James Ludington
| James Ludington | |
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| Born | April 18, 1827 Carmel, Putnam County, New York |
| Died | April 1, 1891 |
| Resting place | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Residence | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | businessman, entrepreneur |
| Employer | self-employed |
| Known for | developing Ludington, Michigan |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | never married |
| Parent(s) | Lewis Ludington, father |
| Relatives |
Charles H. Ludington, brother four sisters
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Charles H. Ludington, brother four sisters
James Ludington (April 18, 1827 – April 1, 1891) was an American entrepreneur.
James was born in Carmel, New York on April 18, 1827. The Ludington family moved from New York to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. when James was sixteen in 1843. James and his father, Lewis Ludington, founded Columbus, Wisconsin in 1845. In 1849, Utah Territorial governor Brigham Young wrote Ludington soliciting help in the construction of a paper mill in the Salt Lake Valley. Ludington planned to travel west to superintend mill construction, but the sale was never completed.
On October 11, 1854 Ludington loaned funds to George W. Ford for a sawmill operation in what was then known as the village of Pere Marquette in the northwestern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Ford defaulted on the loan and became insolvent in 1859. Ludington then took over the operations of this sawmill. The post office for the village was established in 1864 in Ludington's original store at this sawmill. A boarding house called the Filer House was constructed in 1866 to house the employees of Ludington's sawmill.
In 1854 Ludington filed for the purchase of unsold school land from the state of Wisconsin that was believed to contain some 70,000 acres. The sale was challenged and ultimately cancelled when the parcel was identified as containing over 200,000 acres. The purchase was re-filed after further effort to specify which parcels were included. The arrangements behind Ludington's purchase were investigated in 1855. In 1856 Ludington was implicated in a bribery and fraud scheme surrounding the sale. He was cleared of wrongdoing after a lengthy legislative investigation and public testimony.
Ludington platted the village of Pere Marquette in 1867. In the same year Ludington built a large commercial building that sold a variety of goods called The Big Store. Ludington founded the first newspaper of the village called the Mason County Record in 1867.
The sawmill that Ludington acquired had developed into an independent entity called the Pere Marquette Lumber Company that was the operator and management of the sawmill and The Big Store. Ludington sold his interests to them in 1869 for half a million dollars - making him a very wealthy person. Ludington used a portion of this money to develop the village. On March 22, 1873, the city of "Ludington" was chartered. The streets of Ludington Ave and James Street are named after him. The village city streets of Lewis, William, Robert, Charles, Harrison, Emily, Lavina, and Delia are named after his family members.
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Wikipedia