Charles Millard Pratt

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Charles Millard Pratt (November 2, 1855 - 1935) was an American oil industrialist and philanthropist.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Pratt was born in Brooklyn, New York, the eldest son of Charles Pratt and Lydia Ann Richardson.

He was half-brother to Frederic B. Pratt, George Dupont Pratt, Herbert L. Pratt, John Teele Pratt and Harold I. Pratt.

He graduated from Amherst College in the class of 1879.

[edit] Career

Pratt joined Standard Oil in 1879 and was later Company Secretary. He was a trustee of Amherst College and Vassar College. He was president of the board of trustees, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn. He was a director of the Long Island Rail Road, Brooklyn City Railroad, American Express and other corporations.

[edit] Personal life

Pratt married Mary Seymour Morris on 8 May 1884 and they had five children:

  • Morris Pratt (29 November 1885 - 15 July 1910)
  • Theodore Pratt (21 May 1887 - June 1977) married Laura Merrick on June 2, 1910. They had three children, Gwendolyn Pratt (b. Oct. 27, 1917--d. Oct 31 1917), Theodore Pratt, Jr.(b. 16 June 1920 d. 15 Jan. 1998), and Merrick Pratt (b. 4 June 1922).
  • Margaret Richardson Pratt (19 July 1889 - 20 Jan 1919 ) married Frank J Frost. They had two children, Morris Pratt Frost (b. 19 Nov. 1916 d. 11 July 1990.) and Margaret Frost (b. 18 Jan 1919 d. 19 Jan 1919)
  • Katherine Eugenia Pratt (28 May 1891 - 20 April 1981) married Burton P Twichell. They had four children, David Cushman Twitchell (b. 16 Apr. 1918), Margaret Frost Twitchell (b. 13 Aug 1919), Harmony Twitchell (b. 9 Sept 1921 d. 20 Feb 1993), and Charles Pratt Twitchell (b. 27 Feb 1924 d. 3 Apr 2004).
  • Richardson Pratt (16 June 1894 - 16 August 1959 ) married Laura Cecelia Parsons. They had two children, Mary Marselis Pratt (b. 26 Sept 1920) and Richardson Pratt, Jr. (b. 25 Mar 1923 d. 1 May 2001)

[edit] Architectural legacy

William Tubby designed the Charles Millard Pratt House at 241 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn in 1893. Located in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill Historic District it is one of the city’s finest examples of Romanesque revival architecture, and is now the home of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn.

Pratt had a winter home (also known as Charles Millard Pratt House) designed by architects Greene and Greene in Nordhoff (Ojai), California from 1908-11.

Pratt was a trustee of Vassar College, his wife's alma mater, from 1896-1920. Pratt House, a residence for the Warden, was completed in 1915 by architects York and Sawyer.

[edit] Amherst College legacy

He was the first alumnus to donate a building to Amherst College - the Pratt Gymnasium was erected in 1883, and was reconstructed as the Pratt Museum in 1942. Following further rebuilding, it reopened in August 2007 as the Charles M Pratt Dormitory, housing 118 freshmen students.

Pratt was also responsible for the enormous Pratt Dormitory on Pratt Quad at Amherst College. This five-story building was designed by Charles Alonzo Rich in 1911, in memory of their son Morris Pratt who died at Amherst while an undergraduate student.