William Earle Dodge Stokes

William Earle Dodge Stokes (1852 – May 18, 1926) was an American multimillionaire responsible for developing much of New York's Upper West Side.

Born in New York City, he was the son of James Boulter and Caroline (née Phelps) Stokes; brother of Anson Phelps Stokes and Olivia Eggleston Phelps Stokes. One of his grandfathers was London merchant Thomas Stokes, one of the 13 founders of the London Missionary Society, and Anson Stokes later actively supported the American Bible Society, the American Tract Society and the American Peace Society. His other grandfather, Anson Greene Phelps, was a New York merchant, born in Connecticut and descended from an old Massachusetts family.

As a young man Stokes started his career working in the family business, Phelps, Dodge & Company, a mercantile establishment founded by his grandfather Phelps and his uncle, William Earle Dodge, Sr., in the 1830s. By the time that Stokes joined the company it had become a mining business. He was also a share holder in the Ansonia Clock Company. When his father died in August 1881, Stokes contested the will, sued his brother Anson for conspiring to throw him out of the family business, and gained a $1 million inheritance. He left Phelps Dodge and from 1885 to 1890 he developed real estate on the Upper West Side.

In 1895, aged 43, Stokes married 19-year-old Rita Hernandez de Alba Acosta. The couple moved into one of Stokes's new developments at 262 West 72nd Street. In 1898 Stokes began work on a new mansion at 4 East 54th Street designed by McKim, Mead and White. However, in 1900, just as the house was nearing completion, Rita Stokes filed for divorce, and neither ever lived in the house. Rita’s youngest sister, Mercedes de Acosta, wrote in her autobiography that “when Rita finally decided to marry Will Stokes it was, I believe, because she felt his wealth could open doors. . . . But she paid a high price for any material gain.” She also produced an heir, William Earl Dodge Stokes Jr, born January 5, 1896, whom they called “Weddie”. According to her sister, Rita hated the child and could hardly bring herself to hold him. The divorce settlement was said to be $2 million, a record at that time.

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