George Eastman: Camera Magnate was Methodical Self-Educator

"The progress of the world depends almost entirely upon education.  I selected a limited number of recipients because I wanted to cover certain kinds of education and I felt that I could get results with those named quicker and more directly than if the money were spread." (George Eastman)

Millionaire businessman George Eastman was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.  He lost his father at 7 and was forced to become the man of the household.  His adversity, however, seemed to drive him forward.  He amassed a fortune with the Eastman Kodak Company, which rather than spending on himself, he chose to invest in education.

George Eastman's parents were both born and raised in abolitionist households.  They believed in the importance of education.  Eastman's father founded a college which would serve as a prototype for America's first business schools.  Tragedy struck when he died, leaving his seven year old son to be the head of the household.  George's mother took in boarders, but he felt badly that she had to cook and clean for these strangers.  Tragedy struck again when George's sister fell ill with polio and died at 16.  

At 13, George quit school to start making money to support his family.  He worked both as a messenger boy and as an insurance salesman.  Following in his father's footsteps, he took a job at a bank where he would work all day, six days a week.  Evenings he spent tinkering with his new purchase, a camera.  George would work well into the night, experimenting with photo emulsions.  He would take catnaps, waking himself at regular intervals to stir the emulsions.  George was constantly trying to educate himself.  

George opened a camera and photography supply business which dominated the market by the turn of the last century.  He amassed a fortune which simply sat in a bank account, accumulating pennies for interest.  George decided to donate his money to the cause of education.  He built one of the best music schools in the world, the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.  He donated upwards of $20 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and more than $50 million to the University of Rochester.  And in keeping with his abolitionist roots, he supported the cause of black education, donating to the Tuskegee Institute and Hampton Institute.  These donations were often done anonymously as George was not one for self-aggrandizement. 

Eastman relaxing in his library courtesy http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/George_Eastman.htm.

Charles River Esplanade: Boston's Central Park

View of Charles River and Boston skyline courtesy http://hdwallpaperq.com/boston-skyline-3005.html.

If you read my post "The Boston Angel" (http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2014/10/the-boston-angel.html) you'll know that a kind man helped my family and I find our way out of Boston this fall. He took us on a picturesque route along the Charles River.  As the sun glistened off the blue water, the leaves along its banks bloomed in golds and scarlets.  As our car followed the contour of the Charles River, my dad said that we had a Tufts ancestor who started a penny ferry along its waterways.  I'm assuming that was in the 1800's.  I wanted to find out more about the beautiful river.

The Boston Tea Party circa 1773 courtesy en.wikipedia.org.

The Charles River, named by King Charles, spans the length of 80 miles.  Ironically it was at the mouth of the Charles River that the famous Boston Tea Party took place, a protest against British rule.  According to the author of Inventing the Charles River, the waterway looked quite different 200 years ago:  it was full of salt marshes and mud flats.  Hardly the place someone would go for an afternoon stroll.

A watch factory in Waltham, Mass. courtesy igem.org.

Bostonians soon discovered that the river's water could be used to harness power for mills which sprang up along its banks.  With the Industrial Revolutions came textile factories.  With the invention of the train, came railway beds.  As Boston grew, the Charles River served as a natural border between the city and its neighbour, Cambridge.  It also served as a location for university campuses: Harvard, Boston and M.I.T.  Young students would row along the Charles river.  Some would even swim in the river, a welcome respite in the dog days of summer.

Harvard University campus courtesy news.harvard.edu.

Twenty parks were built along the banks of the Charles between Boston and Cambridge.  Bostonians would picnic there and go for long walks along the the Charles River Esplanade.  Dubbed "Boston's Central Park", it was an oasis of nature inside the great metropolis.

Spring on the Charles River Esplanade courtesy images.fineartamerica.com.

But the oasis did not last forever.  Fifty years ago, the Charles River was deemed toxic.  The city placed a ban on swimming in its murky depths.  As recently as 1995, the water quality was given a "D".  A group of environmentalists teamed up to clean up the river.  Eight years ago, competitive swimmers started racing in its waters.  Last year, after the river was given a "B" rating, the first official public swim was held there.  Men, women and children frolicked in the water.  Most were too young to remember a time when Bostonians could swim in the river.  The Charles is back!

First public swim in July of 2013 courtesy www.boston.com.