Frank Arthur Vanderlip, Sr.

Born November 13, 1864

Aurora, Illinois
Died J une 30, 1937 (aged 72)
New York Hospital, Manhattan, New
York
Occupation President of the City National Bank of
New York
Known for Founding Father of Palos Verdes,
California
Spouse(s) Mabel Narcissa Cox (m. 190337)
Children Narcissa Vanderlip, Charlotte
Vanderlip, Frank Arthur Vanderlip, J r.,
Virginia Vanderlip, Kelvin Vanderlip,
and J ohn Vanderlip
Parents Charles Edmond Vanderlip
Charlotte Louise Woodworth
Vanderlip
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Frank Vanderlip)
Frank Arthur Vanderlip, Sr. (November 17, 1864 J une
30, 1937) was an American banker. He was Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury from 1897-1901
[1]
and was
president of the National City Bank from 1909 to 1919.
[2]
Vanderlip created the Scarborough School at his property,
Beechwood in Briarcliff Manor, New York.
[3]
and founded
the 16,000-acre area collectively known as Palos Verdes,
California.
[1]
1 Biography
2 Legacy
3 References
4 External links
Frank A. Vanderlip was born in Aurora, Illinois on November
17, 1864 to Charles Edmond Vanderlip and Charlotte Louise
Woodworth Vanderlip. His early life was spent on the family
farm in nearby Oswego, Illinois until his father died in 1878.
Vanderlip, his mother and his sister then moved into Aurora,
where he went to work at the age of 16 at a lathe in a factory.
After one year at the University of Illinois at Champaign and
another stint at the factory lathe, Vanderlip became city editor
of the Aurora Evening Post in 1885.
Under the guidance of economist J oseph French J ohnson,
Vanderlip took a position at a financial investigative service
for stock investors in Chicago in 1886. Three years later, in
1889, he became a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, and was
promoted to financial editor in 1892.
This brought him to the notice of Lyman J . Gage, who
became Secretary of the Treasury under President of the United States William McKinley in 1897. Gage
brought Vanderlip with him to Washington as his private secretary. Six weeks later, Gage promoted Vanderlip to
be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. As directed by the War Revenue Act of 1898, Vanderlip was put in
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charge of sending out the $200 million bond issue to fund the war and procuring the subscriptions, with the
special direction to offer the bonds to the smallest subscribers first, so that the public would feel invested in the
fight. Vanderlip and his team of 600 to 700 clerks succeeded in selling out the bond issue in just over 30 days,
closing out the bond drive on J uly 14, 1898.
This success brought Vanderlip to the attention of J ames J . Stillman, president of National City Bank of New
York, the country's largest bank. Vanderlip became vice president in 1902, and was president from 1909 until
1919.
On May 19, 1903, Vanderlip married Mabel Narcissa Cox in her home town of Chicago, Illinois. They
purchased Beechwood, their home on the Hudson River, in 1905. Narcissa Vanderlip became a leader of the
Suffragette Movement and was president of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children for 37 years.
When the stock market and the financial system collapsed in the Panic of 1907, Vanderlip worked closely with
other stable bankers, led by J . P. Morgan, to stop the depositors' run on banks that was leading to economic
disaster. The experience had a deep effect on the thinking of Vanderlip and others who were involved.
In November 1910, at the invitation of Senator Nelson Aldrich, Vanderlip joined a small group of leading
bankers on a train to J ekyll Island, Georgia, which later became known as the J ekyll Island group. The bankers
formulated the outline to a plan that laid the groundwork for the drafting of the eventual Federal Reserve Act.
[1]
In the final month and a half before the Act's enactment on December 23, 1913, Vanderlip's alternative plan for
a Federal Reserve Act nearly derailed the one that President Wilson and the Democratic leadership were
promoting.
[4][5]
Several of Vanderlip's ideas were incorporated into the final Federal Reserve Act.
Always a man of grand visions, Vanderlip purchased several large parcels of property, along with other
investors. The Vanderlip-Stillman-Tilghman syndicate bought 15,000 acres of land at the mouth of the Brazos
River in Texas, in 1912, and founded the city of Freeport. After several smaller land investments, Vanderlip
spearheaded a group that bought 16,000 acres now known collectively as Palos Verdes, California.
His last major purchase was the hamlet of Sparta, Ossining, a quarter-mile from his Beechwood home. He
bought about 70 homes and business buildings in 1920 because he believed it was a run-down place. Tearing
down dilapidated homes, turning some to face the river, and even moving at least one across the street,
Vanderlip beautified and gentrified Sparta.
During the Teapot Dome Scandal hearings in 1924, Vanderlip testified about what he believed to be a scandal
during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Because he spoke out vigorously in defense of the
public's right to know about various issues, Vanderlip was forced to resign from the boards of directors of
almost 40 companies. He subsequently led a quieter life at his homes in New York and California.
He died on J une 30, 1937 at age 72 in New York Hospital.
[2]
Frank Vanderlip was an innovator in the world of banking. Besides being one of the founders of the Federal
Reserve System, he led his bank to open the first overseas branches of an American bank, helped devise the war
bond savings stamp program used in World Wars I and II, set up the first internship program to bring college
students to work and study in the bank.
He brought the first Montessori school to the U.S., and worked to open up friendly business and personal
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relations with J apan in the 1920s.
Vanderlip known as the "Father of Palos Verdes" purchased the 16,000 acre Rancho de los Palos Verdes from
J otham Bixby in 1913. In 1916, he built the Vanderlip estates near the Portuguese Bend area of Palos Verdes,
California where some of his descendants still live.
[6][7]
His daughter-in-law Elin Vanderlip maintained
residence at the estate until her death in 2009. The Vanderlips championed many of the landmarks in Rancho
Palos Verdes, notably Wayfarers Chapel, Marineland of the Pacific, Portuguese Bend Riding Club, Portuguese
Bend Beach Club, Nansen Field, Marymount College and Chadwick School.
[8]
His original purchase is now
divided into four cities - Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills Estates, Rolling Hills, and Rancho Palos Verdes.
^
a

b

c
Mack, Vicki (2013). Frank A. Vanderlip - The Banker Who Changed America. Palos Verdes Estates,
California: Pinale Press. ISBN 9781492704904.
1.
^
a

b
"Frank Vanderlip, Banker, Dies At 72. Former Head of National City Had Served as Assistant Secretary of
Treasury" (http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40E17FB345E177A93C2AA178DD85F438385F9). New
York Times. J une 30, 1937. Retrieved 2012-09-16. "Frank A. Vanderlip, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury,
who was president of the National City Bank from 1909 to 1919, died yesterday afternoon in New York Hospital,
where he had been a patient for the last two weeks. He was 72 years old."
2.
^ Cheever, Mary (1990). The Changing Landscape: A History of Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough. West Kennebunk,
Maine: Phoenix Publishing. ISBN 0-914659-49-9. OCLC 22274920 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/22274920).
3.
^ [1] (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B01EFD9113CE633A25754C0A9679D946296D6CF) New
York Times article, November 7, 1913
4.
^ [2] (http://www.bos.frb.org/about/pubs/begin.pdf) Historical Beginnings... The Federal Reserve] by Roger T.
J ohnson, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 1999, pp. 32-33.
5.
^ http://wikimapia.org/5540995/Vanderlip-Mansion 6.
^ http://www.pvnews.com/articles/2008/06/19/society/society1.txt 7.
^ http://palosverdes.patch.com/articles/elin-vanderlip-the-chatelaine-of-rancho-palos-verdes 8.
"FrankVanderlip.com" (http://frankvanderlip.com).
Walter Hines Page, Arthur Wilson Page (1902). The World's Work ... (http://books.google.com
/books?id=DI038d4SBFEC&printsec=titlepage#PPA2185,M1). Doubleday, Page & Company., 1902
magazine article in The World's Work.
Business positions
Preceded by
James Stillman
Chief of National City Bank
19181919 (President with acting duties as
Chairman)
Succeeded by
James A. Stillman
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_A._Vanderlip&oldid=613598185"
Categories: American financiers People from Aurora, Illinois People from Oswego, Illinois
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American city founders People from New York Palos Verdes Peninsula 1864 births 1937 deaths
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