Henry Chandler Bowen

Henry Chandler Bowen, oil portrait, 41 1/2 x 36 3/8, 1876, Historic New England. Probably made by James J. Sawyer. Roseland Cottage is in the background of the portrait.

Henry Chandler Bowen (September 11, 1813 – February 24, 1896) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and publisher. He was an influential member of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, where he resided much of his life and the founder of the New York-based newspaper The Independent. He built a Gothic-style summer home, Roseland Cottage, at his birthplace in Woodstock, Connecticut.

Early life and education Henry Chandler Bowen was born on September 11, 1813, in Woodstock his parents were George Bowen and Lydia Wolcott Bowen (née Eaton). He was educated at Woodstock Academy and Dudley Academy. The company was renamed Bowen, Holmes and Company in 1859.

During the Civil War, Bowen lost most of his clients for his silk business (many from the South) and the company Bowen, Holmes and Company went bankrupt. By this time, he also had considerable income from the fire insurance business as well as his newspaper The Independent. In 1853, he established the Continental Insurance Company. Bowen did not sue Beecher for adultery; the famous adultery case against Beecher was brought by Theodore Tilton. Bowen, however, was involved in arbitration with Beecher and Tilton, which related to Beecher's adultery and which was settled in 1872.

On December 25, 1865, Bowen married Ellen Holt.

He was a founding member of the Congregationalist Church of the Pilgrims.

Bowen and his family moved into a house at 90 Willow Street in the late 1840s or early 1850s.

Starting in 1870, Bowen hosted large Fourth of July celebrations at Roseland Cottage. Four United States presidents visited Bowen's summer home as his guests and speakers for these celebrations: Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, and William McKinley. Other prominent visitors included Henry Ward Beecher, Julia Ward Howe, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., and John C. Frémont.

Bowen made large philanthropic gifts to his hometown of Woodstock, CT. He made an endowment to his school Woodstock Academy. He presented Roseland Park to the town in 1876.