Lucy Wortham James

Lucy Wortham James (c. September 13, 1880 – January 20, 1938) was an American philanthropist. She dedicated her life to helping others and funding medical research. Her most memorial donation was land, part of Maramec Springs, which is now a park open to the public, and maintained by the James Foundation.

James was born in St. James, Missouri to Thomas James and Octavia Bowles James and was a descendant of the family who established the Maramec Iron Works. Maramec Iron Works was developed by her grandfather, William James, and started the beginning of iron production in Missouri, the first successful ironworks west of the Mississippi river. The ironworks went bankrupt before James was born. Due to the bankruptcy, James grew up in South Dakota for her father's new job as a fur trader till the age of three. However, she spent her summers at Maramec Spring with her grandmother, Lucy Ann Dun James. Then, her mother started experiencing horrible health issues and decided to come back to St. James.

James' uncle, Robert G. Dun, paid for her education. James studied in Kansas City, New York, and even studied abroad in Vienna. She was studying to become a concert pianist while in Vienna and studied up Theodor Leschetizky. At the age of 23, she married Huntington Wilson. They spent their time together traveling the world. They divorced 12 years later with no children. She then resided in New York City. Dun had died, leaving a large portion of shares for his reporting agency, Dun & Bradsteet, Inc. to James' father. Due to legal issues, he was unable to receive them. In 1912, she inherited her father’s shares after a drawn out legal process. She spent her time between New York City and St. James. She was a member of the New York Theatre Guild and was accepted in the high society life of New York. She was also equally accepted in St. James, despite the small towns dislike for "big city rich folks."

With the money she inherited, she started helping multiple organizations which included the trinity Episcopal Church, the Masonic Cemetery, and the public library of St. James in Missouri. She campaigned for President Taft during his re-election year. She wanted to help those that were less fortunate than her and was involved with helping the elderly, african-americans, and made charitable contributions for medical research. She gave money to help build the Johns Hopkins Woman's Clinic, where they would focus on gynecology. She also financed the first budget and experimental animal quarters for Memorial Hospital in New York.

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