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174:(AWL). At the time, magazine publishers often paid individuals a small fee to sell magazine subscriptions. In Lewis's plan, women who sold a certain base number of subscriptions would earn a free membership in the AWL. Their subscription fees would go into the AWL, funding a pool of benefits such as education and pensions to which all AWL members were entitled. The AWL proved to be a very popular concept and some 700 chapters were formed across the United States. However, the AWL struggled to make its funding model work, and it folded in 1912.
44:(1907), a benefits fund for women who sold magazine subscriptions, as well as the American Woman's Republic (1911), a parallel organization designed to help women prepare themselves for a future in which they would have the right to vote. He also founded the People's University and its associated Art Academy in University City, as well as two daily newspapers and two banks.
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had brought Lewis a large rural readership for his two magazines, and mail order ads in the magazines allowed him to sell annual subscriptions for pennies and still make money. However, Lewis attracted the enmity of
Postmaster General Cortelyou, who claimed that the magazines primarily functioned as
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In
Atascadero, Lewis also built what was claimed to be the "largest dehydrating plant in the world," which supplied the U.S. Army with dehydrated vegetables. Profits from this venture went towards the acquisition of 16,000 acres of leases in Wyoming, where he drilled for oil with scant success. When
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Shortly after founding the AWR, Gardner decided to establish a new agrarian colony for the republic in what is now
Atascadero, California (see next section). Although the capitol of the AWR was designated as University City until 1916, the rest of the republic's various ventures moved to Atascadero
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In 1911, Lewis founded the
American Woman's Republic (AWR) as a parallel organization to the American Woman's League. Funded by membership fees, the AWR was a kind of model republic designed to help women educate themselves in government and otherwise prepare themselves for a future in which they
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A number of landmarks and events are named after Lewis in
University City and Atascadero. In University City, a marker in front of City Hall describes Lewis as a "banker, planner, developer, builder, publisher, inventor, artist, dreamer, visionary" who "left us with a remarkable legacy."
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notes. Although the project generated much publicity and thousands of people attended sales meetings in 1922, the project's detractors managed to create a great deal of controversy around it. Lewis's involvement with the project ended in 1923, and he declared bankruptcy in 1924.
108:. In 1903, when his publishing operation outgrew its downtown St. Louis location, he began building a new Lewis Publishing Company headquarters and Press Annex at this site. After incorporating University City in 1906, he served three terms as mayor.
213:. He intended to establish a utopian colony there for the American Woman's Republic. Starting in 1914, the land was subdivided, thousands of acres of orchards were planted, and a road was built from Atascadero to the Pacific coast at
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Lewis moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in the late 1890s, where he worked as a salesman of insect extermination products and medicines that were said to be highly questionable. He bought a local magazine called
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In 1927, Lewis was indicted for the second time for conspiracy to use the U.S. mail system to defraud people. Acting as his own attorney, he was found guilty and sentenced to five years at the
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Not much is known about the AWR's activities after 1916, even though it was intended to remain politically active until
American women won the right to vote, which did not happen until 1919.
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Although Lewis eventually won the right to mail his periodicals at the magazine rate, he had lost many subscribers along the way. In 1907, in an effort to rebuild circulation, he founded the
32:(March 4, 1869 – August 10, 1950) was an American magazine publisher, land development promoter, and political activist. He was the founder of two planned communities that are now cities:
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advertising and therefore did not qualify for the magazine rate. Cortelyou accused him of defrauding the Post Office, and Lewis spent much of 1907 fighting the Post Office in court.
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The AWR held its first convention the following year, ratifying a declaration of equal rights. AWR members took part in other suffrage organizations and became involved with the
244:. The architectural centerpiece of the town was the city hall and museum, an Italian Renaissance–style building built of local-clay bricks that was damaged in the
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Edward
Gardner Lewis, commonly known as "E.G. Lewis", was born in Connecticut in 1869. After attending private schools, he got his bachelor's degree at
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In 1909, he founded a college called People's
University. Only one of its three planned buildings was completed: the art building, designed in the
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the war ended, the U.S. government canceled the dehydrating plant contract and Lewis found himself once more in dire financial straits.
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He quickly built its circulation to a million and a half, amassing a fortune in the process. He also acquired another periodical, the
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Lewis also established two daily newspapers and two banks, one of which — the "People's Bank" — was shut down by
Postmaster General
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Between 1903 and 1915, Lewis continued to acquire surrounding parcels and develop subdivisions, building the octagonal
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and taught on the staffs of both
Syracuse University and the People's University of the American Woman's League.
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Around 1922, Lewis acquired options to buy 16,000 acres of land on the Palos Verdes peninsula from banker
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because it would have offered mail-order services in direct competition with U.S. postal money orders.
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120:(now City Hall) and an exotic, windowless Egyptian Building across the street (since destroyed).
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Edward Gardner Lewis (third from left) and others at the Art Academy of People's University in
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and built in 1909 and 1910. The school was most noted for its Art Academy, where such artists
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between Atascadero and Morro Bay is now officially designated the "E.G. Lewis Highway".
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518:"National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Atascadero Printery"
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The first building in the new community was a print shop that had the first
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Little is known about Lewis's subsequent life. He died on August 10, 1950.
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Woman's Magazine Building in University City, built 1903, now City Hall.
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In 1902, Lewis purchased 85 acres near the construction site for the
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University City Ceramics: Art Pottery of the American Woman's League
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In 1913, Lewis put together a group of investors to buy up land in
486:"The American Woman's League and the American Woman's Republic"
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Edward Gardner Lewis archive at Palos Verdes Library — guide
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The Siege of University City: The Dreyfus Case of America
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147:, who was known as the "sculptor of the Confederacy".
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Lewis Publishing Company and University City, Missouri
488:. University City Public Library website, 2002–05.
381:. University City Public Library website, 2002–05.
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362:. Online Archive of California, Nov. 17, 2007.
360:"Guide to the Edward Gardner Lewis Papers 001"
143:worked. Its director was Hungarian immigrant
507:. City of Atascadero website, Aug. 11, 2014.
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581:. University City Publishing Company, 1912.
379:"Edward Gardner Lewis and University City"
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547:"The First Piece of Atascadero"
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585:Conradsen, David (2004).
440:"Adelaide Alsop Robineau"
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217:that is now a section of
178:American Woman's Republic
118:Woman's Magazine Building
106:University City, Missouri
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314:Garden Farms, California
172:American Woman's League
158:American Woman's League
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277:Later life and death
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190:during World War I.
145:George Julian Zolnay
95:Woman's Farm Journal
30:Edward Gardner Lewis
238:Atascadero Printery
164:Rural Free Delivery
152:George B. Cortelyou
553:. February 1, 2019
266:Frank A. Vanderlip
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188:Women's Peace Army
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125:Classical Revival
91:Woman's Magazine.
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636:1950 deaths
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234:rotogravure
141:Taxile Doat
24:E. G. Lewis
625:Categories
454:2019-09-05
425:2019-09-06
401:2019-09-06
320:References
505:"History"
270:indenture
215:Morro Bay
557:June 20,
527:June 19,
308:See also
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292:Legacy
139:, and
87:Winner
36:, and
533:With
591:ISBN
559:2019
529:2019
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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