Foreword: Many pre-Prohibition distillers and liquor dealers profiled on this blog became wealthy men from their endeavors in the whiskey trade and some of their number engaged in philanthropic giving that earned them reputations in their communities for extraordinary generosity. This is the story of three such “whiskey men.”
A street is named for Justin Gras in Shreveport, Louisiana, and a marker stands at the place where he once sold alcoholic spirits. Speaking no English and virtually penniless when he immigrated from France to the United States as a youth in 1891, Gras, shown here, became one of the city’s most respected and wealthy businessmen. That said, his most lasting monument is the Community Foundation he endowed that continues to provide the charitable giving that he practiced so generously while he was alive.
Gras proved a quick learner both of the language and the mercantile trade. Within four years of arrival in 1895 he was able to open his own small store at the southwest corner of Texas Avenue and Common Street. In time he grew the business to be the largest retail grocery and liquor store in Shreveport.
By then he was well known for his generosity. In the wake of World War One, Gras contributed to rebuilding a school and chapel in his home village of Le Petit Puy destroyed in the fighting, and the restoration of the Cathedral of Embrun, a historic Church built by Charlemagne in the Ninth Century. For these gifts Gras was awarded the Benemerenti Medal by Pope Pius XII. The bulk of Gras’ giving, however, was local. He is said often to have repeated the motto: “What’s good for Shreveport is good for me.”
Gras remained a bachelor until the age of 57. On a cruise in 1925, however, he met Eugenie Torr, originally from San Jose, California. The two had no children but she proved to be highly supportive of Justin’s generosity. At his death in 1959 Gras’ estate was valued at $2.3 million. Through his will this philanthropist executed his greatest act of generosity by establishing the Community Foundation of Shreveport-Bossier and endowing it lavishly. At Eugenie’s death in 1971 she gave the Foundation the residual portion of the Gras estate that she had inherited.
The good works of Justin and Eugenie go on as their gifts provided the cornerstone of the foundation. Among beneficiaries over time have been the Shreveport Symphony, the Strand Theatre, Louisiana State University at Shreveport, and the Red River Revel Arts Festival. The Foundation continues to support local causes and in recent years sums of more than $100,000 have been awarded to organizations in the Shreveport area from the Gras’ funds
At John O’Connor’s funeral, the Catholic archbishop of Pittsburgh eulogized: “…Anything that I could say would be a poor tribute to a man, who according to his means and opportunities, was so large-hearted, so generous, so humble, so unostentatious in his exercise of his goodness and the bestowal of his benefactions. Peace be to him.” The archbishop was speaking of the man whose photo is at right — O’Conner, a whiskey man through and through.
At some point during the 1850s, O’Connor entered the liquor trade. He was very successful and although supporting a wife and six children, he found time and money to help those less fortunate. O’Connors' particular interest was in the orphans of Pittsburgh. According to a biography: “The building of the first St. Paul’s Orphan Asylum was the result of his study of conditions and untiring championship of its founding.”
At his funeral, the Archbishop related of him: “In earlier days when the orphans…were in greater need than at the present time, he not only gave what he could afford, he went from door to door and from one business house to another gathering food and clothing for the orphans….Almost every Sunday he visited the orphanage and inquired into their wants.” A photo of the children at St. Paul's is below:
In addition to orphans as the object of O’Connor’s philanthropy, he contributed generously to charitable institutions assisting the needy elderly, including the Little Sisters of the Poor home, and homeless women helped by the Sisters of Good Shepherd. O’Connor also was a major financial backer of the “Great Sanitary Fair” held in Pittsburgh during the Civil War, part of a national campaign to raise funds for wounded Union soldiers throughout the United States.
In 1912 O’Conner died as he lived, still residing above the liquor business he had founded more than sixty years earlier -- the source of the funds that fueled his philanthropy. In death he continued as a benefactor to the needy, willing the greater part of his estate to charitable organizations.
Few men have experienced the tragedies that during his lifetime beset Cincinnati liquor dealer and entrepreneur, Jacob Schmidlapp, shown here. Fewer still have been able to rise above their pain and sorrow to do so much for their fellow Americans in need.
Calling his enterprise Schmidlapp’s Live Oak Distillery, Jacob had a flair for advertising and from early on was marketing his whiskeys to all parts of the country. As a result of his strong business sense, profits from his liquor enterprise were substantial and allowed him with partners to acquire a distillery in Hamilton County not far from Cincinnati. Eventually the property included a plant with a mashing capacity of 4,000 bushels of grain per day, a 100,000 bushel capacity grain elevator, three warehouses capable of holding 35,000 barrels, and three drying silos producing 6,000 tons of feed annually. With his distillery and other investments Schmidlapp became very wealthy.
Jacob also knew repeated tragic loss. Two of his six children died in infancy. In 1899 while on a vacation trip to France his wife, Emelie, and oldest daughter were killed in a railroad accident. The fates had one more blow to deal Jacob. When his daughter, Charlotte, reached maturity, she yearned to travel in Europe, especially to see France and Germany. Recalling what had befallen Emelie and Emma, the father likely hesitated but eventually acceded to the girl’s desires. In the autumn of 1908, age 19, Charlotte departed from ship from New York for Europe, on the trip of her lifetime. Days later the message reached Jacob — she had been killed in an auto accident in France.
Following the deaths of his wife and daughters, Schmidlapp began giving away large portions of his millions. He financed a “magnificent annex” to the Cincinnati Art Museum, built a dormitory for the Cincinnati College of Music, and created an institution for women’s education in the name of daughter Charlotte. He also gave a library and memorial monument to Piqua, his home town. Jacob is said to have been particularly proud of Washington Terrace, Walnut Hills, a development of more than 400 homes he built to house working class African-Americans, shown below. He also was a trustee and contributor to Cincinnati’s McCall Colored Industrial School.
Jacob’s philanthropic works did not end with his death. Having given most of his money away during his lifetime Jacob willed his residual estate, then amounting to about $1 million, to the Union Bank to create a charitable trust. Roughly a quarter of that amount went to the Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Fund, created to empower and advance the welfare of women and girls. What started as a $250,000 fund has grown to today to some $30 million in assets. Personal tragedy had not destroyed this whiskey man’s concern for others.
Note: More complete vignettes on each of these three whiskey men/philanthropists may be found earlier on this site: Justin Gras, March 20, 2015; John O’Connor, July 14, 2019; and Jacob Schmidlapp, June 18, 2020.
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