Mary Schenley

Mary Elizabeth Croghan Schenley (April 27, 1826 – November 5, 1903) was an American philanthropist to the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Early life Mary Elizabeth Croghan was born April 27, 1827, at Locust Grove near Louisville, Kentucky, to Col. William Croghan Jr. and Mary Carson O'Hara, the daughter of frontier Pittsburgh businessman James O'Hara. As her mother's only heir, she eventually inherited large tracts of land amassed by her maternal grandfather, Gen. James O'Hara.

Marriage and scandal

While in boarding school in Staten Island, New York, at the age of 14, she met and fell in love with 42-year-old Captain Edward Wyndham Harrington Schenley of the British Army, and eloped to England. It was the captain's third elopement. The ensuing scandal sparked coverage in many American newspapers, and was referred to as "the greatest romance in Pittsburg's early history" in her New York Times obituary.

Her father died in Pittsburgh in 1850 and Mary then received her full inheritance. In 1859, her husband became a Member of Parliament for Dartmouth, but three months later was unseated after an election petition committee found his win had been secured through bribery and corruption.

Mary and Capt. Schenley had eleven children. Mary Schenley died at her home in Hyde Park, London on November 5, 1903. At the time of her death, she was the largest owner of real estate in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and her Pittsburgh real estate holdings at the time were worth more than $50 million. After her executors, including Andrew Carnegie, received $5,000 each, the remainder of her property was left to her children. Her English property, which was valued at about $5,000,000, was separately dealt with.

Philanthropy

Throughout the late 19th century, Mary Schenley made many gifts of money to churches and public schools in Pittsburgh.

More significantly, perhaps, she donated land to the city of Pittsburgh in 1889 for Schenley Park; to Western Pennsylvania Institute for the Blind for a school in 1890; and in 1895, she gave the oldest relic in Pittsburgh, the Fort Pitt Blockhouse and adjoining property, to the Daughters of the American Revolution.

She also donated the of land on which the Carnegie Institute, a gift of Andrew Carnegie, was built. Carnegie paid visits to Mary Schenley at her villa, Mont Fleury, at Cannes, in the south of France.

Legacy and honors Much in the city of Pittsburgh still bears her name, including Schenley High School, Schenley Hotel, Schenley Bridge, Schenley Park, Schenley Plaza, Schenley Quadrangle, Schenley Tunnel, and the Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain.