President of Rand McNally Publishers. He married Jan. 6, 1892, Elizabeth McNally.
Burial Date: 7 Aug 1933.
THE INLAND PRINTER, Vol. XL (Oct. 1907-March 1908), p. 244:
Harry B. Clow on September 24 succeeded the late Fred G. McNally as president of Rand, McNally & Co., publishers, Chicago.
(Rockford, Illinois) REGISTER STAR, Oct. 25, 2006, p.11:
THE MOST EXPENSIVE
Ronald Friedman, chairman of Saddleman, a maker of autoseat covers and accessories, is selling Lansdowne, a 21-acre estate on the North Shore of Lake Michigan. He's only the second owner of the home, which was built in 1911 for Harry and Elizabeth Clow. She was a daughter of Andrew McNally, co-founder of mapmaker Rand McNally; Harry became president of the company. The Georgian-style house was the work of Benjamin Marshall, who designed hotels and theaters across the country, including The Drake, a famous Chicago hotel. The asking price would be a record for the area.
Price: $25 million.
Bedrooms: 11.
Bathrooms: 10
Size: 14,500 square feet.
Features: A dual-staircase entry. The sunroom has a 12-foot coffered ceiling. There are views of the polo field or the lake from every room in the house. Also, a two-story, 5,000-square-foot coach house with two guest apartments, a clay tennis court with changing room, a gazebo and a swimming pool with pool house (including full kitchen and bath).
Chicago TRIBUNE, July 12, 2007:
One can still live the Gatsby-esque estate lifestyle on the North Shore; it just will have to be on a smaller piece of land.
With the sale of a 21-acre Lake Bluff estate known as Lansdowne to a developer, the end of an era is at hand. The lakefront mansion was deemed to be the last of its kind, a cavernous home on vast acreage that symbolized the extraordinary wealth on the North Shore in the late 19th and 20th Centuries.
The Lansdowne property will now be carved up and parceled out, the parties involved said Wednesday.
Built in 1911 for the family that headed the Rand McNally map empire, Lansdowne was sold for $16 million to Lincolnshire developer Orren Pickell, who plans to preserve the existing house but will build six other homes there....
The Book of Chicagoans: a Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men and Women of the City of Chicago (1905), ed. by J.W. Leonard and A.N. Marquis, page 127:
CLOW, Harry Beach, sec. James B. Clow & Sons, plumbers' supplies; b. Allegheny, Pa., Feb. 11, 1868; s. James B. and Matilda (Ross) Clow; ed. Public schools; grad. North Division high School, Chicago, 1885; m. Chicago, Jan. 6, 1892, Elizabeth F. McNally; children: Helen, Marion, Harry B., Jr. On leaving school, 1885, took a minor position with James B. Clow & Sons, and has since been continuously with that house; since 1904 has been sec. of James B. Clow & Sons. Republican. Presbyterian. Clubs: Union League, Glen View. Mem. Royal Arcanum. Office: 350 Franklin St. Residence: 834 N. Park Av.
Who Was Who in America with World Notables: Volume 1 (1942) by Marquis, p. 233: Clow, Harry Beach, pres. Rand, McNally & Co.; b. Allegheny, Pa., Feb. 11, 1870; s. James B. and Matilda (Ross) C.; ed. pub. scho.; grad. North Div. High Sch., Chicago, 1885; m. Elizabeth F. McNally, Jan. 6, 1892; children — Helen, Marion, Harry B. Began with James B. Clow & Sons, 1885, later sec, 1987, now dir.; près. Rand. McNally & Co. since 1907. Republican. Presbyn. Home: Chicago. Died Aug. 4, 1933. ...
THE INLAND PRINTER, Vol. XL (Oct. 1907-March 1908), p. 244:
H.B. CLOW, PRESIDENT RAND, McNALLY & CO.
Harry B. Clow on September 24 succeeded the late Fred G. McNally as president of Rand, McNally & Co., publishers, Chicago. At a meeting of the directors of the big printing company held on the evening of September 23 this action was ordered. Mr. Clow has long been active in the firm as a representative of his wife, who is a daughter of the late Andrew McNally.
"There will be no change in the lines of policy laid down by Mr. McNally," said Mr. Clow. "Intimately associated with my brother-in-law during his period of hardest work to give permanency to the established lines of business administration, I feel that the administration is competent to continue the same commercial successes. My associates in the management of the publishing house will continue. R.A. Bower being vice president, R.J. Arnold treasurer, and F.S. Wiley secretary."
Mr. Clow will retain his interests in the plumbing supply house of James B. Clow & Sons, in which he has been a partner since 1886, and secretary and director since 1894, when the old corporation of James B. Clow & Son became James B. Clow & Sons. Mr. Clow, Sr., one of the pioneers in the West in the wholesale plumbing-goods line, is old and feeble and may soon decide to retire from active participation in the house, in which event the new president of Rand, McNally & Co. will find an added call on his time, to become an active director.
Mr. Clow is thirty-nine years of age and a type of the young business man who elected to plunge into strenuous commercial life after graduation from the North Division High School rather than take a college course. This he did by going into his father's concern as an active partner.
Known for several years as the chairman of sports and pastimes at the Glen View Club, Mr.Clow made a name for designing and managing big golf tournaments that gave him prominence abroad. He acquired a considerable proficiency in the game, but growing and pressing business gradually compelled him to devote himself more closely to his office at the expense of the usual golf-links recreation.
It is related of Mr. Clow that a slight timidity in a business venture which Mr. McNally wished him to shoulder, out in California several years ago, not only deprived the young Chicagoan of a fortune of several million dollars, but gave him some experience that subsequently made him one of the city's foremost young business men.
"Buy land in California, grow olive trees; they bear for two hundred years or more, and the supply never equals the demand," was a slogan that Mr. McNally invariably sounded to his son-in-law. Among the ranches that the former head of the publishing house picked out as available for a deal was the tract known to the southern Carolifornia ranchers as "Las Coyotes," an enormous stretch of semi-arid foothill land, plentifully covered with greasewood. The owners were willing to sell the whole tract, but would not divide it.
"Buy, Harry," said the founder of the publishing house. "Clear off the wood for Los Angeles stoves and install irrigation and plant olive trees. The best thing in the world, and you will get rich off it."
Young Clow thought the financial responsibility was too great. He saw the prospects as did his father-in-law, but refused to accept a loan to swing the deal. How he missed the fortune is best told in his own words:
"Three railroad men, conductors of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific, I think, got an option on the ranch with the purpose of selling the wood. They scarcely had perfected title to it when oil was discovered in large quantities on the ranch. I understand that the value of the ranch soon went to $3,000,000 and that the purchasers sold at an enormous profit to the railroad companies."
One of the McNally interests after which Mr. Clow is looking is an extensive olive orchard near Los Angeles on which experts from Spain are gradually developing olive trees the product of which has excited the envy of the European oil producers.
Instructor: Volume 42 (1933), p.12: In 1907 he was made president and director of Rand, McNally & Company. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth F. McNally Clow, two daughters, and a son.
Children of Harry Beach Clow and Elizabeth (Bessie) McNally Clow:
Mary Helen Clow born Nov. 11, 1893, d. Nov 1977 unmarried
Marion Frances Clow born July 31, 1897, d. Sept 1982 unmarried
Harry Beach Clow Jr. born Aug. 21, 1901
Burial Date: 7 Aug 1933.
THE INLAND PRINTER, Vol. XL (Oct. 1907-March 1908), p. 244:
Harry B. Clow on September 24 succeeded the late Fred G. McNally as president of Rand, McNally & Co., publishers, Chicago.
(Rockford, Illinois) REGISTER STAR, Oct. 25, 2006, p.11:
THE MOST EXPENSIVE
Ronald Friedman, chairman of Saddleman, a maker of autoseat covers and accessories, is selling Lansdowne, a 21-acre estate on the North Shore of Lake Michigan. He's only the second owner of the home, which was built in 1911 for Harry and Elizabeth Clow. She was a daughter of Andrew McNally, co-founder of mapmaker Rand McNally; Harry became president of the company. The Georgian-style house was the work of Benjamin Marshall, who designed hotels and theaters across the country, including The Drake, a famous Chicago hotel. The asking price would be a record for the area.
Price: $25 million.
Bedrooms: 11.
Bathrooms: 10
Size: 14,500 square feet.
Features: A dual-staircase entry. The sunroom has a 12-foot coffered ceiling. There are views of the polo field or the lake from every room in the house. Also, a two-story, 5,000-square-foot coach house with two guest apartments, a clay tennis court with changing room, a gazebo and a swimming pool with pool house (including full kitchen and bath).
Chicago TRIBUNE, July 12, 2007:
One can still live the Gatsby-esque estate lifestyle on the North Shore; it just will have to be on a smaller piece of land.
With the sale of a 21-acre Lake Bluff estate known as Lansdowne to a developer, the end of an era is at hand. The lakefront mansion was deemed to be the last of its kind, a cavernous home on vast acreage that symbolized the extraordinary wealth on the North Shore in the late 19th and 20th Centuries.
The Lansdowne property will now be carved up and parceled out, the parties involved said Wednesday.
Built in 1911 for the family that headed the Rand McNally map empire, Lansdowne was sold for $16 million to Lincolnshire developer Orren Pickell, who plans to preserve the existing house but will build six other homes there....
The Book of Chicagoans: a Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men and Women of the City of Chicago (1905), ed. by J.W. Leonard and A.N. Marquis, page 127:
CLOW, Harry Beach, sec. James B. Clow & Sons, plumbers' supplies; b. Allegheny, Pa., Feb. 11, 1868; s. James B. and Matilda (Ross) Clow; ed. Public schools; grad. North Division high School, Chicago, 1885; m. Chicago, Jan. 6, 1892, Elizabeth F. McNally; children: Helen, Marion, Harry B., Jr. On leaving school, 1885, took a minor position with James B. Clow & Sons, and has since been continuously with that house; since 1904 has been sec. of James B. Clow & Sons. Republican. Presbyterian. Clubs: Union League, Glen View. Mem. Royal Arcanum. Office: 350 Franklin St. Residence: 834 N. Park Av.
Who Was Who in America with World Notables: Volume 1 (1942) by Marquis, p. 233: Clow, Harry Beach, pres. Rand, McNally & Co.; b. Allegheny, Pa., Feb. 11, 1870; s. James B. and Matilda (Ross) C.; ed. pub. scho.; grad. North Div. High Sch., Chicago, 1885; m. Elizabeth F. McNally, Jan. 6, 1892; children — Helen, Marion, Harry B. Began with James B. Clow & Sons, 1885, later sec, 1987, now dir.; près. Rand. McNally & Co. since 1907. Republican. Presbyn. Home: Chicago. Died Aug. 4, 1933. ...
THE INLAND PRINTER, Vol. XL (Oct. 1907-March 1908), p. 244:
H.B. CLOW, PRESIDENT RAND, McNALLY & CO.
Harry B. Clow on September 24 succeeded the late Fred G. McNally as president of Rand, McNally & Co., publishers, Chicago. At a meeting of the directors of the big printing company held on the evening of September 23 this action was ordered. Mr. Clow has long been active in the firm as a representative of his wife, who is a daughter of the late Andrew McNally.
"There will be no change in the lines of policy laid down by Mr. McNally," said Mr. Clow. "Intimately associated with my brother-in-law during his period of hardest work to give permanency to the established lines of business administration, I feel that the administration is competent to continue the same commercial successes. My associates in the management of the publishing house will continue. R.A. Bower being vice president, R.J. Arnold treasurer, and F.S. Wiley secretary."
Mr. Clow will retain his interests in the plumbing supply house of James B. Clow & Sons, in which he has been a partner since 1886, and secretary and director since 1894, when the old corporation of James B. Clow & Son became James B. Clow & Sons. Mr. Clow, Sr., one of the pioneers in the West in the wholesale plumbing-goods line, is old and feeble and may soon decide to retire from active participation in the house, in which event the new president of Rand, McNally & Co. will find an added call on his time, to become an active director.
Mr. Clow is thirty-nine years of age and a type of the young business man who elected to plunge into strenuous commercial life after graduation from the North Division High School rather than take a college course. This he did by going into his father's concern as an active partner.
Known for several years as the chairman of sports and pastimes at the Glen View Club, Mr.Clow made a name for designing and managing big golf tournaments that gave him prominence abroad. He acquired a considerable proficiency in the game, but growing and pressing business gradually compelled him to devote himself more closely to his office at the expense of the usual golf-links recreation.
It is related of Mr. Clow that a slight timidity in a business venture which Mr. McNally wished him to shoulder, out in California several years ago, not only deprived the young Chicagoan of a fortune of several million dollars, but gave him some experience that subsequently made him one of the city's foremost young business men.
"Buy land in California, grow olive trees; they bear for two hundred years or more, and the supply never equals the demand," was a slogan that Mr. McNally invariably sounded to his son-in-law. Among the ranches that the former head of the publishing house picked out as available for a deal was the tract known to the southern Carolifornia ranchers as "Las Coyotes," an enormous stretch of semi-arid foothill land, plentifully covered with greasewood. The owners were willing to sell the whole tract, but would not divide it.
"Buy, Harry," said the founder of the publishing house. "Clear off the wood for Los Angeles stoves and install irrigation and plant olive trees. The best thing in the world, and you will get rich off it."
Young Clow thought the financial responsibility was too great. He saw the prospects as did his father-in-law, but refused to accept a loan to swing the deal. How he missed the fortune is best told in his own words:
"Three railroad men, conductors of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific, I think, got an option on the ranch with the purpose of selling the wood. They scarcely had perfected title to it when oil was discovered in large quantities on the ranch. I understand that the value of the ranch soon went to $3,000,000 and that the purchasers sold at an enormous profit to the railroad companies."
One of the McNally interests after which Mr. Clow is looking is an extensive olive orchard near Los Angeles on which experts from Spain are gradually developing olive trees the product of which has excited the envy of the European oil producers.
Instructor: Volume 42 (1933), p.12: In 1907 he was made president and director of Rand, McNally & Company. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth F. McNally Clow, two daughters, and a son.
Children of Harry Beach Clow and Elizabeth (Bessie) McNally Clow:
Mary Helen Clow born Nov. 11, 1893, d. Nov 1977 unmarried
Marion Frances Clow born July 31, 1897, d. Sept 1982 unmarried
Harry Beach Clow Jr. born Aug. 21, 1901
President of Rand McNally Publishers. He married Jan. 6, 1892, Elizabeth McNally.
Burial Date: 7 Aug 1933.
THE INLAND PRINTER, Vol. XL (Oct. 1907-March 1908), p. 244:
Harry B. Clow on September 24 succeeded the late Fred G. McNally as president of Rand, McNally & Co., publishers, Chicago.
(Rockford, Illinois) REGISTER STAR, Oct. 25, 2006, p.11:
THE MOST EXPENSIVE
Ronald Friedman, chairman of Saddleman, a maker of autoseat covers and accessories, is selling Lansdowne, a 21-acre estate on the North Shore of Lake Michigan. He's only the second owner of the home, which was built in 1911 for Harry and Elizabeth Clow. She was a daughter of Andrew McNally, co-founder of mapmaker Rand McNally; Harry became president of the company. The Georgian-style house was the work of Benjamin Marshall, who designed hotels and theaters across the country, including The Drake, a famous Chicago hotel. The asking price would be a record for the area.
Price: $25 million.
Bedrooms: 11.
Bathrooms: 10
Size: 14,500 square feet.
Features: A dual-staircase entry. The sunroom has a 12-foot coffered ceiling. There are views of the polo field or the lake from every room in the house. Also, a two-story, 5,000-square-foot coach house with two guest apartments, a clay tennis court with changing room, a gazebo and a swimming pool with pool house (including full kitchen and bath).
Chicago TRIBUNE, July 12, 2007:
One can still live the Gatsby-esque estate lifestyle on the North Shore; it just will have to be on a smaller piece of land.
With the sale of a 21-acre Lake Bluff estate known as Lansdowne to a developer, the end of an era is at hand. The lakefront mansion was deemed to be the last of its kind, a cavernous home on vast acreage that symbolized the extraordinary wealth on the North Shore in the late 19th and 20th Centuries.
The Lansdowne property will now be carved up and parceled out, the parties involved said Wednesday.
Built in 1911 for the family that headed the Rand McNally map empire, Lansdowne was sold for $16 million to Lincolnshire developer Orren Pickell, who plans to preserve the existing house but will build six other homes there....
The Book of Chicagoans: a Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men and Women of the City of Chicago (1905), ed. by J.W. Leonard and A.N. Marquis, page 127:
CLOW, Harry Beach, sec. James B. Clow & Sons, plumbers' supplies; b. Allegheny, Pa., Feb. 11, 1868; s. James B. and Matilda (Ross) Clow; ed. Public schools; grad. North Division high School, Chicago, 1885; m. Chicago, Jan. 6, 1892, Elizabeth F. McNally; children: Helen, Marion, Harry B., Jr. On leaving school, 1885, took a minor position with James B. Clow & Sons, and has since been continuously with that house; since 1904 has been sec. of James B. Clow & Sons. Republican. Presbyterian. Clubs: Union League, Glen View. Mem. Royal Arcanum. Office: 350 Franklin St. Residence: 834 N. Park Av.
Who Was Who in America with World Notables: Volume 1 (1942) by Marquis, p. 233: Clow, Harry Beach, pres. Rand, McNally & Co.; b. Allegheny, Pa., Feb. 11, 1870; s. James B. and Matilda (Ross) C.; ed. pub. scho.; grad. North Div. High Sch., Chicago, 1885; m. Elizabeth F. McNally, Jan. 6, 1892; children — Helen, Marion, Harry B. Began with James B. Clow & Sons, 1885, later sec, 1987, now dir.; près. Rand. McNally & Co. since 1907. Republican. Presbyn. Home: Chicago. Died Aug. 4, 1933. ...
THE INLAND PRINTER, Vol. XL (Oct. 1907-March 1908), p. 244:
H.B. CLOW, PRESIDENT RAND, McNALLY & CO.
Harry B. Clow on September 24 succeeded the late Fred G. McNally as president of Rand, McNally & Co., publishers, Chicago. At a meeting of the directors of the big printing company held on the evening of September 23 this action was ordered. Mr. Clow has long been active in the firm as a representative of his wife, who is a daughter of the late Andrew McNally.
"There will be no change in the lines of policy laid down by Mr. McNally," said Mr. Clow. "Intimately associated with my brother-in-law during his period of hardest work to give permanency to the established lines of business administration, I feel that the administration is competent to continue the same commercial successes. My associates in the management of the publishing house will continue. R.A. Bower being vice president, R.J. Arnold treasurer, and F.S. Wiley secretary."
Mr. Clow will retain his interests in the plumbing supply house of James B. Clow & Sons, in which he has been a partner since 1886, and secretary and director since 1894, when the old corporation of James B. Clow & Son became James B. Clow & Sons. Mr. Clow, Sr., one of the pioneers in the West in the wholesale plumbing-goods line, is old and feeble and may soon decide to retire from active participation in the house, in which event the new president of Rand, McNally & Co. will find an added call on his time, to become an active director.
Mr. Clow is thirty-nine years of age and a type of the young business man who elected to plunge into strenuous commercial life after graduation from the North Division High School rather than take a college course. This he did by going into his father's concern as an active partner.
Known for several years as the chairman of sports and pastimes at the Glen View Club, Mr.Clow made a name for designing and managing big golf tournaments that gave him prominence abroad. He acquired a considerable proficiency in the game, but growing and pressing business gradually compelled him to devote himself more closely to his office at the expense of the usual golf-links recreation.
It is related of Mr. Clow that a slight timidity in a business venture which Mr. McNally wished him to shoulder, out in California several years ago, not only deprived the young Chicagoan of a fortune of several million dollars, but gave him some experience that subsequently made him one of the city's foremost young business men.
"Buy land in California, grow olive trees; they bear for two hundred years or more, and the supply never equals the demand," was a slogan that Mr. McNally invariably sounded to his son-in-law. Among the ranches that the former head of the publishing house picked out as available for a deal was the tract known to the southern Carolifornia ranchers as "Las Coyotes," an enormous stretch of semi-arid foothill land, plentifully covered with greasewood. The owners were willing to sell the whole tract, but would not divide it.
"Buy, Harry," said the founder of the publishing house. "Clear off the wood for Los Angeles stoves and install irrigation and plant olive trees. The best thing in the world, and you will get rich off it."
Young Clow thought the financial responsibility was too great. He saw the prospects as did his father-in-law, but refused to accept a loan to swing the deal. How he missed the fortune is best told in his own words:
"Three railroad men, conductors of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific, I think, got an option on the ranch with the purpose of selling the wood. They scarcely had perfected title to it when oil was discovered in large quantities on the ranch. I understand that the value of the ranch soon went to $3,000,000 and that the purchasers sold at an enormous profit to the railroad companies."
One of the McNally interests after which Mr. Clow is looking is an extensive olive orchard near Los Angeles on which experts from Spain are gradually developing olive trees the product of which has excited the envy of the European oil producers.
Instructor: Volume 42 (1933), p.12: In 1907 he was made president and director of Rand, McNally & Company. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth F. McNally Clow, two daughters, and a son.
Children of Harry Beach Clow and Elizabeth (Bessie) McNally Clow:
Mary Helen Clow born Nov. 11, 1893, d. Nov 1977 unmarried
Marion Frances Clow born July 31, 1897, d. Sept 1982 unmarried
Harry Beach Clow Jr. born Aug. 21, 1901
Burial Date: 7 Aug 1933.
THE INLAND PRINTER, Vol. XL (Oct. 1907-March 1908), p. 244:
Harry B. Clow on September 24 succeeded the late Fred G. McNally as president of Rand, McNally & Co., publishers, Chicago.
(Rockford, Illinois) REGISTER STAR, Oct. 25, 2006, p.11:
THE MOST EXPENSIVE
Ronald Friedman, chairman of Saddleman, a maker of autoseat covers and accessories, is selling Lansdowne, a 21-acre estate on the North Shore of Lake Michigan. He's only the second owner of the home, which was built in 1911 for Harry and Elizabeth Clow. She was a daughter of Andrew McNally, co-founder of mapmaker Rand McNally; Harry became president of the company. The Georgian-style house was the work of Benjamin Marshall, who designed hotels and theaters across the country, including The Drake, a famous Chicago hotel. The asking price would be a record for the area.
Price: $25 million.
Bedrooms: 11.
Bathrooms: 10
Size: 14,500 square feet.
Features: A dual-staircase entry. The sunroom has a 12-foot coffered ceiling. There are views of the polo field or the lake from every room in the house. Also, a two-story, 5,000-square-foot coach house with two guest apartments, a clay tennis court with changing room, a gazebo and a swimming pool with pool house (including full kitchen and bath).
Chicago TRIBUNE, July 12, 2007:
One can still live the Gatsby-esque estate lifestyle on the North Shore; it just will have to be on a smaller piece of land.
With the sale of a 21-acre Lake Bluff estate known as Lansdowne to a developer, the end of an era is at hand. The lakefront mansion was deemed to be the last of its kind, a cavernous home on vast acreage that symbolized the extraordinary wealth on the North Shore in the late 19th and 20th Centuries.
The Lansdowne property will now be carved up and parceled out, the parties involved said Wednesday.
Built in 1911 for the family that headed the Rand McNally map empire, Lansdowne was sold for $16 million to Lincolnshire developer Orren Pickell, who plans to preserve the existing house but will build six other homes there....
The Book of Chicagoans: a Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men and Women of the City of Chicago (1905), ed. by J.W. Leonard and A.N. Marquis, page 127:
CLOW, Harry Beach, sec. James B. Clow & Sons, plumbers' supplies; b. Allegheny, Pa., Feb. 11, 1868; s. James B. and Matilda (Ross) Clow; ed. Public schools; grad. North Division high School, Chicago, 1885; m. Chicago, Jan. 6, 1892, Elizabeth F. McNally; children: Helen, Marion, Harry B., Jr. On leaving school, 1885, took a minor position with James B. Clow & Sons, and has since been continuously with that house; since 1904 has been sec. of James B. Clow & Sons. Republican. Presbyterian. Clubs: Union League, Glen View. Mem. Royal Arcanum. Office: 350 Franklin St. Residence: 834 N. Park Av.
Who Was Who in America with World Notables: Volume 1 (1942) by Marquis, p. 233: Clow, Harry Beach, pres. Rand, McNally & Co.; b. Allegheny, Pa., Feb. 11, 1870; s. James B. and Matilda (Ross) C.; ed. pub. scho.; grad. North Div. High Sch., Chicago, 1885; m. Elizabeth F. McNally, Jan. 6, 1892; children — Helen, Marion, Harry B. Began with James B. Clow & Sons, 1885, later sec, 1987, now dir.; près. Rand. McNally & Co. since 1907. Republican. Presbyn. Home: Chicago. Died Aug. 4, 1933. ...
THE INLAND PRINTER, Vol. XL (Oct. 1907-March 1908), p. 244:
H.B. CLOW, PRESIDENT RAND, McNALLY & CO.
Harry B. Clow on September 24 succeeded the late Fred G. McNally as president of Rand, McNally & Co., publishers, Chicago. At a meeting of the directors of the big printing company held on the evening of September 23 this action was ordered. Mr. Clow has long been active in the firm as a representative of his wife, who is a daughter of the late Andrew McNally.
"There will be no change in the lines of policy laid down by Mr. McNally," said Mr. Clow. "Intimately associated with my brother-in-law during his period of hardest work to give permanency to the established lines of business administration, I feel that the administration is competent to continue the same commercial successes. My associates in the management of the publishing house will continue. R.A. Bower being vice president, R.J. Arnold treasurer, and F.S. Wiley secretary."
Mr. Clow will retain his interests in the plumbing supply house of James B. Clow & Sons, in which he has been a partner since 1886, and secretary and director since 1894, when the old corporation of James B. Clow & Son became James B. Clow & Sons. Mr. Clow, Sr., one of the pioneers in the West in the wholesale plumbing-goods line, is old and feeble and may soon decide to retire from active participation in the house, in which event the new president of Rand, McNally & Co. will find an added call on his time, to become an active director.
Mr. Clow is thirty-nine years of age and a type of the young business man who elected to plunge into strenuous commercial life after graduation from the North Division High School rather than take a college course. This he did by going into his father's concern as an active partner.
Known for several years as the chairman of sports and pastimes at the Glen View Club, Mr.Clow made a name for designing and managing big golf tournaments that gave him prominence abroad. He acquired a considerable proficiency in the game, but growing and pressing business gradually compelled him to devote himself more closely to his office at the expense of the usual golf-links recreation.
It is related of Mr. Clow that a slight timidity in a business venture which Mr. McNally wished him to shoulder, out in California several years ago, not only deprived the young Chicagoan of a fortune of several million dollars, but gave him some experience that subsequently made him one of the city's foremost young business men.
"Buy land in California, grow olive trees; they bear for two hundred years or more, and the supply never equals the demand," was a slogan that Mr. McNally invariably sounded to his son-in-law. Among the ranches that the former head of the publishing house picked out as available for a deal was the tract known to the southern Carolifornia ranchers as "Las Coyotes," an enormous stretch of semi-arid foothill land, plentifully covered with greasewood. The owners were willing to sell the whole tract, but would not divide it.
"Buy, Harry," said the founder of the publishing house. "Clear off the wood for Los Angeles stoves and install irrigation and plant olive trees. The best thing in the world, and you will get rich off it."
Young Clow thought the financial responsibility was too great. He saw the prospects as did his father-in-law, but refused to accept a loan to swing the deal. How he missed the fortune is best told in his own words:
"Three railroad men, conductors of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific, I think, got an option on the ranch with the purpose of selling the wood. They scarcely had perfected title to it when oil was discovered in large quantities on the ranch. I understand that the value of the ranch soon went to $3,000,000 and that the purchasers sold at an enormous profit to the railroad companies."
One of the McNally interests after which Mr. Clow is looking is an extensive olive orchard near Los Angeles on which experts from Spain are gradually developing olive trees the product of which has excited the envy of the European oil producers.
Instructor: Volume 42 (1933), p.12: In 1907 he was made president and director of Rand, McNally & Company. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth F. McNally Clow, two daughters, and a son.
Children of Harry Beach Clow and Elizabeth (Bessie) McNally Clow:
Mary Helen Clow born Nov. 11, 1893, d. Nov 1977 unmarried
Marion Frances Clow born July 31, 1897, d. Sept 1982 unmarried
Harry Beach Clow Jr. born Aug. 21, 1901
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