Elliott Ruggles Corbett (June 29, 1884 –May 2, 1963) was an American banker, business leader, owner and builder of a number of the city's buildings, as well as civic leader and benefactor.
He was born on June 29, 1884 in Portland, Oregon and died on May 2, 1963 at his home in Dunthorpe, Portland, Oregon, aged 78. He and his two brothers, Henry Ladd Corbett (1881–1957) and Hamilton Forbush Corbett (1888 – 1966) were required at a young age to take on the burdens of the businesses, banking and real estate holdings that their grandfather Henry W. Corbett had developed, as their father Henry Jagger Corbett (and his younger brother Hamilton Corbett) had both died, predeceasing their own father.
Early life
Elliot Ruggles Corbett was born on June 29, 1884 in Portland, Oregon to Henry Jagger Corbett (November 6, 1857– March 2, 1895) and Helen Kendall Ladd (1859-1936). Henry's father was United States Senator Henry W. Corbett's eldest son. Henry J. Corbett, Elliott's father, died on 2 March 1895 from tuberculosis in Colorado Springs, Colorado, when Elliott was ten years old.Helen Kendall Ladd was born 4 July 1859 in Portland, Oregon. Died 5 June 1936 in Portland Oregon; Descendants of Robert Corbett; Thirteen generations, revised in 2001 by Gordon Corbett, privately printed. Source Elliott R. Corbett archives, Runton Old Hall, East Runton, Norfolk, UK. Helen was the eldest daughter of William S. Ladd, one of the senior Corbett's fellow Portland business pioneers and an associate in a number of enterprises.
Henry Jagger Corbett and Helen Ladd had three sons Henry Ladd Corbett (born 28 July 1881), Elliott Ruggles Corbett, and Hamilton Forbush Corbett (born 13 December 1888). Both Henry Jagger and his only brother the original Hamilton Forbush Corbett (1859-1884)Henry W. Corbett's younger son, the first Hamilton Forbush Corbett was born 1 December 1859 in Portland Oregon. He died 12 October 1884 in Portland Oregon, aged 24. His brother Henry Jagger Corbett then named his youngest son Hamilton Forbush Corbett following his brother's premature death. died of tuberculosis before their father. Helen was left to bring up the three boys. Elliott Corbett's grandfather, Henry W. Corbett (1827 – 1903) died when Elliott was 18.
Education
Elliott was educated at the Portland Academy,The Portland Academy, founded by his two grandfathers Henry W. Corbett and the estate of William S. Ladd (his mother's father), was built in 1895–96 (not to be confused with the prior Methodist Portland Academy and Female Seminary that closed in 1878. The new Academy was Presbetarian-leaning rather than Methodist). The private school stood along Southwest Thirteenth Avenue south of Montgomery Street. The building was designed by Whidden and Lewis - probably the first Flemish–style building in Portland built in contrasting red brick and light-coloured stone common in the early twentieth century on campus buildings such as those found at Portland's Reed College (with some of the same family members responsible for gifting the land for it and overseeing the building of its campus). The success of free public schools in the area led to falling enrolment and the Portland Academy closed in June 1916 after twenty years of educating hundreds of future college graduates (including political activist John Reed). It was then occupied by St Helen's Hall, an Episcopal school for girls and young women. In 1964 the building was purchased by the State of Oregon and torn down the next year for construction of a new freeway, Interstate 405. Lost Portland Oregon, Val C. Ballerstrem, History Press, Charleston, S.C., 2018, pp 103 & 104 (with photograph of building), a predecessor educational institution of the present Catlin Gabel school.Catlin Gabel School, Ted Kaye, The Oregon Encyclopedia, A project of the Oregon Historical Society on-line. He then went to Harvard University, graduating in 1907, from where his two brothers also graduated. All were football players at Harvard and also became polo players.They continued these sports in Portland at the Multonamah Athletic Club. His mother was aware that without a father the boys needed to be taught by others the skills that she felt young men would need. So as to be able to acquire good horsemanship and learn to be good shots she sent them as young boys to spend parts of their summers at the P Ranch in the Harney Basin in Eastern Oregon with men who could teach them those. The P Ranch was then owned by the French-Glenn Livestock Company and run by Peter French.The Corbett boys were also looked after there by Bill Hanley and his wife.
There they learned to be expert shots with a rifle, a shotgun and a hand gun (revolver). They learned to rope cattle and herd and tie them, control pack trains, become good outdoorsmen, and set-up camp and learn fly fishing. Their mother also saw that they were well schooled in lesser matters that would serve them in later life, like the proper use of an axe and various practical uses with their hands like how to understand the new motor vehicle engines; be able to fix them, change tires and keep them running on remote journeys; to carve meat expertly for guests for the dinner table and to be able to do things she thought men should be able to do well and with expertise. In this, as a widow, she was successful in preparing them for their life ahead.Daughters' Caroline Corbett and Alta (Teta) Corbett reminiscences, Elliott R. Corbett Archives, Runton Old Hall, East Runton, Norfolk, UK.
Early responsibilities
With the death of their grandfather Henry W. Corbett in 1903, Elliott and his two brothers inherited his businesses,"Gives to Charity…Liberal Bequests in H.W. Corbett's Will...Grandsons Are Made the Residuary Legatees", The Sunday Oregonian, Portland, Oregon, 5 April 1903, p. 1 and 10. including 27 downtown Portland properties,E. Kimbark MacColl with Harry H. Stein, Merchants, Money and Power: The Portland Establishment, 1843-1913. The Georgian Press, 1988. among them the then First National Bank Building (predating the present one that they later built), The Worcester Block (Third and Oak Sts.), The Cambridge Block (Third and Morrison), the Neustadter building (Ankeny and Fifth), the Hamilton BuildingThe Hamilton Building was named in memory of H.W.Corbett's son, and their father's brother Hamilton. The six-story building at 529 SW 3rd Ave, Portland, Oregon was completed in 1893, by architects Whidden & Lewis and was the first building in Portland designed in the Classical Revival style which later became widely used in commercial buildings. (529 SW Third Avenue) History of Oregon, Volume II, Pioneer Historical Publishing Company, Chicago-Portland, 1922. as well as majority ownership of the eight floor-326 bedroom Portland Hotel.The Portland Hotel was opened in 1890, designed by McKim, Mead & White on the site where Portland Pioneer Courthouse Square is located today.
Following their grandfather's death, within seven years his estate of 27 downtown buildings increased in value by over 500% owing to the financial boom and population growth stimulated by the Lewis and Clark Exposition, of which their grandfather had been an original financial backer At the Lewis and Clark Exposition's opening The Oregonian remembered: "This is a time when it should be said that the Lewis and Clark Exposition and its splendid results are due to the late Henry W. Corbett. It was he who gave it the first forward movement. He took hold of it with all his accustomed energy, subscribing a heavy sum of money to start it, and gave to the work of organising it the last earnest efforts of his life." The Oregonian, June 3, 1905. and its chairman.The Great Extravaganza: Portland and the Lewis and Clark Exposition, Carl Abbott, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, 1981.
The brothers also became involved with part of the Ladd estate and businesses which their mother had inherited on the death of her father William S. Ladd, the Corbett brothers' maternal grandfather. She was actively involved with the direction of the Ladd estate businesses along with her Ladd siblings and mother.Including her elder brothers William Mead Ladd and Charles Elliott Ladd of Portland and younger sister Caroline Ames Pratt (Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt) of New York, her youngest brother John Wesley Ladd and her own mother, Caroline Ames Elliott Ladd of Portland.
In World War I, Elliott served as a first lieutenant in the field artillery, stationed at Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky.The Oregonian, May 3, 1963.
Corbett Investment Company
The Corbett Investment Company was formed by the three Corbett brothers, Henry Ladd Corbett, Elliott Ruggles Corbett and Hamilton Forbush Corbett. The Corbett Investment Company was to serve as the Corbett estate holding company and their investment arm. The shares were equally owned by the three brothers.Corbett Investment Company shares subsequently were also settled on their spouses and children. Elliott R. Corbett Archives, Runton. The brothers divided up Corbett Investment Company responsibilities to play to each of the brother's strengths, their developing expertise and special areas of interest.
Henry L. Corbett, was the public face of the Corbett brothers. He dedicated most of his time to state politics as a Republican state senator,Henry L. Corbett served as a state senator for most of the legislature sessions from 1923 to 1936. the Port of Portland Commission and he took myriad other corporate directorships and had many civic and cultural affiliations.The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915 to 1950, E.Kimbark MacColl, Georgian Press, Portland, Oregon, 1979.p. 397 He was also mainly responsible for their P Ranch. Elliott R. Corbett was responsible for the management of their First National Bank of Portland holdings and the Corbett estate.The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon !915 to 1950, E.Kimbark MacColl, Georgian Press, Portland, Oregon, 1979, p. 397. He also served on family and other boards and was involved in Oregon and civic causes.
Hamilton F. Corbett was President of the Security and Saving Trust Company, a company the brothers controlled through the First National Bank of Portland and President of the Portland Chamber of Commerce. In the First World War he served in France.Hamilton Corbett enrolled in the US army on the United States entry into World War I in May 1917 for Officer training. He was commissioned as a first lieutenant and sailed to France in September 1917, serving there with the 151st Field Artillery, 42nd Division. He was wounded in July 1918 and was promoted to captain. When the war ended, he remained with the occupation forces in Germany, serving as aide-de-camp to Major General James Harbord until summer of 1919. Harvard's Military Record in the World War. Frederick Sumner Mead, The Harvard Alumni Association, 1921, p. 215. He aided many civic causes and volunteer organisations.The Oregon Historical Society had a small exhibition of Hamilton Corbett's war-time letters in 2017.
The three Corbett brothers concentrated their efforts on their real estate businesses, the First National Bank of Portland and its subsidiaries, which they controlled and other investments that needed their own managing and financing. They left their other company holdings inherited from their grandfather H. W. Corbett, with experienced managements already in place, such as their holdings in Union Pacific Railroad, the Portland headquartered Home Telephone Company, the Oregon Electric Railway, the Oregon Surety and Casualty Company, and the Portland Hotel, to largely operate on their own, usually retaining the role of directors (occasionally as officers) or even just passive shareholders so as to free themselves from their active day-to-day management.