- Luther Kountze
Infobox Person
birth_date=Birth date |1841|10|29
birth_place=Osnaburg, Ohio
death_date=April 17 ,1918
resting_place=
nationality=American
known_for=
occupation=Banker Luther Kountze (
October 29 1841 –April 17 1918 ) was an Americanbanker , responsible for helping the city ofDenver, Colorado in a time of need and leaving a philanthropic legacy inMorristown, New Jersey . He founded a late-19th century national banking dynasty along with his brothers Charles, Herman and Augustus. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9906E5D81438E233A25752C0A9639C94639ED7CF&oref=slogin "August Kountze obituary",] "New York Times." May 1, 1892. Retrieved 1/28/08.]About
From 1858 to 1862 Luther worked at the
Kountze Brothers Bank inOmaha, Nebraska , which was operated by his brothers Augustus and Herman. Late in 1862 he went to Denver, Colorado, where he opened a bank under the name of Kountze Brothers and listed his brothers as senior members. In 1866 they organized theColorado National Bank of Denver.Hill, E.C. (1919) "The Historical Register, Illustrated with Portrait Plates." p. 226.]After a great fire engulfed much of the city in 1867, Kountze was credited with saving the city of
Denver, Colorado from financial disaster, and ultimately, oblivion. Late that year and into the next Kountze worked with several other investors to form the company that would eventually become the Denver Pacific Railroad and Telegraph Co. [http://www.denver-rmn.com/millennium/0608mile.shtml]Luther left Colorado for New York in 1867. In 1868 he established the Kountze Brothers Bank at 52 Wall Street in
Manhattan . [ [http://www.mtgothictomes.com/colorado_checks.htm Colorado bank check, Colorado revenue imprinted check. Mt. Gothic Tomes and Reliquary ] ] His brother Augustus later joined him there, where they traded securities and bonds. In 1908, US SenatorRobert LaFollette, Sr. included him in the "100 men who controlled banking." He was then vice-president and a director of theUnited States Mortgage and Trust Company . [ [http://yamaguchy.netfirms.com/7897401/lafollette/lf08mar17.html Robert Marion LaFollette (1855-1925), speech in Senate, 1908 March 17 ] ]In 1881 Luther moved to
Morristown, New Jersey and built an English-style estate. He died in 1918, leaving and estate valued at $4,973,950. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E05E6DE1F3EEE3ABC4151DFB7678389639EDE&oref=slogin Description of estate assets] , "New York Times." November 29, 1922.]Philanthropy
Kountze was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Opera House Company. He contributed a large part of the land that now forms the National
Jockey Hollow Park in Morristown, NJ.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
