Albert Cameron Burrage (November 21, 1859 – June 29, 1931), known as A. C. Burrage, was an industrialist, attorney, horticulturist and philanthropist from the United States.[1][2]
Albert Burrage was born on November 21, 1859, in Ashburnham, Massachusetts.[1] His parents were George Sanderson and Aurelia Chamberlin Burrage.[1][3] He moved to California with his parents when quite young and remained there until he was 18 years old.[3]
After a short period of study in Europe he enrolled in Harvard College in 1879, graduating summa cum laude in 1883.[3] He went on to the Harvard Law School, graduating the next year and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in September 1884.[3] He became counsel of the Brookline Gas Light Company in 1892.[1] In this position he earned an $800,000 fee for helping the company bring service to Boston.[2] He was elected president of the Boston, South Boston, Roxbury and Dorchester Gas Light Companies.[1]
He resigned his positions in gas light companies in 1898 to enter the copper mining industry.[1] He organized the Amalgamated Copper Company and was director until its dissolution.[1] Burrage was also one of the organizers of the Chile Exploration Company and the Chile Copper Company.[1] The development of new processes for treating low-grade copper ores was one of his industrial interests.[1] He was called the "Copper King".[2]
Burrage was a member of the Boston Common Council in 1892.[1] He served on the Boston Transit Commission that was responsible for building the Boston subway.[1]
Burrage purchased the gold collection of Georges de la Bouglise at an auction in Paris in 1911.[4] He later bequeathed his assemblage of gold ores to the Harvard Mineralogical Museum.[4]
Burrage was widely known as a cultivator of rare orchids.[1] A 1932 memorial in The Bulletin of the American Orchid Society stated, "No person has done more to encourage the study and cultivation of Orchids than Mr. Burrage."[3] The Massachusetts Horticultural Society awarded him the George R. White Medal of Honor in 1922 for establishing an outstanding collection of exotic orchids in Beverly, Massachusetts.[3] In 1925 he received the Lindley Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society of England for an exhibition of Cypripediums displayed in a natural setting at the Chelsea Flower Show in London.[1][3] He was elected president of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1921 and became founding president of the American Orchid Society (AOS) the same year.[1][3] He served as president of the AOS for eight years until his health declined.[3] He was a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society of England and a member of the Horticultural Society of New York, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and The Garden Club of America.[1][3]
The nothogenus × Burrageara of the orchid family is named for Albert Burrage.[3]
Burrage's 28 room mansion on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts was built in 1899 at a cost of US$600,000.[2] It was converted to medical offices in 1948.[2]
His summer residence the Needles in Hanson, Massachusetts was completely destroyed by fire on May 27, 1907.[5] Burrage, his wife Alice, their four children, Alice's sister and the families six servants all escaped the burning residence.[6] The loss was estimated at US$75,000.[5] The Needles was rebuilt soon after and additional buildings were added. Burrage sold the Needles to the Camp Fire Girls in 1922.[7][8]
In 1901 Burrage built a holiday home in Redlands, California - the Burrage Mansion - to escape East Coast winters and entertain fellow aristocrats.[9]
He was known in Boston for his philanthropy.[2]
On November 10, 1885, he married Alice Hathaway Haskell of Boston, Massachusetts.[1] Their children were Albert Cameron Burrage Jr., Mrs. Harold L. Chalifoux and Russell Burrage.[1] With his wife he gave a dinner party for the United States Secretary of Agriculture William Jardine and his wife, who were in town for an orchid show, at the St. Regis Hotel.[10] In 1931 he gave a coming out party for his granddaughter Katherine "Kitty" Lee Burrage that cost US$50,000.[2]
The Boston Evening Clinic, also known as the Burrage House located on 314 Commonwealth Avenue was designated a Boston Landmark through the Boston Landmarks Commission in 2003.
He died on June 29, 1931, of heart disease at West Manchester, Massachusetts.[1] Although he had been in poor health for a year he was able to attend the wedding of his granddaughter Katherine Lee Burrage to Forrester A. Clark after hosting a reception for the wedding party on his yacht Aztec in the days before his death.[1] He died at his summer home Sea Home with his wife at his side.[1]
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