The Five and Dime Founder: F.W. Woolworth

-



Woolworth founder Frank Winfield Woolworth is entombed within this imposing, Egyptian-themed mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery. Designed by architect John Russell Pope -- whose designs also include The Jefferson Memorial and the National Archives and Records Administration --the Woolworth mausoleum boasts twin guardian sphinxes, Egyptian carvings, papyrus-styled columns, and Bronze doors with figures exchanging an ankh (the Egyptian symbol for life). 

In 1879, Woolworth opened his first “Five and Ten Cent Store” in Utica, NY. Although that store soon failed, his second store, which opened later that year and was located in Lancaster, PA, was a rousing success. Over the years, more than a thousand F. W. Woolworth Company locations opened worldwide. 

Woolworth died suddenly in 1919, at age 66, in Winfield Hall, his Long Island mansion. Initially, his estate was estimated to be $65,000,000. That amount was later reported to be just under $30,000,000. The Woolworth Building, the former corporate headquarters of the Woolworth Co., was once the tallest building in the world and is both a National Historic Landmark and a New York City Landmark.

Comments

  1. scarlet reynoldsNovember 11, 2011 at 7:00 AM

    It has been said that a cemetery is probably the most peaceful spot in any city. Some built beautiful graveyards for their love ones believing that the grave serves as their permanent home and that the dead deserves it.

    funeral director

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alexandra Kathryn MoscaNovember 11, 2011 at 8:06 AM

    I surely believe that cemeteries are places of serenity, beauty and continued connections. What's more, there is so much to learn from a cemetery visit.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Mother's Grief

-
Image
  Near the edge of Green -Wood Cemetery, a sculpture of a beautiful woman –Rose Guarino--reclining across stone steps stops visitors in their tracks. Open-eyed, with lips parted and long hair flowing, she is dressed in a flowing gown, and wearing sandals. She clutches a bouquet in her hands. For generations, Brooklyn locals have believed that the monument commemorates a mafia bride gunned down on her wedding day in a revenge killing. The true story behind the statue does involve a murder and is just as tragic.  In the summer of 1909, Dominica Merello and her daughter, Rose Guarino, were dining with family members on the lawn of their NJ summer home when Pietro Silverio, an irate domestic employee, rushed the women, gun in hand, to exact revenge for losing his job. As the women attempted to flee, Silverio gave chase and shot Guarino in the back.   She died three days later. Guarino's body was held for two years in the cemetery's receiving vault while the monument w...
Read more

Spyros Skouras: A Greek Immigrant's Story of Success

-
Image
One summer day, while wandering the grounds of the Gate of Heaven cemetery, I came across an alabaster statue of Mary cradling Jesus in an open grassy field. The statue was striking, but the Greek surname on the gravestone, which is not often seen in Catholic cemeteries, caught my attention. There was also something faintly familiar about the name. I soon realized that I had stumbled upon the grave of Spyros Skouras, a movie executive and former president of 20th Century Fox Studios. I wondered how many others had passed by, unaware of who he was and what he had accomplished. Born to humble beginnings in Ilia, a small village in Greece, Skouras boarded a boat to America with two of his brothers in search of the American dream. He truly found it. The man who once sold popcorn in American movie theaters rose to become the president of 20th Century Fox. During his 20-year tenure—from 1942 to 1962, the longest in the company's history—he oversaw the production of major films such as Th...
Read more

William Robertson and Mary "Mai" Rogers Coe

-
Image
Wealthy industrialists William Robertson and Mary "Mai" Rogers Coe,  are entombed within a stately mausoleum in a leafy alcove toward the eastern end of Memorial Cemetery of St. John's Church on Long Island's north shore.  Their former Oyster Bay homestead has served as a state park—Planting Fields Arboretum—since 1949, are entombed within a stately mausoleum in a leafy alcove toward the eastern end of the cemetery.
Read more