Charles Andrew Whitney (November 14, 1834 – December 31, 1912) was an American businessman and industrialist in the late 19th century, born in

Princeton, Massachusetts Princeton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is bordered on the east by Sterling and Leominster, on the north by Westminster, on the northwest by Hubbardston, on the southwest by Rutland, and on the southeast by H ...

. He was part of the prominent American

Whitney family The Whitney family is a prominent American family descended from non-Norman English immigrant John Whitney (1592–1673), who left London in 1635 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. The historic family mansion in Watertown, known as The Elm ...

. In 1859, Charles, his brother Levi L. Whitney, and Orville E. Thompson helped lead the large-scale manufacturing of leather boots and shoes in Chicago and were attributed with successfully running the first factory of its kind there. Whitney himself held patents for the manufacture of leather. Thompson, Whitney, and Co. (later Whitney Bros. and Co.) had 300 workers and annual revenue of over $300,000, producing over 100 cases of leather goods per week at its peak. In the 1860s, the company was among the top producers in the rapidly growing Chicago leather industry, and its products were showcased in the Paris Universal Exposition of 1867. In 1870, the company was noted as by far the highest-grossing producer in the city. After the loss of the factory in the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago, Illinois during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left mor ...

of 1871, Charles returned to Massachusetts with his wife Martha Elizabeth (Waters) Whitney, and resided at the historic Waters Farm in

Sutton, Massachusetts Sutton, officially the Town of Sutton, is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,357 in the 2020 United States census. Located in the Blackstone Valley, the town was design ...

. He died December 31, 1912, at the age of 78 from arteriosclerosis."Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911-1915," from original records held by the Massachusetts Archives. Online database: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008; volume 1912/69 Death, page 231.

References

External links

The Encyclopedia of Chicago: Leather and Tanning
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitney, Charles Andrew 1834 births 1912 deaths People from Princeton, Massachusetts Businesspeople from Chicago Whitney family Tanners 19th-century American businesspeople People from Sutton, Massachusetts