The Distributor

He was a great philanthropist,

     He beat his workmen down;

They had to buy goods at his store,

     He owned full half the town.

He died, and gave a library

     And elegant Town Hall;

It looked as though he’d simply pinched

     From Peter to pay Paul.

c. June 3, ‘09

Quite possibly inspired by:

Henry Huttleston Rogers (January 29, 1840 – May 19, 1909) was an American industrialist and financier. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil.

Rogers was a modest man, and some of his generosity became known only after his death. Examples are found in writings by Helen Keller, Mark Twain, and Booker T. Washington. Beginning in 1885, he began to donate buildings to his hometown of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. These included a grammar school, Rogers School, built in 1885. The Millicent Library was completed in 1893 and was a gift to the Town by the Rogers children in memory of their sister Millicent, who had died in 1890 at the age of 17.

Abbie Palmer (née Gifford) Rogers presented the new Town Hall in 1894. The George H. Taber Masonic Lodge building, named for Rogers' boyhood mentor and former Sunday-school teacher, was completed in 1901. The Unitarian Memorial Church was dedicated in 1904 to the memory of Rogers' mother, Mary Huttleston (née Eldredge) Rogers. He had the Tabitha Inn built in 1905, and a new Fairhaven High School, called "Castle on the Hill," was completed in 1906. Rogers funded the draining of the mill pond to create a park, installed the town's public water and sewer systems, and served as superintendent of streets for his hometown. Years later, Henry H. Rogers' daughter, Cara Leland Rogers Broughton (Lady Fairhaven), purchased the site of Fort Phoenix, and donated it to the Town of Fairhaven in her father's memory.

After Abbie's death, Rogers developed close friendships with two other notable Americans: Mark Twain and Booker T. Washington. He was instrumental in the education of Helen Keller. Urged on by Twain, Rogers and his second wife financed her college education.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Huttleston_Rogers