Chadwick Mansion

Native Nebraskan, Clarence Bennet Chadwick, was born in 1877 to a family with a somewhat proud pedigree. On his father’s side, Edmund was a “lineal descendant of Sir Andrew Chadwick of England…[while] his mother[, Isadora,] of Henri Francois Bennet who emigrated from England to America in 1630…[and] settled in Salem.”[3]His mother also happened to be second cousin to Commodore Mathew Perry, the man responsible for ending Japan’s isolationism in 1853 and forcing the Japanese into the modern world in order to trade with the U.S.[4]Additionally, Clarence’s grandfather on his mother’s side, Thomas Bennet, was one of the first businessmen to establish a Midwest chain store that operated and traded with Natives and other interest parties in many products, and purportedly in furs with John Jacob Astor.[5]With that said, is it any wonder that with the tenacity and sheer fortitude of his family’s ancestry, he would become widely successful and handsomely wealthy?  

In his early years, he started out moderately, attended a public high school and pursued studies at the University of Wisconsin. His first few vocations were nothing glamorous, to say the least. He worked as a salesman in a confectionary shop and a worker in a New York’s grocery shop’s supply firm. With enough money saved up, he was able to “purchase…half interest in a small lithography business in Denver for $10,000. Two years later he bought out his partner and reorganized the business as the Banker’s Supply Company.”[6]It was under his new venture of the Banker’s Supply Co. that he drew inspiration for an invention that would propel his personal wealth: the forge-resistant check. By overprinting the paper, he figured a devisable plan to include paper patterns that would discern if someone had attempted to alter the face of the check, essentially providing assurance and protection to banks, city-wide. His invention proved more than fruitful. “Within a year he was handling nearly half the bankers’ supply business of the city….He later provided insurance of $1,000 for each depositor using his checks.”[7]As his wealth exponentially grew, he drew focus on his health.

In 1913, Chadwick married Rosemond Lee Rouse, a Beverly Hills socialite and heiress who also, in her early years, had developed into an accomplished opera singer. She attained popularity across the nation, and while married to Clarence, would periodically sing for prestigious venues and for reputable companies, including the Chicago Opera Company. The couple would find shared common interests, and lived a luxuriant and comfortable life together. 

Unfortunately for Clarence, he suffered from crippling arthritis and found himself confined for periods of time to a wheelchair. On winter holiday, he and his wife ventured to Captiva Island, one of two islands today off the coast of Fort Myers, and fell in love with the area. He was largely allured by the tropical climate, fine fishing, sparkling white beaches, and clear blue waters. In the early 1920s, he ended up investing in the island, purchasing 400 acres. Between this time, Chadwick’s interests had him moving between Chicago, Captiva, and Fort Myers. While in Chicago, he and his wife, Rosemond, would stay at the Hotel Metropole. It was there that a scandal unfolded in the late Teens, and splashed in headlines during the Twenties as a suit was filed. Reportedly, as the Chadwicks were living in Chicago’s Metropole, they were approached by a Mrs. Honore H. Douglass, a distant relative. She had married Royal M. Williamson, a cousin of Clarence. Williamson refused to live with Mrs. Douglass due to her alcoholism. When he died, she approached the couple pleading a case of destitution. Naturally, they took her in and gave her a room at the Metropole suite. Over the course of a little more than a year from June 1918 to October 1919, Mrs. Douglass ran up a large bill, $6,000 worth, according to Rosemond (the equivalent of over $110, 442.91 when factoring inflation). Moreover, Mrs. Chadwick’s jewels, a sum of $25,000 (an equivalent of $460,178.81 when factoring inflation), had gone missing when Mrs. Douglass left the Metropole. During her stay, Mrs. Douglass accrued the expenses of a personal maid, chauffeur and accompanying automobile, as well as liquor tabs and taxi bills. Once Mrs. Chadwick has instigated a lawsuit against Mrs. Douglass for the alleged theft and increasing debts left behind, the jewels were returned.[8]Despite the spectacle and social scandal, the move down south largely distanced the Chadwicks from the spotlight and allowed them peace and solitude from the bustle and tussle of large, metropolitan life.   

Figure 5: Photograph of Mrs. Chadwick amidst the Chicago Jewel Scandal. 

In 1925, Chadwick sold his northern business interests, including the Banker’s Supply Co., which now employed hundreds in several large factories and conducted banking business across the nation, and retired to southwest Florida. 1924-1925 was also the year Chadwick ordered the construction of his lavish Mediterranean Revival off Fort Myers’s First Street. 

Captiva Island, at the time, could only be accessed by ferry. Unlike today, the bridges connecting the island to the mainland did not exist. The Island had one boarding house run by sisters who catered to convalescents who traveled there for rest and relaxation. Homesteaders also occupied the Island, but nothing in the form of a respectable, reputable neighborhood had been built. The lifestyle on the Island was, and still is to an extent, laid back. As such, his official residence was on Millionaires’ Row, but he constructed a magnificent lime plantation on the Island.[9]He “learned that more than 80 percent of the common limes grown in Florida died no matter how carefully they were grown. He then started growing his own stock and concentrated on a Dominican type which proved hardy. Fruit from his groves, sold under the name Chad Limes…[were]…sold by some of the largest chain stores and other groceries. The groves…[became]…the world’s largest.”[10]His success with 400 acres on Captiva, and an additional 120 acres on Pine Island, a string of islands off the coast of present-day Fort Myers and Cape Coral, proved highly successful. Chadwick’s retirement, thus, became a period of his life of new venture and not one of quiet solitude and convalescence. No matter how “fruitful” his agricultural endeavors were, the hurricanes of 1921 and 1926 would prove disastrous. The Hurricane of 1921 was so powerful, it split the island into two while the Hurricane of 1926 “featured a 14-foot storm surge that completely flooded all low-lying areas. Island agriculture never recovered, but in its place, a new source of revenue emerged: hospitality.”[11]Chadwick, having lost his agricultural interests solely on Captiva, decided to erect a hotel on his land. It became a fishing resort where guests could arrive by private boat, the Lady Chadwick – named after his wife, Rosemond - or by mail ferry. “It was in 1963 that Sanibel and Captiva Islands became accessible to the masses with the completion of the causeway that still links it to the mainland at Punta Rassa.”[12]Today, the 330-acre South Seas Resort stands on the former Chadwick lime plantation, and later site of Chadwick’s fishing resort. While there are no stone memorials left in the Chadwick honor, the only architectural legacy is his Estate, which survives to this day, although no longer a private home, but a private law firm office. Even though no physical building contributions were built by him in the downtown district, that did not mean that the Chadwicks had no presence in societal life. Mrs. Chadwick was quite involved in social aspects, including the founding of the Fort Myers’s Woman’s Community Club, Garden Club, and participated in civic beautification projects around the downtown commercial district and residential neighborhoods.[13] 

Clarence Chadwick would remain a devoted, hardworking man until his death on November 27, 1947. His Floridian business interests kept him enabled, despite his arthritis that confined him for the rest of his years either to a bed or wheelchair. An obituary that read “A Courageous Spirit” noted on his character as a “‘big man’ who showed his true bigness by a friendly and lively interest in the affairs of his fellow-men big or little, and a brave soul who endured a painful affliction with a fortitude admired by all.”[14]He was honored with the sentiment that despite his physical ailments and immobility, he still was able to create the largest lime plantation in the world, amidst other ventures, as well as jumpstart a new industry altogether, one that “contributed to the security of all who used bank checks by the development of safety paper which guards against forgeries.”[15]All of this done by the age of 50, he did not allow his affliction to mare his ambition. For him, his fortitude would always rest with man’s spirit rather than man’s physical ability, an attribute others may very well look upon as further inspiration to do the impossible. 

Figure 6: Professional portrait of Mr. C.B. Chadwick. 

Figure 7: Aerial of Chadwick's former lime plantation on Captiva Island, which was wiped out by the 1926 Hurricane, and later replaced by a fishing resort. Today, the South Seas Island Resort occupies the former agricultural land. 

Click on the PDF documents below to download the following:

- The Chadwick Mansion coloring page

- The Chadwick Mansion worksheet 

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