Charles Page
| Charles Page | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 2, 1860 Arnott, Wisconsin |
| Died | December 27, 1926 (aged 66) Sand Springs, Oklahoma |
| Nationality | United States |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Founder of Sand Springs, Oklahoma |
Charles Page (June 2, 1860 – December 27, 1926) was an important philanthropist in the early history of Oklahoma and Tulsa. His enduring act was the creation of the Sand Springs Home for orphans and widows and otherwise unwanted and unloved children. Concurrently, he founded the city of Sand Springs, Oklahoma to support the home.
Charles Page was born in Arnott, Wisconsin, outside of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, to James William and Mary Gottrey Page. He dropped out of school in 1870 and began working on a freight wagon after his father became too ill to work. The father died when Charles was eleven years old. Thereafter, he took care of his mother and four younger siblings.
For many years, his life consisted of a series of jobs in an attempt to support his family. In the early 1870s, he helped his mother cook for Wisconsin Central Railway workers. Additionally, he worked as a railway dispatcher and clerked in a general store. In 1876-1877, he worked as a lumberjack and logger. In 1879, he became a policeman in Ashland, Wisconsin. In the following two years, he became chief of police for Tower, Minnesota and then went to work for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.
He married his first wife, Lucy, in Duluth, Minnesota in 1881. She already had a son named Willie, whom Page adopted. The family moved to Ellensburg, Washington during the 1880s, where he became an agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Moving to Tacoma, Washington, he tried and failed as a hotel owner and as a commodities trader. From 1888 to 1890, he went to Canada searching for gold. During all this time he continued to send money to support his mother, until her death in 1891. During the 1890s, he worked in the mining industry in Washington, Idaho, Colorado and Canada. He apparently made some money, but lost all his savings in the Panic of 1893. In 1900, he moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado where he got into real estate development, oil well drilling, and investing in power plants.
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