Careers
Among Astor's accomplishments was A Journey in Other Worlds, an 1894 science fiction novel about life in the year 2000 on the planets Saturn and Jupiter. He also patented several inventions, including a bicycle brake in 1898, a "vibratory disintegrator" used to produce gas from peat moss, and a pneumatic road-improver, and helped develop a turbine engine. Astor made millions in real estate. In 1897, Astor built the Astoria Hotel, "the world’s most luxurious hotel", in New York City, adjoining the Waldorf Hotel owned by Astor’s cousin, William Waldorf Astor. The complex became known as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, coincidentally becoming the host location to the U.S. inquiries into the sinking of the RMS Titanic, in which Astor was killed.
From 1894 to 1896, he was on the staff of Governor Levi P. Morton. Shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Astor personally financed a volunteer artillery unit known as the Astor Battery, which saw service in the Philippines. Astor was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Volunteers and served as a staff officer in Cuba during the Santiago Campaign. During this time he allowed his yacht, the Nourmahal, to be used by the U.S. government. During the war, Astor appeared in the films President McKinley's Inspection of Camp Wikoff in 1898 and Col. John Jacob Astor, Staff and Veterans of the Spanish-American War in 1899.
His estate "Ferncliff," north of the town center of Rhinebeck, New York, with a mile and a half of Hudson river frontage in the picturesque Lower Hudson River Valley, had been purchased piecemeal by his father in the mid-19th century; Astor was born there. His father's Italianate house of 1864 was partly rebuilt in 1904 to designs by Stanford White of McKim, Mead, and White, retaining its conservative exterior, and a sports pavilion in Louis XVI style was added. The "Casino" or "Astor Courts" reportedly housed the first residential indoor swimming pool in the U.S., an indoor tennis court with vaulting of Guastavino tile, and guest bedrooms; in the lower level were a bowling alley and a shooting range. The estate, reduced to 50 acres (200,000 m2) and renamed "Astor Courts," eventually became a wedding venue. The wedding of Chelsea Clinton took place there on July 31, 2010.
Read more about this topic: John Jacob Astor IV
Famous quotes containing the word careers:
“So much of the trouble is because I am a woman. To me it seems a very terrible thing to be a woman. There is one crown which perhaps is worth it all—a great love, a quiet home, and children. We all know that is all that is worthwhile, and yet we must peg away, showing off our wares on the market if we have money, or manufacturing careers for ourselves if we haven’t.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)