William John Matheson (1856–1930) was an American industrialist. Born in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, he was educated in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

where he learned about recent breakthroughs in the development of

aniline dyes Aniline is an organic compound with the formula C6 H5 NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the simplest aromatic amine. It is an industrially significant commodity chemical, as well as a versatile startin ...

. Matheson became an early importer and distributor of such dyes from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He founded the National Aniline and Chemical Company, which merged with four other companies to become the Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation. Matheson's estate on Long Island, Fort Hill, was well known. He also had an estate in

Coconut Grove, Florida Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, S ...

, and created a coconut plantation on the northern two-thirds of

Key Biscayne Key Biscayne ( es, Cayo Vizcaíno, link=no) is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, located between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies sou ...

, an area now occupied by Miami-Dade County's Crandon Park and the Village of Key Biscayne. William's older son, Hugh Merrill Matheson, was an early student at Ransom School and William donated a building to the school; the Matheson Infirmary. In 1930, William donated 80 acres to the county which was named

Matheson Hammock Park Matheson Hammock Park is a urban park in metropolitan Miami at 9610 Old Cutler Road, just south of Coral Gables, Florida. The park surrounds the north and western ends of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. History Matheson Hammock opened in 1 ...

. In 1940 his children donated 808 acres,Blank 1996. p. 158 the entire north end of Key Biscayne, to the county as

Crandon Park Crandon Park is an urban park in metropolitan Miami, occupying the northern part of Key Biscayne. It is connected to mainland Miami via the Rickenbacker Causeway. History The land Crandon Park occupies was once part of the largest coconut pl ...

and additional acreage on the other side of the bay to Matheson Hammock Park.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Blanc, Julio, editor. 1979. ''Ransom-Everglades.'' Miami, Florida: Banyan Books, Inc. *Blank, Joan Gill. 1996. ''Key Biscayne.'' Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. . pp. 116–119. *Crandon, Charles H. (no date, circa 1976). ''Country Bumpkin.'' Miami: Johnson Press. * 1856 births 1930 deaths American manufacturing businesspeople American socialites {{US-business-bio-1850s-stub 19th-century American businesspeople