page_title: Alexander Turney Stewart
section_title: Death and influence
hierarchical_section_title: Alexander Turney Stewart / Death and influence
caption_attribution_description: English: Bust of Alexander Turney Stewart, sculpted by Granville Carter, located in the north parking lot of the Garden City (LIRR station) in Garden City, New York.
context_page_description: Alexander Turney Stewart was an Irish American entrepreneur who moved to New York and made his multimillion-dollar fortune in the most extensive and lucrative dry goods store in the world.
  Stewart was born in Lisburn, Ulster, Ireland, and abandoned his original aspirations of becoming a Presbyterian minister to go to New York City in 1823. He spent a short time teaching before returning to Ireland to receive the money his grandfather had left him, purchase some Belfast linens and laces, and return to New York to open a store.
  Stewart had extraordinary skill in business, and by 1848 he had built a large marble-fronted store on Broadway between Chambers Street and Reade Street, which was devoted to the wholesale branch of his business. In 1862 he built a new store covering an entire city block between Broadway and Fourth Avenue and between 9th and 10th streets. It was eight stories tall and attracted the wonder and business of upscale New York. Trainloads of wealthy customers from outlying cities came to shop.
  Stewart made most of his money through wholesaling and especially New York City real estate.
context_section_description: Before Stewart died in 1876, he had succeeded in creating his own manufacturing facilities. He wanted to have his own mills to supply his wholesale and retail operations. With these mills, located in New York and New England, Stewart produced his own woolen fabrics and employed thousands of workers. Stewart also served on several New York State Chamber of Commerce Committees between 1862 and 1871. Though never elected as a New York State officer, he attended Lincoln's funeral as a Chamber delegate.
  Before his death he was building at Hempstead Plains, Long Island, the village of Garden City, with the purpose of affording his employees comfortable and airy housing at a moderate cost. After his death, his wife Cornelia erected several buildings in his memory, including St. Paul's School and The Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City; the latter also served as a mausoleum to both Stewart and his wife.
  Stewart died as one of the richest men in New York, just behind a Vanderbilt and an Astor. Worth an estimated $50 million, Stewart, unlike New York's other wealthy men who made their millions through real estate, had earned his wealth in retail trade. Out of the twenty-four clerks who entered A. T. Stewart & Company in 1836, six still worked for the company in 1876. To these long-term employees, Stewart showed his gratitude by leaving them more than $250,000 (equivalent to $6,000,000 in 2019) in his will.
  The body of Stewart was stolen from its tomb, between nine o'clock on the evening of November 6, and daylight on the morning of November 7, 1878, 2 years, 6 months, 24 days after his burial at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. The remains were held for $20,000 ransom. The ransom was paid and remains were returned, although never verified as his. A local legend states that the mausoleum holding his remains is rigged with security devices that will cause the bells of the Cathedral to ring if ever disturbed.
  The bulk of the Stewart fortune, willed to Mrs. Stewart with Judge Henry Hilton as trustee, was the subject of protracted litigation, although a swarm of long-lost Turney relatives were quickly dismissed. Claims were based in part on Mrs. Stewart's hasty transfer of the dry goods business in 1876 to Hilton, in exchange for the $1,000,000 willed to Hilton, who carried on the business under the name E. J. Denning & Co.
  Mrs. Stewart, who lived quietly in New York and at the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York, which she inherited, died of pneumonia October 25, 1886, and ex-Judge Hilton died there 24 August 1899.
  In 1896, the Iron Palace was bought by John Wanamaker and reopened as "Wanamaker's". The Philadelphian Wanamaker had long been an admirer of Stewart and stated that one of his best qualities was his "personal attention to the details of the business... He could have had others to look after the details — they have to be looked after, but few attend to sweeping up, and that's what Stewart did."  In 1917 the New York Sun newspaper bought Stewart's Marble Palace for its main offices. In 1966 the building was designated a landmark by the City of New York.
caption: Bust honoring Stewart in the parking lot of Garden City Long Island Railroad station
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