John Leary (November 1, 1837 – February 8, 1905) was an American businessman and politician who was a key civic leader in Seattle, Washington. He made contributions to virtually all civic and business activities during the city's early years.
Leary started as a lumber merchant in New Brunswick, Canada, at 17. A successful entrepreneur, he accumulated "a modest fortune" and traveled to Seattle in 1869 in search of greater opportunities. Leary died one of the richest people in Seattle, with a net worth of $2 million, most of which was acquired through real estate deals in Seattle and vicinity. He participated in many other Seattle projects, including railroads, mining, banking, water and gas works, steamship operations, law, and others. Many of his activities were unprofitable, but served an important public purpose. He was also known for his extensive charitable contributions.
Leary served multiple terms as Seattle councilman and one as Seattle mayor, in 1885. He co-founded the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Rainier Club, and First National Bank of Seattle, Seattle's first bank. From 1878 to 1890, Leary played one of the most prominent roles in Seattle's battle with the Northern Pacific Railroad for an independent railroad connection—a key element of Seattle's subsequent commercial success and leadership in Washington State.
Leary financed the construction of the steamwheeler Bailey Gatzert, the finest ship in Puget Sound at the time. His mining operation led to the founding of Ravensdale, Washington (initially named for him). Leary's home, the most expensive residence in the city of the time, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Two Seattle streets, Leary Way and Leary Avenue, bear his name.
East Coast career
Leary was born on November 1, 1837, to a family of Irish descent, in Saint John, New Brunswick, on the Eastern coast of Canada. He soon demonstrated an "unusual aptitude for business," and at 17, started a successful lumber trading business in the city. This business soon expanded into the town of Woodstock in Carleton County. By the age of 30, he had accumulated a "modest fortune" and ran his own lumber camp on the banks of the Meduxnekeag River.
The Meduxnekeag riverbed spans from the confluence of its North and South Branches near Houlton, Maine in the United States to Woodstock in Canada. The 1866 expiration of the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty resulted in substantial losses to Leary's business. Initially, he moved to Houlton in an attempt to run his business from Maine, but soon decided to take his chances on the Western frontier. Leary worked in lumbering until 1867.
West Coast career In 1869, Leary arrived in Seattle, then a village with unpaved streets supporting a population of less than 1,000 people. Unlike the typical Washington Territory entrepreneur of the time, Leary didn't limit himself to a particular area of business, but engaged in a panoply of activities. In the words of Samuel L. Crawford, a Washingtonian journalist of the time, "Mr. Leary had an unusually active mind and was a great promoter. His great 'stunt' was to start some big enterprise and, after it was well under way, drop out of it himself. In this manner, he fathered many of the big schemes of the day."
As a result, over the next 20 years, Leary was involved in multiple operations simultaneously. He "touched every line of public progress" of Seattle, often at personal loss. Nevertheless, by the beginning of the 20th century, Leary had accumulated a fortune estimated at $2 million ($53,000,000), mostly from his investments in Seattle real estate. He died one of the richest people in Seattle.
Law practice
Leary was admitted to the bar in 1871, becoming a "pioneer lawyer" in Washington Territory. That same year, he became a junior partner in McNaught & Leary law firm. In 1872, McNaught & Leary was one of five law firms in Seattle and one of the six most active law firms in Washington Territory. One of Leary's most consistent occupations in Seattle was law; he was active in this area for eleven years.
In 1878, James F. McNaught became an attorney for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and the law firm dissolved. Leary initially started his own law practice, but then formed another firm with Henry G. Struve. The Struve & Leary Company was organized in 1878, and in 1880, when J.C. Haines joined the firm, it was renamed Struve, Haines & Leary. Leary stayed with the firm until 1882, when he left to devote himself to business and civic activities.
Mining In 1872, Leary opened the Talbot coal mine (located in present-day Renton) with partners John Collins, James F. McNaught and Michael Padden. Later, Leary was elected one of the venture's directors.
This operation was the first to deliver coal to Seattle. To expose a vein of coal, the company constructed a tunnel long, wide, and high. To ship the coal to Yesler's Wharf in Seattle, they laid of railroad track towards the Black River. However, as the bed proved to be badly faulted, the mine closed after a few years.
Between 1878 and 1880, Leary financed several geological expeditions in Washington, which normally would have been financed by local governments, to develop the region. The parties explored the West Coast towards Cape Flattery, the Skagit and Similkameen rivers, and parts of Eastern Washington. The expeditions confirmed the presence of rich coal and iron deposits, and the reports were made available to the public.
In 1884, together with J.M. Colman, Leary took part in the opening of the Cedar River mines. He was also an early stockholder in other mines around Renton.
Leary's most substantial mining effort was the creation of the Leary Coal Company, which developed coal mines in Ravensdale. This mining town was founded by Leary, and initially bore his name. Its original output of 48,000 tons in 1900 increased to 185,000 tons by 1905. The large coal shipments were made possible by a dedicated railroad line financed by other railroad projects with Leary's involvement, and connected the mines to the Northern Pacific Railway. After Leary's death, the mine was sold to Northern Pacific, which maintained a yearly output of 120,000+ tons of coal through 1915, when an accident killed 31 miners and prompted the company to abandon the mines.
Utilities Leary organized various ventures that helped build Seattle's infrastructure, often without regard for their potential profitability.
In November 1881, Spring Hill Water Company (earlier purchased by Leary with Jacob Furth and Bailey Gatzert because of its insolvency) was the first to lay water pipes along Seattle streets, pumping water from Lake Washington. This created Seattle's first water system, and by 1886, its capacity reached . At some point, Leary served as the president of the company. In 1890, he and his partners sold the company to the city for $352,000 ($9,000,000).
Leary also helped organize the city's first gas company, and served as its president until 1878.
Banking In September 1882, Leary participated in the founding of Seattle's first bank, the First National Bank of Seattle. (Before 1882, only a loan business founded by Dexter Horton operated in town.) Among Leary's partners in this enterprise were William S. Ladd, a famous banker from Oregon; Henry Yesler, Seattle's richest citizen, C.L. Dingley, G.W. Harris, and J.R. Lewis. The bank opened on November 15, 1882, with $150,000 ($4,000,000) in capital.
The bank's solvency and stability helped the city withstand the Panic of 1893. Leary served as the president of the bank, but later "was obliged to resign … owing to the pressure of his other business interests." First National later merged into Seafirst Bank, which was eventually acquired by the Bank of America.
In 1889, Leary was a member of the board of trustees of the People's Savings Bank in Seattle.
Media
In 1878, Leary founded the Seattle Post journal. He was the principal owner of the journal from 1880 until 1882 when he engineered a merge with the Seattle Intelligencer. He built the Post building, a new modern office building for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at a prime location. By 1884, Leary had sold all interest in the combined paper.
In 1890, together with several partners, Leary purchased the Seattle Trade Journal, which was established in 1888 by Edmond S. Meany and Alexander Begg. A year later, he sold it to The Seattle Telegraph.
In 1890, Leary was one of the leading stockholders of the Morning Journal Publishing company. That year, the company made an unsuccessful attempt to publish a Democratic Morning Journal, which was absorbed by the Telegraph the following year.
Real estate
Leary's multiple investments in real estate were based on his firm belief in the future of Washington Territory, and in Seattle in particular. These convictions proved accurate, and his real estate investments became the main source of his accumulated fortune.
For example, in 1883, together with Judge Thomas Burke and William R. Ballard, Leary purchased of land on Salmon Bay. Around 1890, it was divided into individual plots and sold to new settlers, forming the city of Ballard (now a suburb of Seattle).
Among Leary's other notable investments were the Cosmopolitan Hotel, the Seattle Post building, and the Yesler-Leary Block. The latter was built in 1883. It was considered the most prestigious piece of commercial real estate and the biggest office building in Seattle at the time. The Yesler-Leary Block had a long facade facing 1st Avenue and a facade facing Yesler Way. Constructed in a joint venture with Henry Yesler in 1883 at a cost of over $100,000 ($3,000,000), this office building was destroyed in the Great Seattle Fire on June 6, 1889.
Politics and civic activism Like the majority of Washington Territory settlers of the time, Leary was a Republican. His contemporaries described him as an "outstanding civic leader," a "natural leader," and "a pioneer among pioneers."
Leary served three terms as Seattle councilman, in 1873, 1875, and 1876.
In 1884, receiving 1311 votes, he was elected to serve as mayor of Seattle in 1884–1885. Seattle citizens cheered for him during one of the biggest political meetings ever held in Occidental Square. Leary was elected mayor on a ticket created by businessmen in opposition to the Law and Order League. At the time, the League was led by the "moralistic elements," including recently enfranchised women activists who lobbied for liquor and gambling regulations. Later, Leary damaged the relationship with his conservative supporters by allowing raids on saloons and houses of prostitution in attempt to "placate women's and reform groups."
At the time, the position of mayor wasn't salaried, but was regarded as a civic duty. Leary was the first mayor to hold regular office hours. He worked on improving downtown streets, and pleasantly surprised Seattleites by investing his own money to plank 1st Avenue—Seattle's first street-paving project. Leary ran for re-election, but lost.
In late 1885–early 1886, "anti-Chinese agitation" (a result of race antagonism, business depression, and poor enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882) occurred in many Western cities. Many white Americans blamed the business depression of 1882–1885 on cheap Chinese labor, which was considered strong competition to white Americans. The racism turned violent in September, when white laborers attacked Chinese workers causing the Rock Springs massacre followed by an attack in Squak Valley (now Issaquah, Washington). As the agitation reached Seattle, Leary attempted to convince the Chinese to leave the city before any violence had occurred, but he was unsuccessful. Intense anti-Chinese riots rocked Seattle (as many other places on the West Coast), and eventually an "anti-Chinese congress" held in Seattle issued a decree to expel all Chinese people from Western Washington.