The Four Hundred was a list of New York society during the Gilded Age, a group that was led by Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, the "Mrs. Astor", for many years. After her death, her role in society was filled by three women: Mamie Fish, Theresa Fair Oelrichs, and Alva Belmont, known as the "triumvirate" of American society.

On February 16, 1892, The New York Times published the "official" list of those included in the Four Hundred as dictated by social arbiter Ward McAllister, Astor's friend and confidant, in response to lists proffered by others, and after years of clamoring by the press to know who was on it.

History In the decades following the American Civil War, the population of New York City grew almost exponentially, and immigrants and wealthy arrivistes from the Midwestern United States began challenging the dominance of the old New York Establishment. Aided by McAllister, Astor attempted to codify proper behavior and etiquette, as well as determine who was acceptable among the arrivistes, as champions of old money and tradition.

Reportedly, McAllister coined the phrase "the Four Hundred" by declaring that there were "only 400 people in fashionable New York Society." According to him, this was the number of people in New York who really mattered; the people who felt at ease in the ballrooms of high society. In 1888, McAllister told the New-York Tribune that "If you go outside that number," he warned, "you strike people who are either not at ease in a ballroom or else make other people not at ease."

While the number four hundred has popularly been linked to the capacity of Caroline Schermerhorn Astor's ballroom at her large brownstone home at 350 Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street (today the site of the Empire State Building), the exact origins remain unknown. There were other lists in New York around the same time which necessitated a maximum capacity of four hundred, including Delmonico's restaurant and local cotillion dances, that may have contributed to the particular sum of four hundred.

February 1892 list

In response to competing lists naming the purported members of New York society published in the New York World that insisted New York society was, in fact, made up of only 150 people, McAllister spoke with the Times, refuting the World article and giving the paper the "official list", which was published on February 16, 1892, and quoted McAllister stating:

The so-called Four Hundred has not been cut down or dwindled to 150 names. The nonsense, don't you know, printed to that effect in the World and some other papers, has made a very bad impression that will reflect badly against them, you understand. That list of names, you understand, printed on Sunday, did not come from me, don't you see. It is unauthorized, don't you see. But it is accurate as far as it goes, you understand.

It is incomplete and does injustice, you understand, to many eligible millionaires. Think of leaving out such names, don't you know, as Chauncey M. Depew, Gen. Alexander S. Webb, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cooper, Mr. and Mrs. Luther Kountze, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Goelet, Mr. and Miss Wilson, Miss Greene, and many others! Don't you understand, it is absurd, senseless.

Let me explain, don't you know. There are three dinner dances, don't you know, during the season, and the invitations, don't you see, are issued to different ladies and gentlemen each time, do you understand? So at each dinner dance, you know, are only 150 people of the highest set, don't you know. So, during the season, you see, 400 different invitations are issued.

Wait a moment and I will give you a correct list, don't you know, of the people who form what is known as the Four Hundred. Do you understand it will be authorized, reliable, and, don't you know, the only correct list.

The list, purported to include the crème de la crème of New York society, consisted largely of "bankers, lawyers, brokers, real estate men, and railroaders, with one editor (Paul Dana of The New York Sun), one publisher, one artist, and two architects." It also included a mix of both "Nobs" and "Swells". "Nobs" came from old money (including the Astors, the Goelets, the Livingstons, and the Van Rensselaers), and "Swells" were representatives of the nouveau riche, whom Astor felt, begrudgingly, were able to partake in polite society (best personified by the Vanderbilt family).

Criticism and backlash

After McAllister released the names of the Four Hundred in The New York Times, there was significant backlash, both against the idea of a definitive list of "acceptable society" and McAllister himself. The papers dubbed him "Mr. Make-a-Lister" and, in combination with his memoirs published in 1890, entitled Society as I Have Found It,Ward McAllister (1890) Society as I Have Found It, Cassell, New York further ostracized him from the "old guard", who valued their privacy in an era when the leaders of society were the equivalent of modern movie stars. William d'Alton Mann, who owned Town Topics, a gossip magazine, considered it his duty to expose the sins of society and regularly criticized the Four Hundred.

Several years later, author O. Henry released a collection of short stories, entitled The Four Million, a reaction to this phrase, expressing his opinion that every human being in New York was worthy of notice.

In 2009, the Museum of the City of New York compiled its own list, entitled "The New York City 400", of the 400 "movers and shakers" who made a difference in the 400 years of New York City history since Henry Hudson arrived in 1609. McAllister was "the only person on the original Four Hundred to also make the museum's list."

Named members

Besides containing far fewer than 400 people, McAllister's list "abounded in inaccuracies: names were misspelled or incomplete and many spouses omitted or included although they were dead." The rules of the time dictated that "only the eldest unmarried daughter of a family carried the title 'Miss,' with no given name," but he regularly ignored the rule.

No. Name as it appears in article Full name1, 2 Mr. and Mrs. F. R. Appleton 3 Fred H. Allen 4, 5 Mr. and Mrs. Astor 6, 7 Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Astor 8, 9 Mr. and Mrs. George H. Bend 10 Miss Amy Bend 11 Miss Beatrice Bend 12, 13 Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Bryce 14 Mrs. Cavendish Bentinck 15, 16 Mr. and Mrs. F. Bronson 17 Heber Bishop 18 Miss Bishop 19 William Harold Brown 20, 21 Mr. and Mrs. Edmund N. Baylies 22 Mr. Temple Bowdoin 23, 24 Mr. and Mrs. J. Townsend Burden 25 Miss Burden 26 Mrs. Barbey 27 Miss Barbey 28 Harold Brown 29 Edward Bulkley 30, 31 Mr. and Mrs. James L. Barclay 32 C. C. Baldwin 33 Miss Baldwin 34 C. C. Baldwin Jr. 35, 36 Gen. and Mrs. Henry L. Burnett 37 Mr. Thomas Cushing 38 Miss Edith Cushing 39 Mr. F. Bayard Cutting 40 Miss Coster 41 Mr. Harry Coster 42, 43 Mr. and Mrs. Charles Carroll 44, 45 Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Cary 46, 47 Mr. and Mrs. Winthrop Chandler 48 Mrs. Brockholst Cutting 49, 50 Mr. and Mrs. Harry Cannon 51 Robert L. Cutting Jr. 52 Col. J. Schuyler Crosby 53 Miss Crosby 54, 55 Mr. and Mrs. W. Bayard Cutting 56, 57 Mr. and Mrs. S. V. R. Cruger 58 Rawlings Cottenet 59 F. Brockholst Cutting 60 W. Cutting Jr. 61 Sir Roderick Cameron 62 Duncan Cameron 63, 64 The Misses Cameron 65, 66 Mr. and Mrs. James Cross 67, 68 Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cooper 69, 70, 71 The Misses Chanler 72 William R. Coster 73, 74 Mr. and Mrs. Elisha Dyer Jr. 75, 76 Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Elliot 77, 78 Mr. and Mrs. George B. De Forest 79, 80 Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey M. Depew 81, 82 Mr. and Mrs. Frederic de Peyster 83, 84 Dr. and Mrs. Francis Delafield 85 Miss Delafield 86, 87 Mr. and Mrs. Paul Dana 88 H. De Courcy Forbes 89, 90 Mr. and Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish 91, 92 Mr. and Mrs. C. G. Francklyn 93 J. C. Furman 94, 95 Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Fish Jr. 96 Theodore Frelinghuysen 97 Augustus C. Gurnee 98, 99 Mr. and Mrs. Ogden Goelet 100 Mr. Frank G. Griswold 101 Miss Greene 102 Mr. Allister Greene 103 Miss Grant 104 Robert F. Hawkes 105, 106 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Howard 107, 108 Mr. and Mrs. Carly Havemeyer 109 Meredith Howland 110, 111 Mr. and Mrs. Valentine G. Hall 112 Miss Hall 113 John A. Hadden Jr. 114, 115 Mr. and Mrs. Columbus Iselin 116 Isaac Iselin 117 Mrs. William Jaffray 118 Miss Jaffray 119 Mrs. F. R. Jones 120 Miss Beatrix Jones 121 Shipley Jones 122, 123 Mr. and Mrs. DeLancey Kane 124 Nicholas Kane 125 Miss Knowlton 126 Miss Sybel Kane 127, 128 Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Kernochan 129, 130 Col. and Mrs. Kip 131 Miss Kipp 132, 133 Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Kernochan 134 Miss Lusk 135 Arthur Leary 136 Mrs. Maturin Livingston 137, 138 Mr. and Mrs. James Lanier 139, 140 Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. Livingston 141 Edward Livingston 142 Miss Clarissa Livingston 143 Edward De Peyster Livingston 144, 145 Mr. and Mrs. Clement C. Moore 146 Ward McAllister 147, 148 Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Marshall 149 Clement March 150, 151 Mr. and Mrs. O. Mills 152, 153 Mr. and Mrs. B. Martin 154 F. T. Martin 155 Peter Marié 156, 157 Mr. and Mrs. H. W. McVickar 158, 159 Mr. and Mrs. A. N. Morris 160 Miss Morris 161, 162 Mr. and Mrs. R. Mortimer 163 Miss Morgan 164, 165 Mr. and Mrs. T. Newbold 166 Mrs. Frederick Nelson 167 S. H. Olin 168, 169 Mr. and Mrs. C. Oelrichs 170 James Otis 171 Miss Otis 172 Edward Post 173 Richard Peters 174, 175 Mr. and Mrs. B. C. Porter 176, 177 Mr. and Mrs. Frank Pendelton 178 Julian Potter 179 I. V. Packer 180, 181 Mr. and Mrs. H. N. Potter 182, 183 Gen. and Mrs. Pierson 184 Miss Pierson 185, 186 Mr. and Mrs. George B. Post 187 Mrs. William H. Perry 188 Miss Perry 189 Goold H. Redmond 190 Mrs. Rogers 191 Miss Rogers 192 J. Ritchie 193 T. J. Oakley Rhinelander 194 Miss Cora Randolph 195 Mrs. Burke Roche 196, 197 Mr. and Mrs. S. O. Ripley 198 D. T. L. Robinson 199 R. K. Richards 200, 201 Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Robinson Jr. 202, 203 Mr. and Mrs. H. Robins 204 Miss Sands 205, 206 Mr. and Mrs. William D. Sloane 207, 208 Mr. and Mrs. Philip Schuyler 209, 210 Mr. and Mrs. Byam K. Stevens 211 Lispenard Stewart 212, 213 Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Sherman 214 Miss Adele Sloane 215, 216 Mr. and Mrs. Anson Phelps Stokes 217 Miss Stokes 218, 219 Mr. and Mrs. Walter L. Suydam 220, 221 Mr. and Mrs. F. K. Sturgis 222 Miss Elizabeth Stevens 223 G. Mead Tooker 224 Miss Tooker 225 E. N. Tailer 226, 227 Mr. and Mrs. H. McKay Twombly 228 Miss Tailer 229 Marquise de Talleyrand 230 Miss Mabel Van Rensselaer 231 Miss Alice Van Rensselaer 232, 233 Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt 234 George W. Vanderbilt 235 Mrs. A. Van Rensselaer 236 James Varnum 237 Mr. Worthington Whitehouse 238, 239 Mr. and Mrs. W. Seward Webb 240 Barton Willing 241 Miss Willing 242, 243 Gov. and Mrs. Wetmore 244 Miss Wetmore 245 Egerton Winthrop 246 Thomas C. Winthrop 247 F. B. Winthrop 248, 249 Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan Winthrop 250 Miss Winthrop 251, 252 Mr. and Mrs. Ben. Wells 253, 254 Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Whitney 255 Miss Georgiana L. Wilmerding 256 Mrs. C. A. Whittier 257, 258 Mr. and Mrs. Wysong 259 M. A. Wilkes 260, 261 Mr. and Mrs. W. Storrs Wells 262, 263 Gen. and Mrs. Alexander S. Webb 264 Miss Carrie Webb 265 Alexander S. Webb

See also Bradley-Martin Ball List of Gilded Age mansions Lee Shelton's "Four Hundred Club" of St. Louis, Missouri The Social Register, a directory of socialites started in the 1880s

References Notes

Sources

External links Patterson, Jerry E. The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age, Rizzoli, New York (2000)