Arthur Curtiss James

Arthur Curtiss James (June 1, 1867 – June 4, 1941) was a wealthy speculator in copper mines and railroads.

He was the son of Daniel Willis James and Ellen S. Curtiss. His grandfather was Daniel James, one of the founders of Phelps, Dodge & Co. His grandmother was Elizabeth Woodbridge Phelps, daughter of Anson Green Phelps. James married Harriet Eddy Parsons in 1890. He graduated from Amherst College (Class of 1889).

For many years, Arthur Curtiss James was the largest stockholder in the Phelps Dodge organization, but was an “unknown captain of industry”, shunning publicity. His greatest interest was the railroad, and he became the largest private owner of railroad stock in the United States.

He believed in the future of California and gained controlling interest in the Western Pacific line, Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Burlington, Southern Pacific, and other Western railroads. He had a dominant position in the control of 40,000 miles of track - about one-seventh of entire network in the United States. Before the Great Depression, he was one of the wealthiest men in America.

In 1924, he was admitted to the Connecticut Society of the Cincinnati by virtue of his descent from Lieutenant Thomas Phelps, who had served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

The children of James's grandfather from his second marriage remained in England and took no interest in running the Phelps Dodge business. James remained on social terms with them and during a visit to England in 1909, he met King Edward VII at a house party given by James's half-uncle, William Dodge James.

His Newport, Rhode Island, summer residence was named Beacon Hill House. In addition to the house and gardens, James also built a replica Swiss village on his Newport estate which served as a working farm. The Swiss village was said to have been built as a replica of a village James and his wife visited on their honeymoon in Switzerland. The architects involved with the building of Beacon Hill House for James were Howells & Stokes. Stokes was Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, son of James's cousin, Anson Phelps Stokes.

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