Levi P. Morton
b. Shoreham, VT, May 16, 1824
d. Rhinebeck, NY, May 16, 1920
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In 1869 Morton purchased land on Brenton and Coggeshall Avenues and purchased
the steep-pitched roof summer cottage "Fairlawn" at the southeast corner
of Bellevue and Ruggles Avenues.
Noted Bellevue Avenue entertainers, Morton and wife Lucy host a dinner
party given in honor of President Ulysses S. Grant during his four day
Newport stay on August 24, 1869.
Two years later in the summer time, Levi’s wife of 15 years passed away
in her 35th year of life at "Fairlawn." There were no children by
this marriage.
Association with Newport as a summer resident lasted almost 20 years, due
to his time consuming schedule as a man of importance. He sold "Fairlawn"
in 1886. The house is now owned by Salve Regina University.
He left a parcel of his property to the city of Newport for use as a park.
At the corners of Coggeshall and Morton Avenues (formerly Brenton Road)
this land today bears his name, "Morton Park."
Banker and public official, U.S. Minster to France, Vice President of the
United States under President Benjamin Harrison, Governor of New York.
The son of a minister, moved often as a youth. Grew up in Shoreham
(VT), Springfield (VT) and Winchendon (MA).
Introduction to business in mid-teens as a clerk in country store.
Over the next 20 years he became one of the leaders in American finance.
Some of his companies included: Morton, Grinnell and Company; and
Morton Bliss and Company.
Remarried in 1873, eventually had five daughters. Very wealthy, Morton
would rise to new heights. He did in fact have an earlier business
failure and failed political campaigns, but he managed to be elected to
Congress as a Republican from New York in 1879.
Appointed U.S. Minister to France. In Paris on October 24, 1881,
in commemoration of 100th anniversary of the victory at Yorktown, he ceremoniously
hammered in the first rivet in the first piece of the Statue of Liberty.
(It was driven into the big toe of Lady Liberty’s left foot.)
Three years later, on July 4, 1884, once again in Paris, Morton accepted
the statue on behalf of the U.S. Government. On that day, he becomes
the first American to climb the Statue of Liberty.
He served in the capacity of Minister to France until 1885 when his political
aspirations took him to the office of Vice President of the United States
under Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) and then to become the Governor of
New York (1895-1896). His political career ended with that office.
Bibliography
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