Francis S. Peabody

Francis Stuyvesant Peabody (July 24, 1859 – August 27, 1922) was an American businessman who founded Peabody Coal, and became a wealthy coal baron.

Biography Peabody was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 24, 1859. His father was a prominent Chicago attorney, Francis Peabody graduated from Yale University intending to follow in his father's footsteps. But, after trying the law he switched to working in a bank. Working there provided him with an opportunity to recognize a business advantage. Peabody Coal started out as a retail coal vendor, buying coal and re-selling it to retail consumers to use in their homes and businesses. Peabody married May Henderson on November 23, 1887. Peabody Coal is now Peabody Energy, currently the largest private-sector coal company in the world.

He constructed the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook, Illinois. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Only a year after Mayslake Hall was completed, Francis Peabody died of a heart attack during a fox hunt on his property. He was 63. Peabody had amassed a personal fortune of $35 million and a business fortune of $75 million.

He was buried at his estate in Oak Brook. His body was reinterred at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside in 1992.

About four years after his death, Peabody's family erected the Portiuncula Chapel on the Mayslake Estate in his honor. A plaque on the side of the chapel says that it is "a replica of the chapel in Italy where St. Francis of Assisi received the call to serve God's poor in 1208." Although he had only been involved in racing for a few years he had an impact and his son, Stuyvesant Peabody, would continue the racing stable and eventually became President of the Lincoln Fields Jockey Club, owners of Lincoln Fields Race Track.

The Francis S. Peabody Memorial Handicap was created in his honor at Washington Park Race Track with the inaugural running on June 29, 1929.