336:, fourteen miles from Philadelphia, differs so much from the ordinary town allowed to grow up hap-hazard and to develop conveniences as population increases, that it is necessary, in describing it as it appears, to keep in mind some facts about its history. Wayne is not an accidental aggregation of cottages; it is a town built by design, and provided at the start with all the conveniences to which residents of cities are accustomed and which they are so apt to miss and long for when they go into the country or even into the suburbs of a great city. The scheme of the town was well thought out and planned before any of the new cottages were built, and, as it was undertaken by liberal gentlemen of abundant means, no expense was spared in the preliminary municipal work.
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509:, having lost by the death of George W. Childs one who has stood to them in the relation of a kind and considerate father, find it impossible to express in formal resolutions the due sense of their great loss, but nevertheless seek to record in this minute their high appreciation of his character as it has been revealed to them in daily intercourse. He was the embodiment of kindness and benevolence; his broad sympathies made him a citizen of the world, and not merely those associated with him socially and in business, but humanity itself, lost a generous friend and noble exemplar by his death.
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147:, Maryland, on May 12, 1829, the illegitimate son of unidentified parents. He was raised by a likewise unidentified aunt in comfortable circumstances, a fact he later concealed to make his rise from obscurity seem more remarkable. He began work at age 12 in a bookstore for $ 2 per week while attending public school. He entered the
155:, and worked as a bookshop clerk at age 14. Childs found favor with his employer, proving himself to be trustworthy in business. After shutting the shop for the evening, he was entrusted with buying books at auction for the store. By the time he was 16, he was going to New York and Boston to attend publishing trade shows.
173:) which he accepted, and the name of the firm was changed to Childs & Peterson. Childs & Peterson grew prosperous by publishing useful if unexciting titles that reached a broad market. Peterson excelled in scientific knowledge, while Childs provided business acumen. The two partners grew the title
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Childs chose
Charles L. Webster & Co., in which Mark Twain was a principal. In 1887 a movement arose to draft Childs himself for the presidency, but on January 25, 1888, he announced in the New York Times, "I am not a candidate and neither would I accept the (Republican) nomination for President."
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Situated on almost 170 acres on Bryn Mawr Avenue in Radnor
Township, the Wootton estate included a 50-room Tudor mansion, a clock tower, stables, pool, tennis courts, log cabins and several more buildings. The mansion was built in 1881 by architect John McArthur, who also designed Philadelphia’s City
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Upon buying the paper Childs completely changed its policy and methods. He changed the editorial policy to the
Loyalist (Union) line, raised advertising rates, and he doubled the cover price to two cents. After an initial drop, circulation rebounded and the paper resumed profitability. Childs was
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Childs was also a very close friend of
President Ulysses S. Grant, and they owned adjacent summer homes in Long Branch, New Jersey. When the dying Grant was struggling to complete his war memoirs to support his family after his death, he asked Childs to decide which firm should publish the work.
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intimately involved in all operations of the paper, from the press room to the composing room, and he intentionally upgraded the quality of advertisements appearing in the publication to suit a higher end readership. For four years he rarely left the paper before midnight.
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Childs' efforts bore fruit and the Ledger became one of the most influential journals in the country. Circulation growth led the firm to outgrow its facilities, and in 1866 Childs bought property at Sixth and
Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia and constructed the
246:. Most readers in Philadelphia at the time supported the Union. Publishers were reluctant to increase the one-cent subscription cost to cover the actual costs of production in the face of declining circulation. Childs bought the paper for a reported $ 20,000.
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into a 200,000-issue sale by interesting schools in using it as a textbook. A marketing genius, Childs was the first book publisher to use the now ubiquitous "blurb" endorsements by other famous persons, and he conceived the notion of the author's book tour.
234:, at that time a money-losing newspaper, losing about $ 150,000 per year. The business was squeezed by rising paper and printing costs due to wartime shortages as the country engaged in the Civil War. The paper had lost circulation by supporting the
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Building, which was called at the time "the finest newspaper office in the country." It was estimated that toward the end of Childs' association the Ledger was generating profits of approximately $ 500,000 per year.
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monument in
Baltimore. He gave Woodland Cemetery to the Typographical Society of Philadelphia for a printer's burial ground, and with Anthony J. Drexel founded in 1892 a home for Union printers at
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When Childs turned 18, he took his savings, which amounted to several hundred dollars, and leased space in the offices of the
Philadelphia
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and started his own firm. While working on building his business, Childs was noted for frequently commenting on his desire to own the
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Close friends with
Anthony Drexel for more than 40 years, Childs served as the second President of the Board of Trustees of
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Nichols, Rev. William F. (January 21, 1894) "Prayer-Book Cross." Los
Angeles Times. Page 13. (Retrieved May 4, 2020.)
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on
February 3, 1894. His wife died at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia on August 13, 1928 at age 88. His
389:. In addition to numerous private benefactions in educational and charitable fields, he erected memorial windows to
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192:, a jurist born in Codognan, France. Her father was Robert Evans Peterson, a lawyer, and scientist; her mother was
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were published at Philadelphia in 1890, and an elementary school in Philadelphia is named after him, as is the
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Childs was known throughout his life for generosity and philanthropy. He was quoted to say,
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encompassing over 11,000 issues between 1836 and 1876. He was elected as a member to the
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This approach won him a wide circle of friends whose affection and friendship ran deep.
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The former George W. Childs School in South Philadelphia, now an apartment building
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712:"Grand Wootton estate played host to top names in American politics and society"
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305:. The Antiquarian Society holds a substantial file of original issues of the
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121:(May 12, 1829 – February 3, 1894) was an American publisher who co-owned the
970:. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 141–142.
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Robert Peterson, Review of four publications about George W. Childs, p. 13.
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and collaborator with her husband on other works. They left no children.
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668:"Clarence - Newspapers Holdings of the American Antiquarian Society"
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Childs was married to Emma B. Peterson, the granddaughter of Judge
183:"Meanness is not necessary to success in business, but economy is."
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
301:, succeeding the founder. In 1872, he was elected a member of the
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Childs built his own summer home, Wooton, outside of nearby
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owned Wooton. In 1950, the estate was acquired for use as
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and advocating an immediate peace settlement with the
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People associated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art
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601:, History of Book Publishing (1972), Vol. I, p. 380.
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19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
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Building as it appeared when it opened in June 1867
373:Childs was widely known for his public spirit and
344:. A 2013 article on Childs described the estate:
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526:Burt, The Perennial Philadelphians, pp. 417-418.
377:. In 1884, for example, he loaned $ 500 to poet
610:Corner, Doctor Kane of the Arctic Seas, p. 239.
1019:Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)
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1049:Members of the American Philosophical Society
766:. University of California Press, 1999: 428.
744:Clemens, Autobiography of Mark Twain, p. 241
332:The suburban village known as Wayne, on the
1029:Members of the American Antiquarian Society
710:News, Kathy O’LoughlinFor Main Line Media.
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290:train station on the main line of the
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834:"Ask The Historical Society - Childs"
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495:Upon his death his employees at the
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999:19th-century American male writers
501:adopted the following resolution:
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783:Miller, John C. (December 1974).
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546:"Death of George W. Childs"
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421:(1887), and a monument to
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355:George W. Childs Drexel
962:Childs, George William
579:Parton, James (1870).
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690:search.amphilsoc.org
686:"APS Member History"
490:Laurel Hill Cemetery
455:Laurel Hill Cemetery
359:St. Aloysius Academy
88:Laurel Hill Cemetery
78:, Pennsylvania, U.S.
599:John William Tebbel
437:in San Francisco's
415:William Shakespeare
413:at Kensal Green, a
326:Wayne, Pennsylvania
288:Wayne, Pennsylvania
228:, he purchased the
194:Hannah Mary Bouvier
143:Childs was born in
39:Frederick Gutekunst
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299:Drexel University
236:Copperhead Policy
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