James Stillman

• Born: June 9, 1850
• Birthplace: Brownsville, Texas
• Died: March 15, 1918
• Place of death: New York, New York

American banker and investor

Stillman was president of National City Bank of New York and led the bank to spectacular growth, opening international branches and becoming the largest bank in that state.

Sources of wealth: Inheritance; banking

Bequeathal of wealth: Children

Early Life

James Jewett Stillman was the oldest of five children born to Charles Stillman and Elizabeth Pamela Goodrich Stillman. Charles Stillman was the founder of Brownsville, Texas, and James was born there on June 9, 1850. By 1856, the family had moved to New York. James received his formal education at Churchhill School, a military academy in Ossining, New York. Since his father was away for long periods, often in Mexico or Texas, James was forced to be the man of the house.

First Ventures

At age sixteen, Stillman began working, and two years later he was promoted to cashier at Smith, Dunning, and Woodward, a company dealing in cotton and hides. The firm later reorganized and was renamed Woodward and Stillman.

Stillman married Sarah Elizabeth Rumrill in 1871, and the couple had three sons and two daughters. Sarah desired more companionship than the aloof James supplied. In 1894, she left her husband and moved to Paris.

When Stillman was twenty-one, his father suffered a paralyzing stroke, and Stillman took over all of his father’s investments. After his father died in 1875, Stillman inherited about $1 million. He invested much of this money into the stock of a dozen strong railroads. He also used his father’s business interests to gain control of sixteen banks and a large amount of land in south Texas, and he began to buy stock in National City Bank of New York. In 1883, Stillman took his father’s place on the board of directors of National City Bank, and the following year he began serving as a director of both Hanover Bank and the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad. By 1884, Stillman was earning $50,000 a year.

Mature Wealth

In 1891, Stillman became president of National City Bank, which at that time was losing money. Under his leadership, the bank became profitable. Stillman increased National City’s capital, cash reserves, and the amount of gold that the bank owned when other banks were selling gold. His management techniques also enabled the bank’s deposits to skyrocket from $12 million to $638 million.

In 1897, National City Bank was the only bank stable enough to finance the reorganization of Union Pacific Railroad. This strength also enabled the bank to be the agent for the United States in the transaction in which America paid Spain $20 million to purchase the Philippines. National City Bank continued its remarkable growth, and in 1919 became the first U.S. bank with $1 billion in assets. During economic downturns, when many other banks failed, National City actually increased its capital and deposits.

Stillman became good friends with William Rockefeller, the manager of Standard Oil; Stillman’s two daughters married Rockefeller’s two sons. Another of Stillman’s associates was railroad magnate Edward H. Harriman. With Harriman, Rockefeller, and other Wall Street associates, Stillman controlled the most important railroads in Texas, as well as the Union Pacific and the Chicago and Alton rail lines. In 1897, National City Bank took over Third National Bank to become the largest bank in New York.

Stillman earned an estimated $3.5 million annually and was worth $200 million. Near the end of his life, he gave money to family and friends and was therefore worth only $50 million at his death. He died of heart problems on March 15, 1918.

Legacy

With his personal fortune, Stillman provided a fund for French war widows and children and financed construction of a hospital for Harvard University. However, his legacy was not in his philanthropy but in his role as a banker and financier. As president of National City Bank, Stillman played a significant role in American business in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His management enabled the bank to become one of the largest and most solid financial institutions in the country. Among its accomplishments under Stillman’s leadership, National City financed the restructuring of Union Pacific Railroad and played an important role in the United States’ acquisition of the Philippines. By the twenty-first century, National City Bank had become Citibank, one of the largest full-service banks in the world.

Bibliography

Burr, Anna Robeson. The Portrait of a Banker: James Stillman. New York: Duffield, 1927.

Harding, Glenn, and Cindy Lee. Rails to the Rio. Austin, Tex.: Morgan, 2003.

Hemphill, Hugh. The Railroads of San Antonio and South Central Texas. San Antonio, Tex.: Maverick, 2006.

Starr, Peter. Citibank: A Century in Asia. Singapore: Editions Didior Millet, 2002.

Winkler, John K. The First Billion: The Stillmans and the National City Bank. New York: Vanguard Press, 1934.