, Adrian G. Iselin's wealth was estimated to be between 20 and 30 million dollars.

References

1. Adrian, Minnesota Local History
2. "The Iselin Family Left Its Mark On The Pennsylvania Coal Fields"
3. Indiana County, 175th Anniversary History, vols. 2,4; Indiana, Pennsylvania: Halldin Publishing, Company, 1989, 1983; Clarence D. Stephenson;191, 575-577
4. Metropolitan Opera History: From the Metropolitan Opera Archives.
5. NY Times "ADRIAN ISELIN DEAD AT HIS CITY HOME; Banker's Illness Developed Into General Breakdown. NEW ROCHELLE'S BENEFACTOR Rumor That He Was Deathbed Convert to Roman Catholic Church, to Which He Gave Much"
6. ISELIN MEMORIAL CHURCH.; St. Gabriel's to be Consecrated at New-Rochelle To-Day -- A Quaint Edifice