Edward Kirk Warren

Edward Kirk Warren (April 7, 1847 – January 16, 1919) was an American industrialist and inventor who developed featherbone, a popular alternative to whalebone in corsetry. He is the namesake of Warren Dunes State Park and Warren Woods State Park in Michigan, both of which he developed.

Biography Warren was born on April 7, 1847, in Ludlow, Vermont, to Waters and Caroline Warren. Warren was descended eight generations from an early American family; Joseph Warren came to the country from England in 1635. His great-grandfather fought in the American Revolution at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The son of a Congregationalist minister, Edward Kirk Warren was educated in public schools. In 1858, the family moved to Three Oaks, Michigan.

Upon reaching adulthood, Warren took a job working in a sawmill. On January 24, 1864, he started working for Henry Chamberlain, who owned a local dry goods store. He was married on November 3, 1867, to Sarah E. Stevens. In 1868, Warren opened a dry goods store with James L. McKie as McKie & Warren. The store was very successful, and the partnership purchased the interests of their chief competitor, Henry Chamberlain, in 1879. Sarah died in 1879. Edward remarried on February 17, 1880, to Mary Louise Chamberlain, the daughter of Henry Chamberlain. In 1916, Warren founded the Chamberlain Memorial Museum, named after Warren's father-in-law.

Warren's strong Congregationalist convictions guided his personal life. He was a staunch supporter of prohibition, replacing the income that saloons would have brought Three Oaks with money from his own account. Warren was the president of the International Sunday School Association of North America and oversaw the World's Sunday School Convention in 1904 in Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire. He was named president of the International Sunday School Association in 1915. Warren was also a member of the Michigan Historical Society, the Chicago Historical Society, the Wisconsin Archaeological Society, the Union League Club, and the Geographic Society of Chicago. He also owned an operated a ranch near Three Oaks and a few ranches in Texas, Mexico, and New Mexico.

Warren died at his home in Evanston, Illinois, on January 16, 1919. The Warren Featherbone Company Office Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service on January 23, 1986. Seven days later, his Evanston house was similarly listed.