My Genealogy Hound

FRED E. LEE, the General Manager of the Beckwith Estate, manufacturers of the Round Oak stoves in the city of Dowagiac, Mich., is an active partner in Lee Bros. & Co.’s Bank at Dowagiac and is widely known as an energetic and successful business man. A public-spirited citizen, our subject has for many years been closely identified with the leading enterprises of Cass County. Born in Dowagiac, December 6, 1858, he has spent almost his entire life within the borders of the State.

During his early youth Mr. Lee attended the public schools of his home city, but later enjoyed the advantage of a course of study at the Buchtel College, Akron, Ohio. His first business experience was gained in the bank of his father, which he entered in 1877. About a twelvemonth later, in connection with his brother, Henry M. Lee, our subject engaged in the grocery business and conducted the same for two years. At the expiration of this length of time he accepted a position in the Round Oak Stove Works, and for three years satisfactorily discharged the duties of shipping-clerk. He next became book-keeper of the Stove Works and at the end of two years resigned office work and traveled for the company. Two years were also spent in this department of the business. Having passed through a profitable apprenticeship, Mr. Lee practically fitted himself to become manager of the business, and has handled with excellent results the extensive interests intrusted to his care since 1888, since which time the business has grown four-fold under his management. In 1889, in company with his father and brother, Henry M., he embarked in the banking business, to which he devotes a portion of his time.

Our subject was united in marriage with Miss Kate Beckwith September 19, 1879. Mrs. Lee, an accomplished lady and a graduate of Mrs. Grant Towle’s School, of Detroit, Mich., is a daughter of Philo D. Beckwith, a man of uncommon nobility of character, whose memory, honored and revered, will long be green in the hearts of his fellow-townsmen. Earnest in purpose, kindly in word and deed, he accomplished much of good during the years of his prosperous and useful life. After the death of Mr. Beckwith his family conceived the idea of erecting to his memory the Beckwith Memorial Theater, which was designed by W. E. Brown, of Chicago, and was built at a cost of fully $100,000. The auditorium has a seating capacity of seven hundred. The corner apartment in front is occupied by the bank of Lee Bros. & Co. The second floor is used for the various offices of the Round Oak Stove Company and the City Council chambers. The third floor is devoted to the Round Oak Camp of the Order of Woodmen. The magnificent building, erected in 1892-93, was formally dedicated by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, who delivered a brilliant address to a large and appreciative audience, gathered together from the principal cities of Michigan. Externally, the Beckwith Theater, constructed of Lake Superior red sandstone, with back walls of brick, presents an imposing appearance, being 85x115 feet in dimensions. Three stories in height, the front has a genuinely monumental effect. The first story is an arcade of four great arches, with twenty feet to each span. The arches show the depth of the wall, and a strong band of carved enrichment lends additional grandeur to the facade. On rock-faced piers, intermingling with the arches, are portraits of illustrious women. Below, upon the bay directly over the main entrance, is a large medallion portrait of P. D. Beckwith, beneath which a carved panel bears the name of Beckwith. In the other front bays are portraits in medallion of noted composers, artists and authors.

The proscenium of the theater is square instead of arched, twenty-six feet wide and twenty-six feet high, and the ceiling slopes backward, giving to the casual observer the impression that the building has been chiseled out of one huge piece of marble. The stage is fifty feet in width and thirty-eight feet deep, with an upper and lower box on either side. There are fifteen elegantly furnished dressing rooms, and the drop-curtain is a composite work of art, the figures superbly drawn and painted. When Mr. Lee went to Ernest Albert, of Albert, Grover & Burridge, in Chicago, he asked the firm to design a fitting memorial for a great and good man, who in life was appreciative of the sublime and the beautiful in poetry, art and literature. The work was undertaken, and everything in the Beckwith Theater, from the French mosaic floor of the grand entrance to the elegant carpets of the foyer and parquette, were ordered and designed with special reference to the harmonizing of each detail in this charming playhouse. The main entrance to the building is in the middle division of the ground floor front, and is eighteen feet in width. The entrance to the new bank of Lee Bros. &; Co. is made by the same passage. No city has a finer palace for the banking business. As the theater is a model of design and finish, so does the banking house surpass in elegance the usual structures occupied in handling money. A full description of the embattled parapet, with its carved cherubs, the medallion portraits and the exterior finishings of the theater would require columns of space. A bird’s-eye view of the interior reveals a scene of luxurious magnificence. When ablaze with electric light the beautiful tones of the wall and ceiling are plainly revealed, exquisite tints and gilded ornamentation rivaling each other in beauty and effect. A special feature of the memorial theater is the glass used in the windows. The grand entrance screen of the lobby is constructed entirely of jeweled and leaded glass, Romanesque in design, in golden olive tones, upon a field of crystal plate, The screen is 16x18 feet in dimensions. The front window of the bank is constructed of the same materials, but is semi-circular in form, in a scheme of myrtle and gold. This window is seventeen feet in width and is rivaled by the orifices in the auditorium.

Mr. Lee was a prominent factor in the successful completion of the prettiest theater and the most beautiful memorial of the country. Although a busy man, he has been actively interested in politics and was elected upon the Republican ticket to the Mayoral chair of Dowagiac, receiving the largest majority ever accorded to any candidate for the office. He also had the honor of being sent as a delegate to the National Convention held at Minneapolis in 1892, and was one of the committee appointed to notify Reid of the nomination. At present he is interested in the erection of a fine residence now building on High Street, at the head of Judson Avenue. The stone used in the house is unique, and when completed the dwelling will be one of the handsomest in the State. In religious views our subject is an agnostic, a deep thinker, a profound reasoner, but liberal in judgment and sentiment. Financially prospered, Fred E. Lee has made many investments and has stimulated local progress and improvements. He is a partner in the Dowagiac Stock Farm and Vice-President of the Gas and Electric Company of the city, and, occupying a high social and financial position, commands the confidence of the community among whom he was born and reared.