Justus S. Stearns Michigan Pine King and Kentucky Coal Baron, 1845-1933

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nagle, Michael W., author.

Contributor:

Project Muse, Content Provider.

Series:

Great Lakes books.

Great Lakes Books

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Businessmen--United States--Biography.

Businessmen.

Michigan--Biography.

Michigan.

Stearns, Justus S. (Justus Smith), 1845-1933.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (p.)

Place of Publication:

Detroit, Michigan : Wayne State University Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Examines a major Michigan timber baron and political figure who also founded a coal-mining empire in Kentucky. Near the turn of the twentieth century, "Pine King" Justus S. Stearns was Michigan's largest producer of manufactured lumber and the owner of a prosperous coal mining operation headquartered in Stearns, Kentucky, a town he founded. Over the course of his career, Stearns would own at least thirty manufacturing businesses-making everything from finished lumber to kitchen utensils, game boards, and motors-as well as hotels, a railroad, and a power company. He was also an active member of the Republican Party who served one term as Michigan's secretary of state and a philanthropist who gave a great deal of his wealth to causes in both Michigan and Kentucky. In Justus S. Stearns: Michigan Pine King and Kentucky Coal Baron, 1845-1933, author Michael W. Nagle details Stearns's astounding range of accomplishments and explores the influence of both paternalism and Social Darwinism in his business practices. Nagle begins by addressing key events in the first few decades of Stearns's life and his initial foray into the lumber industry. Subsequent chapters explore Stearns's political career, his timber operations in Wisconsin, and his coal, lumber, and railroad operations in Kentucky and Tennessee. Nagle also details the ancillary businesses that Stearns founded or purchased in the early twentieth century, even as his Stearns Salt & Lumber Company served as the anchor of his Michigan holdings, while Stearns Coal & Lumber did the same for his operations in Kentucky. The final chapter offers an overview and analysis of Stearns's lifetime of accomplishments, including his impact on the town of Ludington, Michigan, where he maintained a residence for over fifty years. Nagle makes extensive use of primary source material from several historical archives as well as contemporary newspaper accounts, court documents, company records, and other primary sources. American history scholars, as well as general readers interested in Michigan's lumbering era and Kentucky's mining history, will enjoy this biography of an exceptionally influential businessman.

Contents:

Cover

Series Page

Frontispiece

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Early Life and Family Connections

2. Booms, Busts, and a Benefactor for Ludington

3. The Making of a Politician

4. Lumbering on Wisconsin Indian Reservations

5. Establishing Operations in Kentucky and Tennessee

6. Mining Coal in Kentucky

7. Union Conflict and Years of Prosperity

8. Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

9. A Life Considered

Appendix A: Partial List of Businesses Founded or Operated by Justus Stearns

Appendix B: Coal Production to 1933

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-259) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780814341278

0814341276

OCLC:

926015167