ALEXANDER T. STEWART was born in Belfast, in Ireland, in 1802. He is of
Scotch-Irish parentage. At the age of three years he lost his father,
and was adopted by his grandfather, who gave him a good common school and
collegiate education, intending him for the ministry. His grandfather
died during his collegiate course, and this threw him upon his own
resources. He at once abandoned all hope of a professional career, and
set sail for America. He reached New York in 1818, and began his career
here as assistant teacher in a commercial school. His first salary was
$300. In a year or two he went into business for himself, carrying on a
modest little store, and manifesting no especial talent for business.
At the age of twenty-one, he went back to Ireland to take possession of a
legacy of nearly one thousand pounds, left him by his grandfather. He
invested the greater part of this sum in "insertions" and "scollop
trimmings," and returned to New York. He rented a little store at 283
Broadway, and there displayed his stock, which he sold readily at a fair
profit. His store was next door to the then popular Bonafanti, who kept
the largest and best patronized variety store of the day. Stewart's
little room was twenty-two feet wide by twenty feet deep.
Without mercantile experience, and possessing no advantage but his
determination to succeed, Mr. Stewart started boldly on what proved the
road to fortune. He gave from fourteen to eighteen hours per day to his
business. He could not afford to employ any help, and he did all his own
work. He was almost a total stranger to the business community of New
York, and he had no credit. He kept a small stock of goods on hand,
which he bought for cash and sold in the same way for a small profit.
His purchases were made chiefly at auctions, and consisted of "sample
lots"--that is, miscellaneous collections of small articles thrown
together in heaps and sold for what they would bring. He spent several
hours after business each day in assorting and dressing these goods.
They were sold at a low price, but his profit was fair, as he had paid
but a trifle for them. Little by little his trade increased, and he was
soon obliged to employ an assistant. About this time he inaugurated the
system of "selling off below cost." He had a note to pay, and no money
to meet it. His store was full of goods, but he was short of ready
money. No man could then afford to let his note go to protest. Such a
step in those days meant financial ruin to a young man. Stewart proved
himself the man for the crisis. He marked every article in his store
down far below the wholesale price, and scattered over the city a cloud
of handbills announcing that he would dispose of his entire stock of
goods below cost within a given time. His announcement drew crowds of
purchasers to his store, and before the period he had fixed for the
duration of the sale, Mr. Stewart found his shelves empty and his
treasury full. He paid his note with a part of the money thus obtained,
and with the rest laid in a fresh stock of goods. He made his purchases
at a time when the market was very dull, and, as he paid cash, secured
his goods at very low prices.
The energy and business tact displayed by Mr. Stewart at length brought
him their reward. In 1828, he found his little room too small for his
trade. He leased a small store, thirty feet deep, on Broadway, between
Chambers and Warren streets. Here he remained four years, his trade
increasing rapidly all the while. In 1832, he removed to a two-story
building in Broadway, between Murray and Warren streets, and in a short
time was obliged by the growth of his business to add twenty feet to the
depth of his store, and to put an additional story on the building. A
year or two later he added a fourth story, and in 1837 a fifth story, so
rapidly did he prosper. He had now a large and fashionable trade, had
fairly surmounted all his early difficulties, and had laid the foundation
of the immense fortune he has since acquired.
The great commercial crisis of 1837 was not unexpected by him. It had
always been his habit to watch the market closely, in order to profit by
any sudden change in it, and his keen sagacity enabled him to foresee the
approach of the storm and to prepare for it. He marked his goods down at
an early day and began to "sell for cost," conducting his operations on a
strictly cash basis. The prices were very low, the goods of the best
quality, and he found no difficulty in obtaining purchasers. People were
glad to save money by availing themselves of his low prices. In the
midst of the most terrible crisis the country had ever seen, when old and
established houses were breaking all around him, he was carrying on a
thriving business. His cash sales averaged five thousand dollars per
day. Other houses, to save themselves, were obliged to sell their goods
at auction. Thither went Stewart regularly. He bought these goods for
cash, and sold them over his counters at an average profit of forty per
cent. On a lot of silks for which he paid fifty thousand dollars he
cleared twenty thousand dollars in a few days. He came out of the crisis
a rich man and the leading dry-goods dealer of New York.
A few years later he purchased the property lying on the east side of
Broadway, between Chambers and Reade streets, on which he built a
magnificent marble store. He moved into it in 1846. His friends
declared that he had made a mistake in erecting such a costly edifice,
and that he had located it on the wrong side of Broadway. Besides, he
was too far up town. He listened to them patiently, and told them that
in a short time they would see his new store the centre of the
fashionable retail trade of the city. His prediction was speedily
fulfilled.
A few years ago, finding that the retail trade was deserting its old
haunts, below Canal street, and going up town, be began the erection of
his present retail store, into which he moved as soon as it was
completed, retaining his lower store for his wholesale business.
During the war, he made large profits from his sales to the Government,
though he exhibited genuine patriotism in these dealings by charging only
the most liberal prices for his goods. The gains thus realized by him
more than counterbalanced the losses he sustained by the sudden cessation
of his trade with the South.
Fifty-four years have now elapsed since he first set foot in New York,
poor and unknown, and to-day Mr. Stewart is the possessor of a fortune
variously estimated at from thirty to fifty millions of dollars, and
which is growing larger every year. The greater portion of his wealth is
invested in real estate. He owns his two stores, the Metropolitan Hotel,
and the Globe Theatre, on Broadway, and nearly all of Bleecker street
from Broadway to Depau Row, several churches, and other valuable
property. He owns more real estate than any man in America except
William B. Astor, and is the most successful merchant in the world. He
has acquired all this by his own unaided efforts, and without ever
tarnishing his good name by one single dishonest act. Any man may be
proud of such a record.
Mr. Stewart is one of the hardest workers in his vast establishment.
Though he has partners to assist him, he keeps the whole of his extensive
operations well in hand, and is really the directing power of them. He
goes to his business between nine and ten in the morning, and works until
five, and is never absent from his post unless compelled to be away.
His time is valuable, and he is not willing to waste it; therefore access
to him is difficult. Many persons endeavor to see him merely to gratify
their impertinent curiosity, and others wish to "interview" him for
purposes which simply consume his time. To protect himself, he has been
compelled to resort to the following expedient: A gentleman is kept on
guard near the main door of the store, whose duty it is to inquire the
business of visitors. If the visitor replies that his business is
private, he is told that Mr. Stewart has no private business. If he
states his business to the satisfaction of the "sentinel," he is allowed
to go up stairs, where he is met by the confidential agent of the great
merchant, to whom he must repeat the object of his visit. If this
gentleman is satisfied, or cannot get rid of the visitor, he enters the
private office of his employer, and lays the case before him. If the
business of the visitor is urgent, he is admitted, otherwise an interview
is denied him. If admitted, the interview is brief and to the point.
There is no time lost. Matters are dispatched with a method and
promptitude which astonish strangers. If the visitor attempts to draw
the merchant into a conversation, or indulges in complimentary phrases,
after his business is arranged, Mr. Stewart's manner instantly becomes
cold and repelling, and troublesome persons are not unfrequently given a
hint to leave the room. This is his working time, and he cannot afford
to waste it. In social life, he is said to be a cultivated and agreeable
man.
Mr. Stewart resides in a handsome brown stone mansion at the northeast
corner of Fifth avenue and Thirty-fourth street. Immediately across the
avenue, he has erected a residence of white marble, the handsomest and
costliest dwelling in the Union, and one of the handsomest private
residences in the world. It is said to have cost upwards of two millions
of dollars. "The marble work, which forms the most distinguishing
characteristic of this palatial abode, receives its entire shape and
finish in the basement and first floor of the building. The fluted
columns (purely Corinthian, and with capitals elaborately and delicately
carved), which are the most striking feature of the main hall, are alone
worth between three thousand five hundred and four thousand dollars each.
On the right of this noble passage, as you proceed north from the side
entrance, are, the reception and drawing rooms, and the breakfast and
dining rooms, all with marble finish, and with open doors, affording
space for as splendid a promenade or ball as could be furnished probably
by any private residence in Europe. To the left of the grand hall are
the marble staircase and the picture-gallery--the latter about
seventy-two by thirty-six feet, lofty and elegant, and singularly well
designed. The sleeping apartments above are executed upon a scale
equally luxurious and regardless of expense. Externally, the building
must ever remain a monument of the splendor which, as far as opulence is
concerned, places some of our merchants on a footing almost with royalty
itself, and a glance at the interior will be a privilege eagerly sought
by the visiting stranger."
Mr. Stewart is not generally regarded as a liberal man in the metropolis,
probably because he refuses to give indiscriminately to those who ask his
assistance. Yet he has made munificent donations to objects which have
enlisted his sympathy, and has on hand now several schemes for bettering
the condition of the working classes, which will continue to exert a
beneficent influence upon them long after he has passed away. His
friends--and he has many--speak of him as a very kind and liberal man,
and seem much attached to him.
Mr. Stewart is now seventy years old, but looks twenty years younger. He
is of the medium height, has light brown hair and beard, which are
closely trimmed. His features are sharp, well cut, his eye bright, and
his general expression calm, thoughtful, and self-reliant. His manner is
courteous to all, but reserved and cold except to his intimate friends.
He dresses quietly in the style of the day, his habits are simple, and he
shuns publicity.