The Birthday of Eternity

John Pierpont Morgan, died March 31, 1913

His house on Madison Avenue was the first electrically lit private residence in New York. 

Morgan Mansion on Madison Avenue

He was known to dislike publicity and hated being photographed; as a result of his self-consciousness of his rosacea, all of his professional portraits were retouched.

 

Morgan was scheduled to travel on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic in April 1912, but canceled at the last minute, choosing to remain at a resort in Aix-les-Baines, France.

Morgan at White Star Pier

White Star Line, Titanic's operator, was part of Morgan's International Mercantile Marine Company, and Morgan was to have his own private suite and promenade deck on the ship.

RMS Titanic

The Pujo Committee was a United States congressional subcommittee which was formed between May 1912 and January 1913 to investigate the so-called "money trust", a community of Wall Street bankers and financiers that exerted powerful control over the nation's finances. After a resolution introduced by congressman Charles Lindbergh, Arsene Pujo of Louisiana obtained congressional authorization to form a subcommittee of the House Committee on Banking and Currency.  The report revealed that no less than eighteen different major financial corporations were under control of a cartel led by J.P Morgan, George F Baker and James Stillman. These three men, through the resources of seven banks and trust companies (Banker’s Trust Co., Guaranty Trust Co., Astor Trust Co., National Bank of Commerce, Liberty National Bank, Chase National Bank, Farmer’s Loan and Trust Co.) controlled an estimated $2.1 billion. The report revealed that a handful of men held manipulative control of the New York Stock Exchange and attempted to evade interstate trade laws.  The findings of the committee inspired public support for ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913, passage of the Federal Reserve Act that same year, and passage of the  Clayton Antitrust in 1914. They were also widely publicized in the Louis Brandeis book, Others People's Money--and How the Bankers Use It.

J.P. Morgan with his son-in-law, Herbert Saterlee and his daughter, Louisa Saterlee, accompanying him to testify at the Pujo Committee Hearings

House of Morgan partners blamed the March 1913 death of J.P. Morgan on the stress of testifying in the Pujo hearings, though other health factors were certainly involved.

Shortly after testifying in the Pujo hearings in 1912, Morgan left with friends and family on a trip to Egypt. During his trip he became nervous and slipped into depression. An Egyptian doctor examined him and pronounced him well. His condition continued to decline, however, as the party traveled to Rome.

On March 31, 1913, just shy of his seventy-sixth birthday, Pierpont Morgan died in his sleep at the Grand Hotel.

Grand Hotel, Rome, Italy

Nearly four thousand condolence letters were received there overnight and flags on Wall Street flew at half-mast. The body was taken by train to Paris and Le Havre, and Morgan's daughter Louisa and son-in-law Herbert Satterlee followed the casket as it was loaded onto the ship.  Upon returning to New York, Morgan's body was laid out in his Library.

Morgan's Coffin being taken from Morgan Library, where it had been lying in state

Wall Street's stock market closed for two hours when his body passed through.

J.P. Morgan Hearse

Morgan Funeral at St. George Episcopal Church

For decades, J.P. Morgan was senior warden at St. George's Episcopal Church and the most influential parishioner.  The church was colloquially referred to as "Morgan's Church".  His funeral was held there on April 14, 1913.

Morgan Funeral leaving St. George's Episcopal Church

Photographers arrested during Morgan's Funeral

His remains were interred in the Cedar Hill Cemetery in his birthplace of Hartford, Connecticut.

Morgan Grave

At the time of his death, he held an estate worth $68.3 million ($1.39 billion in today's dollars), of which about $30 million represented his share in the New York and Philadelphia banks. The value of his art collection was estimated at $50 million.  He left his fortune and business to his son, John Pierpont "Jack" Morgan, Jr.

John Pierpoint Morgan, Jr.

He bequeathed his mansion and large book collections to the Morgan Library & Museum in  New York City.

Morgan Mansion

Morgan's library, as it was known in his lifetime, was built between 1902 and 1906 adjacent to his New York residence at Madison Avenue and 36th Street. His son, J.P. Morgan, Jr., made the Pierpont Morgan Library a public institution in 1924 as a memorial to his father and kept Belle da Costa Greene, his father's private librarian, as its first director.

Morgan Library

Interior of Morgan Library

Belle da Costa Greene