Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers (MSS-0005)

Biographical/Historical Note

Nathaniel Terry Bacon was an engineer, entrepreneur-industrialist, philanthropist, and scholar. Bacon was born in Litchfield, Connecticut to Rev. Leonard Woolsey Bacon and Susan (Bacon) Bacon in 1858. He attended the Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, CT, as well as the Gymnase Technique of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. In 1879, Bacon graduated with a Ph.B. from Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University. From 1880-1884, he worked as a railroad surveyor and located the site of Bear Mountain Bridge (New York), convincing Rowland Hazard to purchase it. Bacon travelled to Europe with Frederick and Rowland G. Hazard to study the Solvay process, which began his association with the Solvay Process Company. In 1884, he became presidential assistant to Rowland Hazard at the Solvay Process Company in Syracuse, NY. Bacon married Helen Hazard, the daughter of Rowland Hazard, in 1885 in Peace Dale, Rhode Island. The couple had two children, Leonard (born 1887) and Susan (born 1889).

In 1902, Bacon traveled to Central America where he met Neil and Arthur Lawder, who operated Belanger’s Incorporated of Bluefield, Nicaragua. Bacon soon became the director of Belanger’s Inc. In 1908, Bacon and F.J. Agate of Autauga, Alabama, purchased and incorporated the Southern Realty Company. The company filed for dissolution in 1921.

Sometime around 1915, Bacon became a member of the Board of Directors of Phoenix Linen Company in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. And from 1915-1924, served as president of the Narragansett Pier Railroad Company in Rhode Island. From 1922-1924, he was the principal owner of the Sea View Railroad property in Washington County, Rhode Island. In 1924, Bacon terminated his employment with the Solvay Process Company (Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation).

Helen Hazard Bacon died at the family home, “The Acorns” in Peace Dale, Rhode Island in 1925. Nathaniel Terry Bacon died in 1926, also at “The Acorns.”