page_title: Joseph G. Butler Jr.
section_title: Civic contributions
hierarchical_section_title: Joseph G. Butler Jr. / Civic contributions
caption_attribution_description: The Butler Institute of American Art, during their annual "Trash and Treasure Sale".
context_page_description: Joseph Green Butler Jr. was an American industrialist, philanthropist, and popular historian. He is remembered primarily for establishing the first museum in the United States dedicated solely to American art.
context_section_description: Butler's most celebrated legacy is the Butler Institute of American Art, located near the modern-day campus of Youngstown State University. He established the institution in 1919, to house his personal collection of American art. The industrialist's commitment to this groundbreaking museum was reflected in his last will and testament. According to contemporary news accounts, Butler left the bulk of his $1,500,000 estate to the Butler Institute.
  Scarcely more than three decades after Butler's death, Time magazine published a feature story which described the art museum as "booming". In a passage that praised the late industrialist's vision as well as its realization, the magazine's editors wrote: "To set the strictly American tone of the place, he planted a befeathered bronze Indian in front of the $500,000 colonnaded building designed by the Manhattan firm of McKim, Mead & White. With Youngstown University nearby, the two blocks surrounding the museum soon developed into the cultural strip of the U.S.'s third biggest steel center".
  As a philanthropist and community leader, Butler was also instrumental in the conception and realization of other civic projects, including Niles' National McKinley Birthplace Memorial, a monument to the memory of his personal friend, President William J. McKinley. In addition, Butler was the author of several well-received historical works, including an overview of the development of the U.S. steel industry, a history of the Mahoning Valley, and a biography of President McKinley. His published works also include a volume titled, Presidents I Have Seen and Known.  Butler was personally acquainted with every U.S. president from Abraham Lincoln to Calvin Coolidge.
caption: Butler Institute of American Art
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