Charles Henry Weeghman

Charles Henry Weeghman (March 8, 1874 – November 1, 1938) was an American restaurant entrepreneur and sports executive. Beginning in 1901, he began opening quick-service lunch counters throughout downtown Chicago. After failing to acquire the St. Louis Cardinals baseball club in 1911, he became one of the founders of the upstart Federal League in 1913 as the owner of the Chicago Whales. In 1914, he built the baseball stadium that would later be known as Wrigley Field.

After the failure of the Federal League, Weeghman acquired a majority interest in the Chicago Cubs. After taking control of the Cubs, he moved the team to Weeghman Park as it was then known. His restaurant empire began to fail as he spent much of his time and money on baseball and while the country moved away from "one-arm" lunch counters. In 1919, he lost control of the Cubs to William Wrigley Jr., who renamed the stadium. His later business ventures were unsuccessful and in his final years he was the assistant manager of a restaurant in New Jersey.

Biography Weeghman (left) with James A. Gilmore (center) and Joe Tinker (right) at the groundbreaking ceremony for Weeghman Park, March 4, 1914

Weeghman was born on March 8, 1874, in Richmond, Indiana, and attended Richmond High School. King, who would have been Weeghman's main rival, died the day Weeghman's first restaurant opened. Serving only cold sandwiches, his diners would eat at one-armed school chairs so Weeghman could fit more chairs into the restaurant.

By 1915 his net worth was estimated at $8,000,000 (approximately $ today). With James A. Gilmore's persuasion, Weeghman took control of the Chicago Whales, and he built a new steel-and-concrete ballpark, Weeghman Park, for them to play in. He leased the land, the former site of the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, from Edward Archambault, for 99 years at a cost of $16,000 per year. Weeghman's lease forbade the use of the land for "immoral or illegal purposes." He acquired an interest in the Chicago Cubs from Charles Phelps Taft in 1916, emerging as the older club's majority owner for $500,000 (approximately $ today).

Over time, his lunch counter chain lost favor with the public and Weeghman was forced to sell more and more of his stock in the Cubs to chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. to raise money. In 1918, he stepped down as president of the Cubs and was succeeded by Fred Mitchell. By 1919, Weeghman had sold his remaining stake to Wrigley, and by 1920, was no longer a board member of the Cubs.

On August 16, 1921, Weeghman sponsored the first Illinois statewide rally of the Ku Klux Klan on his property in Lake Zurich, Illinois. The rally may have drawn more than 12,000 people and saw the initiation of more than 2,000 new Klan members.

Weeghman moved to Manhattan, New York City with his now 8-year-old daughter. At the time of his death, he was the assistant manager of a restaurant in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Weeghman's wife filed for divorce on February 27, 1920, claiming Weeghman had been intimate with at least one other woman. Osmund and Weeghman remained married until he suffered a fatal stroke on November 1, 1938, at the Drake Hotel in Chicago.

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