World's Columbian Exposition.
grade in the country. When twenty-one years of age, Mr. Ripley entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as clerk in the freight department of the Boston office. He accepted a responsible clerkship in the Boston office of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company in 1870. Two years later he was made the New England freight and passenenger agent with headquarters in Boston. In 1876 he was appointed General Eastern Agent of the company for all of the territory east of Buffalo, New York, with official headquarters at Boston. He was made General Freight Agent of the Chicago Burlington & Quincy system of railways with headquarters at Chicago in 1878. In 1888 Mr. Ripley was appointed General Manager of the road. In 1890 he resigned this position and in the same year was elected third Vice-President of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, which office he still most acceptably fills. As a successful traffic manager, Mr. Ripley is doubtless the peer of any man in the United States, having given his special attention to that branch of railway business. His various and rapid promotions have been won by unremitting application to duty, and an intelligent comprehension of the demands of the public. Mr. Ripley is a member of the Ways and Means Committee, as well as the Committee on Transportation. He is an active, enthusiastic worker in all World's Fair matters. He has been eminently a successful man, and owes his success to hard work, his practical knowledge, and straight business methods, strict integrity, and honor in all of his transactions; hence the success which he has achieved is well merited and earned. He deservedly ranks high among the prominent railway men of the country. Mr. Ripley has been a valuable promoter of the interests of the company with which he is connected, and his aim at all times is to place its commercial standing on a higher plane of business ethics.
Edward B. Butler, of Butler Brothers, wholesale dealers in department store supplies, at 17 Adams Street, was born in Lewiston, Maine, December 6, 1853. When five years of age he removed with his father's family to Boston, Mass. He received his education in the grammar and high schools of that city. His father was engaged in the retail grocery business; and young Butler early acquired a taste for mercantile pursuits, by aiding his father in the store. At sixteen years of age he secured a position with a wholesale dry goods and notion house as bundle boy, and remained with this establishment for a few years. He was gradually advanced from one position to another until he reached that of traveling salesman. For five years Mr. Butler sold goods throughout the New England States and Canada. In 1877 he, in connection with his brother, engaged in business in Boston under the firm name of Butler Brothers. The firm did a modest business at first in notions and small ware. In 1878 it inaugurated among the retailers of America the "five cent" counter plan, which in a short time became very popular with merchants everywhere; and the business of Butler Brothers increased very rapidly as a result; they being the only house in the country carrying a line of goods suited to this class of trade. Another original idea of this firm was the issuing of a comprehensive catalogue, sending it out to its customers instead of employing traveling salesman. It still issues this catalogue, and has improved it in various ways until it is the most elaborate and comprehensive publication of its kind in America. Some idea of the circulation of this publication may be had, when it is stated that last year forty thousand dollars was paid for stamps for mailing the catalogue of the Chicago house alone. The two houses, that in New York and the one in Chicago employ about three hundred men. Mr. E.B. Butler, the senior partner of the firm, and the only member of the original firm now living, is a resident of Chicago, President of the company, and in full charge of the business here. He is also a director in one of the prominent banks, trustee in four different public institutions, and one of the directors of the World's Columbian Exposition. He is one of Chicago's most charitable wealthy men; one of his most prominent acts in a charitable way was the erection of a building containing a picture gallery, a reading room, and a branch of the public library, donating it to the Hull House settlement, which is located in the midst of Chicago's poor in the southwestern portion of the city. Mr. Butler was married in 1880 to Miss Jennie Holly, of Norwalk, Connecticut. They reside in an elegant home at 3420 Michigan Avenue.
Ferdinand W. Peck, one of Chicago's enterprising citizens, was born in Chicago, in 1841. His primary education was received in the public schools of the city, afterward attending the Chicago University, and the Chicago Law School. After graduating from the law school, Mr. Peck was admitted to the bar, but never engaged in a general practice of his profession, merely utilizing the knowledge thus gained in the management of his own extensive business. His father was one of the pioneer settlers of Chicago. By judicious business management and investments, he accumulated a large fortune, which he left to his family. This estate Mr. Ferdinand Peck has had control of, and it is said by competent judges that no estate of like proportions in this section has been so well managed. One of Mr. Peck's most important undertakings was the erection of the Auditorium, the largest stone structure on the continent, and the largest theatre in the world, said to cost $4,000,000. His firmness and persistency have found expression in the artistic permanence of his creation, the tower of this building, in the erection of which he was opposed by the other members of the Auditorium Company, and only by persistent effort did he succeed in having it built. It has proved to be one of the most important and attractive features of the building. Mr. Peck early demonstrated that he recognized the fact that the possession of wealth enabled him to devote his time and means to the promotion of the public good, and in this respect his career is a shining example to others similarly situated, who might well emulate his example. From early manhood a large portion of his time has been devoted to matters of public interest. He organized what was known as the People's Operatic Festival, held in the Exposition Building, where multitudes were enabled to hear the greatest singers at a very moderate expense. The Athenæum owes its success largely to Mr. Peck's efforts in its behalf. Since the inauguration of the World's Columbian Exposition project, he has been one of its most able promoters, is a member of the local Directory, chairman of Finance Committee, member of the Board of Reference and Control, and in 1891 declined the presidency of the Board of Directors. He was a special Commissioner sent to Europe in the inter- est of the Exposition, and in numberless ways is doing much to make the Exposition the success which it doubtless will be. Mr. Peck is First Vice-President of the Union League Club, a member of the Calumet Club, the Chicago Club, the Art Institute, and life member of the Press Club. He has an elegant home on Michigan Avenue, and a summer residence at Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. He has an interesting family, a wife and six children. Mr. Peck has travelled extensively in this country and in Europe.
Isaac N. Camp, of Estey & Camp, dealers in pianos and organs. Mr. Camp has long been the Chicago partner, and manager of the Chicago end of this justly popular and representative house. He is one of the oldest music dealers in the city, and is known by all those who are musically inclined throughout the entire West. He was born at Elmore, Vermont, in 1881. The business was first started under the name of Story & Camp in a small way, steadily increasing with the growth in the musical art in the West, until it now represents an annual trade of over $1,000,000. The house is located at the corner of State and Jackson Streets, with a branch at 916 Olive Street, St. Louis, Missouri. It does a wholesale and retail business, and employs over 100 men in its several departments. The firm is composed of Isaac N. Camp, Col. L. K. Fuller, and J. J. Estey, the manufacturer. Mr. Camp is very popular in social circles, and takes an active interest in benevolent
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