I am a successful businesswoman, even though
Photo from Scientific American, 1893.
When Tobias died in 1867, he left me an estate valued at
$500,000. Because I had no business experience, people
expected me to turn the estate over to a financial manager, but
instead I decided to manage it myself.
And I did very well. I not only preserved the estate, I
increased it four times. Between 1885 and 1897, the value of
the estate doubled, reaching a total of $2,225,000.
The secrets of my success are good judgment in choosing
investments, and economy and conservatism in managing
them. My most profitable investments were in real estate,
which I developed from acre property into fine residential lots
and from swamps into rich farming lands.
When Peoria was beginning to grow in the late 1800's, I
subdivided the land near my home and invested heavily in
other property adjacent to the city. These additions increased
in value as much as five times.
I also found ways to make unproductive farm land produce.
When 680 acres of newly drained marshland that I owned near
Manito, Illinois, wasn't yielding good crops, I sent a soil sample
to Champaign for analysis. The tests showed that this soil was
even richer than the best black prairie soils except for one
thing--it lacked potash. After consulting with
Purdue University in Indiana and learning of Kainit, a potash
salt mined in Germany, I ordered a carload and had it spread
on the land before spring plowing. The results were wonderful,
and the price of that land went from $10 an acre to $140 an
acre.
I also arranged for 3,500 acres of land in the Sangamon River
bottom near Chandlerville to be drained and cleared for
productive use, and have been instrumental in reclaiming and
improving other rural properties.
Known in the area for my business acumen, I sit on the board
of directors of Peoria's First National Bank, an unusual position
for a woman in my day.
I seek out good investments, but people also come to me. I
often loan money to those who need it, seldom have to
foreclose, and never call in a loan so long as the interest is paid.
Because my loans have helped to build nearly every church in
Peoria, some people say that I do more good making my money
than I do spending it!
But there is a notable exception to that. My beloved Bradley
Institute will do good far into the future, long after I am gone.
My name is Lydia Moss Bradley.
it isn't fashionable these days for a woman to be
interested in business.
When I was just a girl, I sold the riding horse I'd raised from a
colt so I could invest in timber land. Later I sold that land and
the family farm that my father had given me, and when Tobias
and I moved to Peoria, I used the proceeds from those two
sales to purchase our home at 122 West Moss Avenue, as well
as a large parcel of adjoining land.
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