Jerome B. Wheeler

Jerome B. Wheeler was president and partner of R. H. Macy & Company in New York City and was an owner of mines, a hotel, and other businesses in Colorado.

Early life Jerome Byron Wheeler was born September 3, 1841, in Troy, New York, to Daniel Barker Wheeler and Mary Jones Emerson, both of Massachusetts. His mother was a second cousin of Ralph Waldo Emerson. His family moved to Waterford, New York, when Wheeler was young. He attended public school there until the age of 15. He obtained a clerical position in 1856. From 1857 to 1861 he pursued mechanical trades "which may have included engineering, mechanical, or machine shop work."

Civil War

Wheeler enlisted as a private in the 6th Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry on his 20th birthday and at the beginning of the Civil War. He trained in Staten Island, New York, and was stationed in Washington, D.C., before obtaining his horse with the rest of the regiment in Cloud Mills, Virginia. The regiment fought throughout the Shenandoah Valley and during General George McClellan's Peninsular campaign. Wheeler was made second lieutenant under Colonel Thomas Devin and moved up the ranks and was made a colonel. Going against the "wishes of his superiors", Wheeler brought supplies to a group of starving Union Army soldiers who were positioned behind enemy lines. Considering the effort too dangerous, his rank of colonel was "reputedly" revoked. He mustered out of the army in September 1865. and in 1885 became a director of the organization.

Leadville Wheeler was president of the Rock Hill Consolidated Gold and Silver Mining Company. She had a severe case of bronchitis. Wheeler built the Wheeler Bank in 1888, the town's first financial institution, and the Manitou Mineral Water Company, which bottled and shipped mineral water across the country, including New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

In 1893, Wheeler built the Windemere estate in Manitou Springs, which included a conservatory, coach house, billiard rooms and bowling alley. He invested in the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway, a cog railway that transported passengers to the top of Pikes Peak.

Financial fortune Wheeler's mines in Leadville and Aspen made about $5 million in the 1880s. Much of his fortune was lost in the economic depression of 1893.