Philip Danforth Armour: Difference between revisions

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| death_place = [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]], U.S.

'''Philip Danforth Armour Sr.''' (16 May 1832 –– 6 January 1901) was an American [[meat packing industry|meatpacking]] industrialist who founded the Chicago-based firm of [[Armour & Company]]. Born on ana farm in upstate New York farm, he initially gained financial success when he made $8,000 induring the [[California gold rush]], 1852–56from 1852 to 1856. He later opened a wholesale soap business in Cincinnati, then moved it to Milwaukee. He

During madethe millions[[American sellingCivil War]], Armour capitalized on the opportunity to sell meat to the United States Army, duringmaking millions in the Civil Warprocess. In 1875, he moved his base to Chicago. Armour'sHis innovations includingincluded bringing live hogs to the metropolis for slaughter, inventing an assembly line system for the dis-assembly of hogs, canning the product, economy of scale and efficiency in detail. He systematically utilized waste products, boasting that he made use of "everything but the squeal". The introduction of refrigerated rail cars opened a national market for him and competitors such as [[Gustavus Swift]]. Armour expanded into banking and speculation on the futures market for pork and wheat by 1900, his plants employed 15,000 workers; his own wealth was in the range of $50 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=50000000|start_year=1900}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}). The urgent Army need for meat during the Spanish–American War of 1898 led to highly publicized complaints about "[[embalmed beef]]." Armour retired from business in 1899, and devoted himself to philanthropy in the Chicago area, including low-cost housing for industrial workers, and the major institution of higher education, the Armour Institute of Technology (now part of [[Illinois Institute of Technology]]).

Armour was born in [[Stockbridge, New York]], to Danforth Armour and Juliana Ann Brooks. He was one of eight children and grew up on his family's farm. Armour was descended from colonial settlers of Scottish and English origin, with his surname originating in Scotland. He was educated at [[Cazenovia Academy]] in New York until the school expelled him for taking a ride in a buggy.<ref>{{cite web |last=PBS |series=American Experience |title=Chicago: City of the Century |website=[[PBS]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/filmmore/pt.html |access-date=September 8, 2017 |archive-date=February 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209103829/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/filmmore/pt.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Among his first jobs was that of Driver on upstate New York's [[Chenango Canal]] which ran through [[Madison County, New York|Madison County]] at that time and would have been a busy thoroughfare. At the age of 19, Armour left New York with about 30 other people for California, joining the great California gold rush. They walked most of the way from New York to California.<ref name = "obit2">{{cite news |title=P. D. Armour Dead. Chicago Millionaire Yielded to Long Illness. Fever Rallied After Son's Death. |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86081854/1901-01-10/ed-1/seq-8/#words=ARMOUR+Armour |publisher=The Republican (Laport, PA.) |date=January 7, 1901 |page=8}}</ref> Before the journey, Armour "had received several hundred dollars from his parents," making him, for the most part, "the financier of the party," according to biographer Edward N. Wentworth.<ref>{{cite book |last= Wentworth |first= Edward N. |title=Biographical Catalog of the Portrait Gallery of the Saddle and Sirloin Club |location= Chicago, IL |publisher= Union Stock Yards |year=1920 |page= [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9X1kAAAAMAAJ/page/n206 178] |url= https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9X1kAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> In California, Armour eventually started his own business, employing out-of-work miners to construct sluices, which controlled the waters that flowed through the mined rivers. In only a few years, Armour had turned his business into a profitable enterprise, earning himself about $8,000 by the time he had turned 24.<ref name="autogenerated1901">{{cite web |last=PBS |series=American Experience |title=People & Events: Philip Danforth Armour (1832–1901) |website=[[PBS]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/peopleevents/p_armour.html |access-date=September 8, 2017 |archive-date=December 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207082339/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/peopleevents/p_armour.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the late 1880s, he was solicited by [[Peter A. Demens]] to invest in his [[Orange Belt Railroad]] running across central Florida, and one of the depots was named in his honor.<ref name = "Demens">{{cite book |last1=Parry |first1=Albert |title=Full Steam Ahead!: The True Story of Peter Demens, the Brave Russian Nobleman who Built the Orange Belt Railway and Founded America's Unique St. Petersburg |date=1987 |publisher=Great Outdoors Publishing Company |isbn=9780820010359 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UsElAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> In 1900, while terminally ill he wintered in Southern California, probably due to his association with Demens, and his namesake son Philip Jr. came to visit, caught pneumonia and suddenly died on January 29.<ref name="obit2" /> The next winter Philip Sr. was too ill to travel to California, and died in Chicago.

The company's reputation was tarnished further in 1898, when Major General [[Nelson A. Miles]], [[Commanding General of the United States Army]], claimed that the major meatpacking companies of Chicago—including Armour's—were [[United States Army beef scandal|sending chemically-treated meat]] to soldiers fighting in the [[Spanish-AmericanSpanish–American War]]. An investigation followed, but no definite verdict was reached. Skeptics would claim that Armour simply bribed the panel while Armour would defend his innocence for the rest of his life. Even so, the damage was done. The evidence that was found provided fodder for the [[Muckraker|muckraking]] novel by [[Upton Sinclair]] entitled ''[[The Jungle]]'', which was published in February 1906 and became a [[bestseller]]. Armour's reputation never recovered from the 1898–1899 scandal.<ref name="autogenerated2" />

In 1893, Armour donated $1 million to found the [[Illinois Institute of Technology|Armour Institute of Technology]] (a privately endowed coeducational college), which merged with the Lewis Institute to become [[Illinois Institute of Technology]] (IIT) in 1940. Both [[Armour Square Park]], which is adjacent to both IIT and [[Guaranteed Rate Field]] as well as the surrounding neighborhood of [[Armour Square, Chicago|Armour Square]] on Chicago's [[South Side, Chicago|South Side]] are named in honor of him. The Armour brothers Joseph and Philip founded the Armour Mission,<ref>{{cite web |title=Armour Mission records, 1845-19341845–1934 |url=http://findingaids.archives.iit.edu/repositories/2/resources/217 |website=University Archives and Special Collections Finding Aid Portal |access-date=19 August 2021}}</ref> an educational and healthcare center. In 1900 his son, Philip D. Armour Jr., died.<ref>{{cite news |title=Philip D. Armour Jr. Dead. Younger Son of Chicago's Millionaire Packer Stricken with Congestion of the Lungs in California |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88807536/philip-d-armour-jr-dead/ |quote=News has been received of the sudden death of Philip D. Armour Jr. at Montecito, near Santa Barbara. Young Armour was ill but ... |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=3 |date=January 28, 1900 |access-date=2021-11-12 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name = "obit2"/>

Armour died at age 69 on January 6, 1901, of [[pneumonia]] at his Chicago home.<ref>{{cite news |title=Philip D. Armour Is Dead. Chicago Millionaire Passes Away After Two Years' Illness. Sought Health at Home and Abroad. Began to Sink with the Commencement of Winter. His Wealth Estimated as High as $50,000,000 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88807346/philip-d-armour-is-dead/ |quote=Philip Danforth Armour --– philanthropist, financier, and multi-millionaire, head of the vast commercial establishment that bears his name --– died at his ... |work=[[The New York Times]] |location=Chicago |page=1 |date=January 7, 1901 |access-date=2021-11-12 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name = "obit2" /> He was survived by his wife, Malvina Belle Ogden whom he had married in 1862, and by his son, [[J. Ogden Armour]]. His family call him "P. D."<ref>{{cite news |title=Amour Affable, But Bored by Flutter of Formal Society |url=https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/clip/88807441/armour-affable-but-bored-by-flutter-of/ |newspaper=Chicago Daily Tribune |date=August 17, 1927 |page=5 |access-date=2021-11-12 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

The [[Union Pacific Railroad]] uses Armour Yellow<ref>{{cite web |title=Armour Yellow on Union Pacific |url=https://utahrails.net/up/armour-yellow.php |website=UtahRails.net |access-date=19 August 2021 |date=August 25, 2015}}</ref> as one of its official colors, the same hue used by Armour refrigerated cars in the early 20th century.<ref>{{Harvnb|Daniels|2008|p=97}}</ref>

* Armour, Philip D. (1895) "[https://books.google.com/books?id=z8gJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA383 Chapter LV: The Packing Industry]" in Depew, Chauncey M. (Ed.) ''100 Years of American Commerce'', pp. 383-388383–388. Signed by "Philip D. Armour".

* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/peopleevents/p_armour.html Biographical sketch for Philip Armour on PBS American Experience] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207082339/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/peopleevents/p_armour.html |date=December 7, 2016 }}