Belmont
Belmont names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Belmont AUGUST, an American banker
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
AUGUST, an American banker, born in New York City, Feb. 18, 1853; son of the preceding. He was graduated at Harvard University in 1875; at once entered his father's banking house, and on the death of his father became head of the firm of August Belmont & Co. In February, 1900, he organized the Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company to back John B. Mc- Donald, who had been awarded the $35,- 000,000 contract for the construction of a rapid transit system in New York City. He was president of the National Civic Federation (1905-1906); chairman Interborough Consolidated Corporation and Interborough Subway Construction Co. (1911); and a director in numerous other companies. He has taken an active interest in politics on the Democratic side, acting at times as treasurer of the National Committee. He was chairman of the Jockey Club and one of the most active and prominent supporters of horse racing and breeding in the United States. In 1910 he married Eleanor Robson, a well-known Anglo-American actress.
Belmont PERRY, an American lawyer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
PERRY, an American lawyer, born in New York, Dec. 28, 1851; son of August Belmont; graduated at Harvard University in 1872, and at Columbia College Law School in 1876; was admitted to the bar and practiced in New York till 1881, when he was elected as a Democrat to Congress, and served till 1887, being a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 1885 he was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in 1888 United States Minister to Spain. In 1889 he was a Commissioner to the Universal Exposition in Paris. He was one of the principals in the execution of the great contract for the construction of a rapid transit system in New York City, February, 1900, Captain U. S. Reserves 1917, member Advisory Board American Defense Society, Commander Legion of Honor, France, etc.
Belmont AUGUST, an American banker
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
AUGUST, an American banker, born in Alzey, Germany; educated at Frankfort, and was apprenticed to the Rothschild's banking house there. In 1837 he went to Havana to take charge of the firm's interests, and afterward represented them in New York, where he established a banking house. He was Consul-General of Austria in 1844-1850; became Chargé d'Affaires at The Hague in 1853; and was Minister- Resident there in 1854-1858. 185 He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1860, and became Chairman of the National Democratic Committee, an office he held till 1872. He died in New York City, Nov. 24, 1890.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's caught August Belmont Jr. in 1921 as a living railway and racing magnate; he died in 1924, and Perry, still described as a wartime Captain of Reserves, lived on until 1947, dying at 96. The Interborough system the brothers financed passed into receivership in 1932 and was bought out by New York City in the 1940 subway unification, so the private company at the heart of both entries no longer exists. Belmont's other legacy proved more durable: Belmont Park, which he opened in 1905, still runs the Belmont Stakes named for his father, and in 1918 he sold a yearling he had bred, Man o' War, while serving in France. His widow Eleanor Robson Belmont, the actress mentioned in the last line, helped found the Metropolitan Opera Guild in 1935 and died in 1979 at the age of 100.
Written for this edition, 2026.