Edward Burgess Butler

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For the British ornithologist (1843 - 1916) see Edward Arthur Butler

For the Irish-Australian judge (1823 - 1879) see Edward Butler

Edward Burgess Butler (1853-1928)

Edward Burgess Butler (December 16, 1853 - February 20, 1928), was the founder of Butler Brothers department stores.

1 Biography
2 Titles
3 References
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[edit] Biography

He was born in 1853 in Lewiston, Maine to Manly Orville Butler and Elizabeth Howe. He had a sibling: George H. Butler. Manly owned a grocery store. In 1858 his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts and he attended the Boston public school system. For five years he sold goods throughout New England and Canada as a traveling salesman. He married Jane Holly in 1880, she was the daughter of William Henry Holly, of Norwalk, Connecticut. With his brother, George H. Butler, he founded Butler Brothers in Boston in 1877.

With his wealth he collected works by the 19th Century American painter George Inness, and later donated the collection to the Art Institute of Chicago. Having trained under Frank Charles Peyraud, Butler became a landscape painter. For a time he exhibited his works under a pseudonym, "Edward Burgess". In 1908 he exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Like so many of the well-do-to of his time, Butler moved to Pasadena, California, after he retired from business. His contemporaries admired his work, and one of his oil paintings was accepted into the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915.

He belonged to the Chicago Art Club, and served as the first president of the Pasadena Society of Artists.

He died in Pasadena, California in 1928.