Louis Keller
| Louis Keller | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 27, 1857 New York, New York |
| Died | February 16, 1922 (aged 64) New York, New York |
| Cause of death | Intestinal illness |
| Residence | 12 West Fifty-sixth Street, Manhattan, New York |
| Occupation | Publisher, golf club owner |
Louis Keller (February 27, 1857 – February 16, 1922) was an American publisher, social arbiter of high society, and golf club owner. He is best known as the founder of the Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey and as the first publisher of the Social Register.
Louis Keller was born on February 27, 1857 in New York City. His grandfather was from Switzerland. His French-born father, Charles M. Keller, was a lawyer who drafted the Patent Act of 1836 and served the first Commissioner of Patents. His French-born mother, Heloise de Chazournes, came from an aristocratic Catholic family who was prominent in New York society. They lived in an apartment at 128 Madison Avenue, where Louis grew up. They were not part of the New York elite because they were Catholic, not Protestant, nor were they long established in the United States. His father, who died when Louis was seventeen years old, had a dairy farm in Springfield, New Jersey.
As a young adult, he was indecisive about starting a career. His attempt to reinvent himself as a gentleman farmer proved to be a failure. Instead, he took on the tradition of hosting an annual picnic on his family farm in Springfield, New Jersey, where he invited many members of high society. The event received extensive coverage in publications about high society each year. Indeed, the guest list was reprinted in those publications.
In 1885, he published a gossip newspaper about high society, Town Topics. Two years later, in 1887, he published the first issue of the Social Register. The publication was loosely based on the registry for the Metropolitan National Horse Show, held at the original Madison Square Garden on Madison Avenue and East 26th Street since 1883, listing its attendees and directors. It was copyrighted, thus forbidding anyone from publishing the entire list and making it more secret and exclusive. It was far more inclusive than Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred," the number, reputedly, that could be accommodated in the ballroom of Mrs. William Astor (Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor).
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