William Hope Harvey

William Hope "Coin" Harvey (August 16, 1851 – February 11, 1936) was an American author, activist, and health resort owner. After the Panic of 1893 began, he became a prominent advocate of bimetallism and authored the 1894 pamphlet Coin's Financial School, the most popular bimetallist writing which sold about a million copies and made him nationally known as "Coin" Harvey. He was a prominent member of the Populist Party and, after his ally William Jennings Bryan won the presidential nomination at the 1896 Democratic National Convention, the Democratic Party. He largely retired from politics after Bryan was defeated in the 1900 presidential election and came to Arkansas, where he founded the health resort Monte Ne. After Monte Ne declined, he founded the Ozark Trail Association and also gained national attention for attempting to build a pyramid. After the Great Depression began, Harvey founded the short-lived Liberty Party and ran in the 1932 presidential election.

Biography

Early years

William Hope Harvey was born on August 16, 1851, on a farm near the small town of Buffalo, Virginia (later West Virginia). He was the fifth of six children born to Robert and Anna Harvey. His father, Robert Trigg Harvey, was a Virginian of Scottish and English ancestry, and his mother, who had Virginian ancestors traceable to colonial times, was descended from French ancestors who had long since peopled the territory around nearby Gallipolis, Ohio.

Harvey attended the Buffalo Academy from 1865 to 1867 after receiving his education in the neighborhood public schools. Harvey left the legal profession in 1884, ostensibly for reasons of health, and moved west to Colorado to work as a miner and buy and sell real estate. The Money of the People (1895), The Patriots of America (1895) and a sequel to his popular 1894 work, Coin on Money, Trusts, and Imperialism (1899). Harvey also appeared in public debates, assuming a leading place as public advocate for the idea of a return to bimetallism.

In 1895 Harvey formed his own political organization, an agitational society known as the Patriots of America. The Chicago-based organization was dedicated to advancing the ideas of direct legislation and free coinage of silver through the supplying of inserts and stereographic plates on the topic to newspapers around the country.

Harvey took for himself the title of "First National Patriot" as the leader of the Patriots of America organization. In 1898, the group claimed an implausibly large network of 250 local lodges and a circulation of 30,000 for its official organ, The Patriots' Bulletin,

Harvey (left of center) and Bryan (center) stand together at Monte Ne.

Resort founder

In 1900, Harvey turned away from politics to the world of business, purchasing land five miles outside of Rogers, Arkansas, with a view to building a health resort on the site. Harvey named the site "Monte Ne," which he claimed derived from the Spanish and Native American words for "mountain" and "water." He built a hotel there in May 1901, expanding the operation to include two additional hotels, a tennis court, and the first indoor swimming pool in Arkansas in succeeding years.

Harvey constructed a railroad spur line to connect his resort with line of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad. In 1913 he also established the Ozark Trails Association to promote good roads, highway markers, and maps throughout the southwest.

In his later years, as Monte Ne began to sink into debt and his health began deteriorating, he believed that human civilization was on the verge of collapse. He began making plans to build a giant obelisk, although he referred to it as 'The Pyramid'. It was to serve as a time capsule for future humans to see what society had been like at its peak.

Although some preliminary work on the Pyramid was done, Harvey became preoccupied with building an amphitheater which used up most of his funds and after the stock market crash of 1929 all work at Monte Ne ceased and the Pyramid was never constructed.

Liberty Party and 1932 presidential election In 1932, Harvey formed the Liberty Party based on his financial theories and headed that party's ticket as candidate for President of the United States in the election of 1932. Harvey was only on the ballot in ten states and polled around 53,000 votes to finish sixth overall, with 0.13 percent of the national tally or 0.80 percent of on-ballot votes. However, 30,000 of his votes came in the state of Washington alone, where he finished in third place with 4.93 percent of the statewide vote.

Death and legacy The Coin Harvey House in Huntington, West Virginia is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Harvey died on February 11, 1936, at the age of 84, at Monte Ne.

Harvey's home in Huntington, West Virginia, commonly known as the Coin Harvey House, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.