(1843-1936)

John Jacob Glessner was a quiet and modest man whose industry and intelligence seem to have had a profound, though at times barely visible effect on everything around him.  Although his name is not as well known as some of his contemporaries, such as Marshall Field or George Pullman, his influence on the development of Gilded Age Chicago was considerable and his touch is still felt in many surviving cultural institutions in Chicago today.

He was born to a respectable middle-class family in Zanesville, OH, the eldest of four brothers, On January 26, 1843. It was there that he met and married Sarah Frances Macbeth. From an early age he seems to have had a strong sense of responsibility that led him to step in and provide leadership to his family in his twenties when his father had a financial downturn, and he kept a guiding hand on the careers of his younger brothers.  In his working life, he began as a bookkeeper of the small firm of Warder and Mitchell.  He remained with the same company through a number of corporate changes, eventually becoming a silent partner, then partner, then, through the merger that formed International Harvester, vice-president.

John Glessner was a devoted family man.  He always spoke with love and respect of his wife, Frances MacBeth Glessner, and surviving writings of his have nothing but praise for her.  He was a loving father to his children, and took great care, along with his wife, to protect their health and guide their education, encouraging their private interests, such as his son George’s love of photography and his daughter Fanny’s skill at making miniatures.

His influence is still felt in many surviving Chicago institutions, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which he and his wife helped to found, Rush Medical College, the Art Institute, and the Commercial Club.  His home was deliberately and carefully designed to be a reflection of the best of Aesthetic and Arts and Crafts influence, including its design by H.H., Richardson, furniture by Herter Brothers and Isaac Scott, textiles and tiles by William Morris, Minton tiles, and Galle glass.  Musicians such as Rachmaninoff, Jenny Lind, Antonin Dvorak, and Enrico Caruso were honored guests and performers in his house.  Despite the presence of such illustrious names, it remained a warm and family-oriented place in which guests always felt welcomed and his children and grandchildren were as important and as wanted as the greatest artists or most prominent families in Chicago.

Glessner House was his final gift to the community.  By the time of his death, the neighborhood was no longer the prominent residential area it once was, and he passed it, nearly intact with all its treasures, to the American Institute of Architects with the intent that it be preserved for future generations. John Glessner died at the age of 93 on January 20, 1936.

Mrs. Glessner was born Sarah Frances MacBeth in Urbana, OH on January 1, 1848. She was one of six children, and the youngest of three daughters.  When she was twelve, her family moved to Springfield, Ohio.

This was a time when a family, if it were respectable enough, could be prominent and important without necessarily being wealthy.  This seems to have been the case with the MacBeths, who were middle-class, and highly thought of.  John Glessner would later report that at their “modest” wedding, all the “aristocracy” of Springfield were present.

Before her marriage, Frances was educated at a ladies’ college and, at the age of 17, became the de facto mistress of her family’s house, due to her mother’s illness, taking on the responsibilities of a grown woman.  She was also a schoolteacher.  She met John Glessner in 1863, when he was a young clerk who boarded with her family.  He was not her only suitor; she was engaged to another man while she was away at school, and her older sister Helen seems to have been very fond of John.  But in 1870, it was Frances he married, to the universal approval of their families.  He had just been made a full partner in Warder, Bushnell & Glessner.  His writings indicate that he placed great emphasis on being able to give Frances a proper home before marrying her; in fact, there was never an official engagement, only an “understanding” that they would marry when he was sufficiently advanced in his career.

Mr. & Mrs. Glessner moved immediately to Chicago, where he was the head of the new Chicago branch of the company.  She began a diary that would chronicle the great & small events of their married life for thirty years, and did her part to create those events.  While Mr. Glessner worked to make his business a success, Mrs. Glessner became a tremendous social force in Chicago.  She was a warm woman who loved entertaining and seemed to have a particular gift for making visitors to the city and to her home feel welcomed.

The Glessners were both family-oriented and socially prominent.  Her journal is full of the exploits of their children George, born on October 2, 1871, and Frances (Fanny), born 1878.  Another son, John Francis Glessner, born in 1874, lived only a few months, and though Mr. Glessner’s later writings say that the child’s death was heartbreaking for her, she maintains the reserve typical of her time, and left little record of her own feelings.

Her cultural influence continues today in several Chicago institutions formed during her time as a force in Chicago society.  She maintained a personal involvement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and counted its leaders and their wives among her personal friends.  She was a member of the Art Institute from its beginning.  She also belonged to the Fortnightly Club.  Her most personal and intimate cultural contribution was the Monday Morning Reading Class, an invitation-only literature group for young society matrons and University wives.  Its true importance was as a place for respectable newcomers to Chicago, particularly the University wives, to be introduced to the ladies of Chicago Society  This group lasted for more than thirty years, until her failing health made it necessary to disband.

Her warmth and natural style made her home a welcoming place for some of the most prominent minds of her day, including Henry Hobson Richardson, the architect of Glessner House, the composer Rachmaninoff, designer May Morris, daughter of William Morris, and businessmen such as Marshall Field, George Pullman, and Potter Palmer.  It was also the site of her childrens’ weddings, and many chaotic and delightful Sunday breakfasts with her grandchildren.  Her son George’s photographs hung in close proximity to William Morris tiles and Galle glass.  Her greatest and most ardent admirer throughout her life was her own husband.

Though her home is now a museum, in her time it was full of life, with the running footsteps of her children, the constant arrival and departure of carriages, parties intimate and magnificent, and the loves, joys, and griefs of her family. Frances M. Glessner died October 20, 1932 at the age of 84.

Frances Glessner, called Fanny, was born in Chicago on March 25, 1878. She was educated at home with her brother, but did not attend college. She married Blewett Lee, in February, 1898; the couple were later divorced. Fanny had three children with Blewett. She died in 1962.

Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death