Charles Warren Lippitt (October 8, 1846 – April 4, 1924) was an American politician and the 44th
Governor of Rhode Island
The governor of Rhode Island is the head of government of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and serves as commander-in-chief of the state's Army National Guard and Air National Guard. The current governor is Dan McKee, a member of the Democrati ...
.
Early life
Lippitt was born in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...
on October 8, 1846.
He graduated from
Brown University
Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
. Later, he was involved in his father's cotton and woolen manufacturing firm.
Family
His father,
Henry Lippitt, was governor of Rhode Island from 1875 to 1877 and his brother
Henry F. Lippitt was a
United States senator
The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress.
Party affiliation
Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...
from Rhode Island. He married Margaret B. Farnum on February 23, 1886.
[The Political Graveyard]
, Lippitt family of Rhode Island.
His son, Charles Warren Lippitt, Jr. (1894–1970), served as a sergeant in the
103rd Field Artillery Regiment
The 103rd Field Artillery Regiment (103rd FAR) is a regiment of the United States Army. The only currently existing component is the 1st Battalion, 103rd Field Artillery Regiment (1-103rd FAR), a unit of the Rhode Island National Guard. The reg ...
during the First World War. He then attended
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
and graduated in the class of 1921. He later served in World War II and rose to the rank of colonel in the Army Reserve where he served until 1966. He pursued a career in business in New York City. His son, Charles Warren Lippitt III, was a captain in the United States Air Force and died on active duty in 1968.
Another son, Alexander Farnum Lippitt (b. 1896), attended Harvard from 1916 to 1917. He enlisted in the Army in August 1917 and served as a 1st Lieutenant in the 166th Infantry Regiment of the
42nd Division. He was awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross for leading his men in a counterattack against the Germans. He was wounded in action, sent back to the United States and died at
Fort Mott in
Cape May, New Jersey
Cape May (sometimes Cape May City) is a City (New Jersey), city and seaside resort located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located on the Atlantic Ocean ...
on October 6, 1918. Lippitt Park in Providence was dedicated in his memory.
Political career
Lippitt served as a military aide, with the rank of colonel, to his father during his father's term of office as governor from 1875 to 1877.
Lippitt served as Governor of Rhode Island from May 29, 1895 to May 25, 1897.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for Republican nomination for Vice President in 1896.
[
]
Lippitt's Castle
In 1899 Lippitt built an immense castle style brick mansion, near Bailey's Beach in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
, named The Breakwater but commonly referred to as "Lippitt's Castle". After Lippitt's death his son Charles Jr. had the castle torn down and sold the land. It was replaced in 1926 by a mansion named The Waves on the same foundation as the castle. The Waves was designed by renowned architect John Russell Pope
John Russell Pope (April 24, 1874 – August 27, 1937) was an American architecture, architect whose firm is widely known for designing major public buildings, including the National Archives and Records Administration building (completed in 193 ...
as his own summer residence and was converted to condominiums in the late 20th Century. Bricks from Lippitt's Castle can still be found in the waters near where the mansion once stood.
Memberships
Lippitt joined the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the American Revolution
The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), formally the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR), is a federally chartered patriotic organization. The National Society, a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Louisvi ...
in 1896 and served as the Society's president from 1908 to 1909. In 1897 he was admitted as an hereditary member of the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati
The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...
by right of his descent from Captain Charles Lippitt who served in Richmond's Regiment during the Revolution.
His sons, Colonel Charles Warren Lippitt, Jr. (1894-1970) and Gorton Thayer Lippitt, also joined the Sons of the American Revolution. Charles, Jr. became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati after his father's death and served as its President General from 1965 to 1968 and Gorton became a member after Charles' death in 1970. Upon the death of Gorton, in 1978, the family's "seat" in the Society was "inherited" by their cousin Frederick Lippitt, who held the seat until his death in 2005.
Death
Governor Charles Warren Lippitt died in Yorktown, New York
Yorktown is a town on the northern border of Westchester County, New York, United States. A suburb of the New York City metropolitan area, it is approximately north of midtown Manhattan. The population was 36,569 at the 2020 U.S. Census.
Hist ...
on April 4, 1924. He was interred in the Swan Point Cemetery
Swan Point Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Established in 1846 on a 60-acre (0.24 km2) plot of land, it has approximately 40,000 interments.
History
The cemetery was first organize ...
in Providence.
Legacy
Lippitt Hall on the central quad of the University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...
in Kingston is named after Governor Charles W. Lippitt.
Sources
* Sobel, Robert and John Raimo. ''Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978''. Greenwood Press, 1988.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lippitt, Charles
1846 births
1924 deaths
Republican Party governors of Rhode Island
Brown University alumni
Lippitt family
Burials at Swan Point Cemetery
19th-century American businesspeople