Leander J. McCormick

Leander James McCormick (February 8, 1819 – February 20, 1900) was an American inventor, manufacturer, philanthropist, and businessman and a member of the McCormick family of Chicago and Virginia. Along with his elder brothers Cyrus and William, he is regarded as one of the fathers of modern agriculture due to his part in the development of the McCormick Reaper and what became the International Harvester Company. He also owned and developed vast amounts of real estate in downtown Chicago and Lake Forest, Illinois. In 1885, he donated one of the world's largest telescopes to the University of Virginia.

Early life McCormick was born on February 8, 1819, in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He was the fourth of five sons born to Robert McCormick, Jr. (1780–1846) and Mary Ann "Polly" Hall (1780–1853) of the prominent McCormick family. His older brothers were Cyrus McCormick and William Sanderson McCormick. Another older brother, Robert Hall McCormick, died as a teenager, and his younger brother, John Prestly McCormick, died as a young adult.

He was raised at the family homestead known as Walnut Grove, near Raphine in Rockbridge County, in the Shenandoah Valley on the western side of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Career His father invented agricultural machines including the mechanical reaper. His eldest brother Cyrus received the patent in 1834 and Leander developed multiple improvements to the reaper and received patents for two of them, with the remainder being patented by his brother Cyrus. Following the death of their father, Leander owned a third share of the reaper business, which amounted to 75 machines in 1846. In 1889 he funded construction of the Virginia Hotel at Rush and Ohio, where McCormick spent the rest of his life. The 400-room hotel was advertised as "an absolutely fire-proof building and a finished hotel second to no other." The hotel featured ornate granite interiors decorated with marble statues, separate "gentlemen's smoking room" and "ladies dining room", and a room of boilers and dynamos to offer the latest technology: electric lights. It was ready in time for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

Personal life

On October 22, 1845, at age 26, McCormick married Henrietta Maria Hamilton at her parents' homestead, Locust Hill, in Rockbridge County. Henrietta was the daughter of John Hamilton (1789–1825) and Elizabeth McNutt Hamilton (1794-1871) whose brother was Mississippi Governor Alexander Gallatin McNutt. Together, Henrietta and Leander were the parents of four children:

Robert Hall McCormick II (1847–1917), who married Sarah Lord Day on June 1, 1871. Elizabeth Maria McCormick (1850–1853), who died young. She published a memoir titled Hands across the sea. Leander Hamilton McCormick (1859–1934), who married Constance Plummer on February 14, 1887.

His wife died in November 1899, and he died on February 20, 1900, at the Virginia Hotel. He was buried at Graceland Cemetery. His eldest son became executor of the estate.

Family tree