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Rodolphe L. Agassiz

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Rodolphe L. Agassiz
R. L. Agassiz, circa 1910
Born
Rodolphe Louis Agassiz

(1871-09-03)September 3, 1871
Cambridge, Massachusetts, US
DiedJuly 31, 1933(1933-07-31) (aged 61)
Prides Crossing, Beverly, Massachusetts, US
OccupationBusinessman
EmployerCalumet and Hecla Mining Company
OrganizationMyopia Hunt Club
Known forPolo player
FatherAlexander Agassiz

Rodolphe Louis Agassiz (September 3, 1871 – July 31, 1933) was an American polo player, businessman, and clubman. He participated in the International Polo Cup, representing America. He was a ten goal polo champion at the international level. He left polo in 1914 to manage his business interests. Agassiz served as president and chairman of the board of the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company and of numerous other copper-related companies.

Early life

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Agassiz was born on September 3, 1871, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1] His parents were Anna Russell and Alexander Agassiz, a professor at Harvard University's Lawrence Scientific School, a pioneer in the copper industry, and one of the foremost naturalists of his time.[2][3] His paternal grandfather, Louis Agassiz, was an influential biologist and geologist who became wealthy due to investments in copper mining in Michigan.[1]

Agassiz graduated from Harvard University with an AB in 1892.[3] While there, he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (aka The Dickey Club).[4] He also played on the Harvard polo team.[5] In July 1888, he was thrown from his horse during a match in Newport, Rhode Island, and seriously injured, resulting in Agassiz being unconscious for some time.[6]

Career

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Polo

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The winning 1902 American polo team, 1with Agassiz second from the left.

Agassiz played polo for the Myopia Hunt Club and became "one of the most prominent polo players in the country".[7][8] His international handicap was ten goals, placing him in the elite group of ten goal polo champions.[9] He played in many international polo matches,[1] including representing America for the 1902 International Polo Cup[10][11] and again in 1905.[12]

Agassiz was injured in a match in Newport in the summer of 1906 and underwent surgery in January 1906.[13][14] He was struck in the mouth by a mallet at a match in Newport on August 30, 1906, breaking three of his front teeth.[15]

Agassiz was captain of the Myopia team in 1908.[16] He was a member of the American team that played in the match against the English at Georgian Court in 1910.[17] In 1911, he was on the American team that competed against the English at Westbury, Long Island.[18][19] He also played on the American team for the International Polo Cup in 1913.[20][21]

In March 1912, Agassiz became the president of the Westchester Polo Club, the group responsible for the International Polo Cup.[22][23] However, in February 1914, he sold his polo ponies and withdrew from competition to spend more time on business matters.[24] He continued to help prepare the American team for its match with British polo players in the summer of 1914.[24]

Agassiz was also a horse show judge and was a director of the Boston Horse Show Company and the Country Club Horse Show.[25][26][27] In 1908, he was a polo pony and stallion judge for the National Horse Show Association's annual event at Madison Square Garden.[16] He was considered one of the best polo pony judges in the United States.[16]

Business

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In May 1901, Agassiz became a director of the board of the State Street Trust Company of Boston.[28] In August 1905, he became the secretary and treasurer of the Calumet and Hecla Consolidated Copper Company, a business managed by his father.[3][29] He was also a director of the Allouez Mining Company, La Salle Copper Company, and the Osceolo Consolidated Mining Co.[30][31][32] He became a director of the American Loan & Trust Company of Boston in January 1907.[33]

After his father died in 1910, Agassiz became the vice president of Calumet and Hecla Consolidated Copper Company.[12] In 1911, he was president and chairman of the board of the Calumet and Hecla Consolidated Copper Company.[1][3] In 1911, he was also president of the Ahmeek Mining Company, Cliff Mining Company, Isle Royale Copper Company, Osceolo Consolidated Mining Co., Seneca Mining Co., and Tamarack Mining Company and vice president of the Allouez Mining, Centennial Copper Mining Co., Frontenac Copper Co., Gratiot Mining Co., La Salle Copper Co., Laurium Mining Co., Manitou Mining Co., Superior Copper Co.[34] Even as his health declined in 1933, he continued to make weekly business trips to New York City and biannual trips to Michigan to oversee Calumet and Hecla.[1]

He was vice president of the Massachusetts Hospital Insurance Company and a director of the First National Bank of Boston, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company, the Old Colony Trust Company, Walter Baker & Co, and Wonderland Amusement Park.[1][35][36]

Maria Dallas Scott Agassiz in 1894
"Homewood"

Personal life

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Agassiz married Maria Dallas Scott on March 27, 1894 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[37] They had one daughter, Maria Dallas Agassiz.[1][38] They lived on Beacon Street in Boston, Massachusetts.[1]

In December 1896, Agassiz purchased the Fosse estate ''The Kennels" in Hamilton, which included 100 acres.[39][40][41] They built a new country house on the property, "Homewood", designed by Peabody and Stearns.[42] They spent their summers in Newport, Rhode Island where they were social leaders.[23][41]

Agassiz was a member of the Republican Party most of his life, but left the party in 1928 over the issue of prohibition.[1] His public statement about leaving the Republican Party received national publicity.[1] He was a director of the Constitutional Liberty League and supported Governor Al Smith, who was against prohibition.[1]

Agassiz was a clubman and a leader of the social life in Bosotn.[13][8] He belonged to the Chicago Club, the Harvard Club of Boston, the Knickerbocker Club, the Links Club, and the Somerset Club.[3] He also belonged to The Country Club, the Eastern Yacht Club, the Essex Country Club, the Myopia Hunt Club, and the Tennis and Raquet Club.[3][43][44] He served on the committee of management of the Point Judith Country Club.[45] He frequently hunted and fished in Montana and Canada.[1]

In 1929, Agassiz moved to a new house in Prides Crossing, Beverly, Massachusetts.[1] He became ill in May 1933.[3] Agassiz died on July 31, 1933, at his summer home in Prides Crossing.[1][3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "R. L. Agassiz Dead. Mining Financier. Chairman of the Board of Calumet and Hecla and Director of Many Corporations. Famous As Polo Player" (PDF). New York Times. 1 August 1933. p. 17. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  2. ^ "Death of Professor Alexander Agassiz". The Guide to Nature. 3 (1): 35. May 1910.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Rudolphe L. Agassiz Dies at Mingo Beach". The Boston Globe. 1 August 1933. p. 15. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Catalogue of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. New York: Council Publishing Company. 1900. p. 150 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ Laffaye, Horace A. (10 January 2014). Polo in the United States: A History. McFarland. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-7864-8007-4.
  6. ^ "Mr. Agassiz Thrown From His Pony And Seriously Injured" (PDF). New York Times. 19 July 1888. p. 3. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  7. ^ "Tomorrow's Polo". Newport Daily News. 11 August 1899. p. 8. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b "Clubs and Clubmen". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 25 January 1914. p. 12. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Laffaye, Horace A. (10 January 2014). Polo in the United States: A History. McFarland. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-7864-8007-4.
  10. ^ "The Coming International Polo Contest". The New York Times. 2 March 1902. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  11. ^ "An Anglo-American Polo Match". Sketch. 38: 152. 14 May 1902 – via HathiTrust.
  12. ^ a b "Famous Player Head of RIchest Mine". The Montreal Star. 7 April 1910. p. 16. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ a b "R. L. Agassiz at St. Margaret's. Well-Known Clubman Enters Hospital for a Surgical Operation". Boston Evening Transcript. 25 January 1906. p. 9. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Polo Expert Under Knife". Albuquerque Journal. 29 January 1906. p. 5. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Rodolphe L. Agassiz Injured". Boston Evening Transcript. 30 August 1906. p. 12. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ a b c "Table Gossip". The Boston Globe. 4 October 1908. p. 46. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Table Gossip". The Boston Globe. 30 January 1910. p. 53. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Yankee Polo Stock High". Boston Evening Transcript. 16 May 1911. p. 4. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Englishmen Clever Scorers in Polo; Mixed Team Furnished Excellent Practice for Britons on Rockaway Field". The New York Times. 12 May 1911. p. 9. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  20. ^ "American Polo Players Chosen; Fourteen Experts to Prepare at Lakewood for International Games in June" (PDF). The New York Times. 23 January 1913. p. 12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  21. ^ "Stoddard to Lead Second Polo Game; Polo Association Announces the Team to Play Britishers in Match Tomorrow". The New York Times. 13 June 1913. p. 7. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  22. ^ "Newport Receives Free Use of Polo Field". Boston Evening Transcript. 30 March 1912. p. 22. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ a b "Table Gossip". The Boston Globe. 26 May 1912. p. 52. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ a b "Agassiz to Give Up Polo" (PDF). The New York Times. 7 February 1914. p. 12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  25. ^ "Boston Horse Show". New England Farmer. Boston, Massachusetts. 9 January 1904. p. 2. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ "Preparing for Horse Show". Boston Evening Transcript. 9 February 1906. p. 3. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "The Country Club Horse Show". Boston Evening Transcript. 6 February 1905. p. 10. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "Doubles its Capital Stock". Boston Evening Transcript. 6 May 1901. p. 1. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Calumet & Hecla Meeting". Boston Evening Transcript. 16 August 1905. p. 3. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ "Allouez Mining". The Wall Street Journal. 13 March 1907. p. 7. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ "La Salle Meeting". Boston Evening Transcript. 29 January 1907. p. 6. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ^ "Calmet & Hecla Consolidations". The Boston Globe. 21 February 1907. p. 7. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. ^ "R. L. Agassiz Made a Director". Boston Evening Transcript. 9 January 1907. p. 3. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  34. ^ The Copper Handbook. Vol. 10. Houghton: Horace J. Stevens. 1911.
  35. ^ "Walter Baker & Co Stockholders Meet". The Boston Globe. 24 January 1906. p. 2. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  36. ^ "Wonderland at Revere". Boston Evening Transcript. 9 February 1906. p. 5. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. ^ "March Weddings". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 28 March 1894. p. 3. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ^ "Table Gossip". The Boston Globe. 27 August 1916. p. 53. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  39. ^ "Real Estate Matters". Boston Evening Transcript. 8 December 1896. p. 5. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. ^ "Sale of Land in Hamilton". Boston Evening Transcript. 17 July 1897. p. 10. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ^ a b "R. L. Agassiz a Dinner Host". Boston Evening Transcript. 1 August 1912. p. 7. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  42. ^ The North Shore Blue Book and Social Register. Boston: North Shore Blue Book, Inc. 1920. p. 261 – via Google Books.
  43. ^ "Boston's Athletic 400 in the New Racquet Club". Boston Post. 6 November 1903. p. 2. Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via Newspaper.com.
  44. ^ The North Shore Blue Book and Social Register. Boston: North Shore Blue Book, Inc. 1920. pp. 23–24, 30–31 – via Google Books.
  45. ^ "Polo Manager Goes West; Frank A. Gill of Point Judith Club to Captain Team in California" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 January 1910. p. 7. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
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