The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1912-05-07
HOW AST0R FORTUNE
WAS FOUNDED AND GREW
First John Jacob Bought Farm
Lands Now in Heart
Of the City.
S2O.OOO.OOO BASE or 1T
Is Now $1OO,0OO.OOO at the
Least and Will BE Three or
Four Times That Soon.

Four Times That Soon.
The value of the estate Of John Jacob
Astor is estimated at anywhere from
9i0O. 900 900 to $500 900 .OOO For purposes
Of taxation the city assesses the hold
ings Of John Jacob Astor at $4,000. 900
II represents the largest real estate for
tune in the world. Within another gen.
Grafton or two the estate is likely to in
crease three or four times in value. since
the largest holdings are in section which
has not yet had the benefit Of settlement.
while another large part Of the estate on
Manhattan Island is in district which
has been enhanced by many Of the pub
lie improvements which have been planned d
by the city.
, This estate has come down to the pres
ent head OF the Astor family through
several generations. II started in COM
paratively small way and has grown
through constant additions made by the
successors Of the original founders. The
/ late John Jacob Astor added less to the
estate in the way Of new land than any OF
his predecessors.
This immense volume Of property in
cludes everything in real estate from the
cheapest kind Of vacant land to the most
expensive and luxurious hotels iE the
world. II was the building up OF many OF
the properties that made the name OF
Astor synonymous with New York city
real estate. The Astors have never been
leaders in the development Of New York
but rather tardy followers Of the city's
growth Whenever a section has been in =
vaded by builders the Astors have watched
it with interest until such time a. they
could see it's permanency. and then have
invested their own money in large i'm
provements. II has also been plan OF
theirs To permit property surrounding :
their own to be developed and then TO
profit by the higher value which these
improvements gave to their own land.
Wherever they have undertaken i'm
provements. however, especially in re-
cent years they have been Of the highest
type and in every case q credit TO the
section.
The pr eeent Astor holdings in New
York city. that il the properties Of John
Jacob Aator. William Waldorf Astor. the
Delanos. the Chanlers. the Careys. the
! Van Aliens. the Wendells and other
branches Of the Astor family. whose col
lective fortune is estimated at about
$3.50 600. 600. are tho result largely Of the
! foresight of the original John Jacob
Astor. who started specializing in real
estate in the latter part Of the eighteenth
century This first John Jacob In de-
scribed as the ragged son Of an idle Ger
man butcher who landed from the steer
age at New York ons hunered and twenty
seven years ago.
!, William Waldorf Astor. proprietor Of the
Pail Mall Magazine. who with the late
John Jacob Astor shared the larger part
Of the Astor estate. describes his origin al
parent in this country as having de-
scended from Jean Jacques D'Astorga. q
Spanish erandee Of the twelfth century
Burton Hendrick in a recent issue OF
{ McCiure's Magazine describes the original
Astor as a delivery boy for a German
baker.
With the main facts Of his life says
Mr.. Hendrick. most OF us are familiar
how he bartered gold. beads and firearms
with the Indians for furs, how he sent these
to China in his own ship. bringing back
cargoes of tea, for which the American 8
of those days had famous appetite
That he made a snug fortune is eviden t
from the fact that 10y 800 he was livin &
on the Broadway block where the Astor
house now stands with such neighbors as
Rufus King. David lydig and John Ruth
crford. But Astor's ambitions reached
far beyond this. About this time he
made the discovery which has proved so
profitable that America was o be a grea
and n populo,Is country and that New
York was TO be its capital. How best
could he turn this sufficiently obvious fact
To his own advantage? Astor looked
north from the city common. now City
Hall Park and found his answer in the
sweeping fields and forests and swamps
of the knickerbocker yeom anry.
Not many years hence. he said, these
neg lected farms will he occupied by the
houses and business buildings of ha rd
working, rent paying people, Al present
their owners year after year plant thelr
corn and beans and potatoes. altogether
oblivous Of the golden crop the future is
TO yield Many Of them are pinched for
money; there their estates are heavily
mortgaged; any one so foolish as to buy
would be a welcome delivercr. And after
] have purchased them. what then? Sim
ply sit down and wait No anxiety. no
sleepless nights. no work. Year after
year the city will grow northward and
gradually cnvelop these farms 1t can
make no progress without first coming
to terms with those who then own them
If should be that happy man | would
not even take the trouble to make my own
improvements or put up my own build
lngs, In ten. twenty and thirty years the
people will need the land badly enough
to do these things themselves, Never
was man given so splendid an oppor-
tunty to reap where others have sown"
John Jacob Astor had a brother. Henry