President Arthur's Assorted Enigmas
The Enigmatic Chester A. Arthur
CHESTER A. ARTHUR FOUGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
One hundred years before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, a New York City conductor forcibly ejected Elizabeth Jennings, a black public school teacher, from a horse-drawn carriage. Ms. Jennings, who was bruised by the incident, sued the company. The case garnered a great deal of attention and African Americans from New York to San Francisco rallied around her.
Chester Arthur, who had only recently been admitted to the New York State bar, argued and won the suit. Not only was Ms. Jennings awarded $500 in damages, but the street car company told its conductors to allow African Americans safe passage and all public transportation in New York City was later desegregated.
The young lawyer showed an ability to litigate hard-to-win social justice cases. Why did Arthur stop arguing before the court and become a behind-the-scenes figure?
Ellen Lewis Herndon (Library of Congress)
http:/ /www.loc.gov/pictures/ resource/ cph.3a53343/
WAS CHESTER ARTHUR'S MARRIAGE TO ELLEN LEWIS HERNDON LOVE OR OPPORTUNITY?
Chester Arthur was said to be captivated by the beautiful singing voice of Ellen Lewis Herndon, a lively young woman from a wealthy Southern family. The couple were married in 1859.
Early in their marriage, Chester Arthur's salary was insufficient to support the couple's opulant way of life. Did Ellen's mother, who had holdings in stocks and real estate, help fund the couple's extravagant lifestyle?
According to New York City financial records, Ellen Arthur bought their home, 123 Lexington Avenue, New York City, less than 20 years after New York enacted the the Married Women’s Property Act of 1848 that allowed married women to own property. Did her mother help pay for the purchase?
As Chester Arthur's wealth grew, he showered his wife with jewelry and all the finery she desired, but his long stays away from home made her a lonely woman. In 1880, after waiting for her carriage in the rain, Ellen caught a cold and soon died from pneumonia at age 42. Chester Arthur was said to be desolate.
In 1881, after James Garfield's assassination, Chester Arthur was still in mourning when he became president. He hung his wife's portrait on a wall in his private rooms and had flowers, especially her favorites, violets, placed beside it every day.
Was it love or guilt that fueled his grief?
WHY DID CHESTER ARTHUR AVOID THE PRESS?
Journalists hung on every aspect of President Arthur's life: his cigars, fishing equipment, and especially his clothes: it was said he had 80 pairs of pants and an outfit for every season and every occasion. Reporters wanted to know more, but the evasive Chester Arthur didn't give them access. He once remarked: “I may be President of the United States, but my private life is nobody’s damn business.”
Why didn't Chester Arthur allow the press to catch even a glimpse of his private life?
“The original political dude out-duded” (Library of Congress)
http:/ /www.loc.gov/pictures/ resource/ppmsca.28427/
(as of June 24, 2015)
WHY DID CHESTER ARTHUR DESTROY HIS PAPERS?
Before he died, Chester Arthur took an unusual step. He asked his son to destroy his personal and professional papers. His dutiful son complied and burned several four-foot high cans stuffed with all the documents he could get his hands on.
Did Chester Arthur have anything to hide? As president, he signed the Pendleton Act reforming the corrupt federal civil service into a merit system. Still, was there something improper about his earlier days as head of the patronage-laden New York Customhouse or his political finagling with monied bigwigs in Albany, New York?
Home of President Chester A. Arthur, 123 Lexington Avenue, New York City, undated.
WHAT HAPPENED TO CHESTER ARTHUR'S HOME?
After his time in the White House, Chester Arthur didn't seek more fashionable quarters uptown, but returned to his home on Lexington Avenue. He hoped to resume his law practice, but he was sufering from Bright's disease (a medical term no longer used to describe kidney failure). Arthur remained at 123 Lexington Avenue until his death in 1886. With no heir available to maintain the residence, his estate sold the building a few months later.
Through the years, the house has gone through several owners and many renovations.
The notorious newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst, held title to the house from 1907 to 1912. He may have been the owner who converted the ground floor into a commerical space and the upper floors into small apartments.
By 1963, the flamboyant Kerope Kalustyan, an Armenian immigrant from Turkey, had moved his grocery -- with all its exotic food and spices -- into the commercial space.
In 1965, Livia Schenker, the building's owner, successfully applied to the National Park Service, a Division of the Department of the Interior, to designate 123 Lexington Avenue a National Historic Landmark. But it wasn't until 1981, when Felix Cuervo and his citizen's group put a small brass plaque above Kalustyan's sign, that there was any indication of the building's historic importance.
Today, the marketplace founded by Kerope Kalustyan flourishes, but only Felix Cuervo's plaque (which is now in a case to the right of the doorway leading up to the apartments) marks 123 Lexington Avenue as the place where Chester A. Arthur became the 21st president of the United States, the only president to ever take the oath of office in his own home.
Chester Arthur Residence, 2015
(courtesy of Jason Grodsky)