National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Historical Overview
their expense. During a flu epidemic in 1918, Mrs. Vanderbilt was rumored to have paid one of
the town's doctors $1,000 for treatment of the ill. 229 Estate employees reported that Louise
knew almost every family in Hyde Park. Through her agents, including employees, doctors, and
ministers in the village, she learned of families struggling with health and financial difficulties.
She frequently visited families personally and provided relief in the form of coal, food, and
medical expenses. Her concern for sufferers of tuberculosis prompted her to send those
afflicted to Saranac Lake for rest and recovery. 230
Louise also provided entertainments in the village. Generally, in the summer Louise
sponsored a strawberry or ice cream festival or a steamer cruise on the Hudson for school
children. Occasionally, other wealthy families joined her in sponsoring a cruise for the entire
village that was reported to have included more than 700 people. 231 At Christmas, Louise would
drive a sleigh, carriage, or car around Hyde Park with gifts for children. She reportedly sent
order forms to each of the Sunday schools in the village, and asked children to fill out a
Christmas list. She supplemented the necessities requested with gifts such as books, dolls, and
toys, and each child could select a gift they wanted. 232 At Easter and Christmas, the Vanderbilt
greenhouses furnished palms, potted daisies, lilies, poinsettias, and other seasonal plants to all of
the churches in Hyde Park. After the services, the plants were picked up and brought back to
the estate greenhouses. The greenhouse men were responsible for wrapping tender plants
against the cold during transport. 233
Louise's concern for children was expressed in Newport as well where she sponsored an
annual Thanksgiving dinner for the newsboys and messenger boys from 1891 to 1925. The
dinner was held at the Masonic Hall and arranged by the King's Daughters, founded by
Margaret Bottome. Usually about 350 boys attended the dinner. They marched into the hall to
orchestra music and sang to the music after the meal. On occasion, Louise attended the dinner
in person. 234
Louise was also noted for individual gifts, though on at least one occasion the giving
proved a bit self-serving. Louise was particularly fond of Beverly and Irma Newman, children of
estate employees. From 1921 to 1924, Louise provided the girls dancing lessons with the famous
Russian ballerina, Pavlova. The girls were just three and four years old when the lessons began.
In addition to paying for the lessons in New York, Louise gave the girls train tickets to go with
their mothers to the city. The girls danced for the Vanderbilts' guests at lawn parties and
gatherings on the yacht on several occasions, and they occasionally performed in Hyde Park and
Poughkeepsie. Peggy Newman remembered, " . . . [Mrs. Vanderbilt] would have guests and she
229
Nancy A. Fogel, "Change in Hyde Park: Interviews with 24 People" (Unpublished Vassar College
Senior Thesis, May 1979) 20, VAMA General File, ROVA Curatorial Division. Fogel interviewed 17
people who worked on the estate or had close relatives who did.
230
Snell, "Master Plan Development Outline," VII, 1. Snell cites interviews with Theresa Farley, Cap
Newman, Frederick Traudt, and J.B. Clermont.
231
Snell, "Master Plan Development Outline," VII, 3.
232
Peggy Newman, 2; Snell, "Master Plan Development Outline," VII, 4.
233
Alex Knauss, Typescript of taped interview, January 12, 1973, 3-4, Oral History Collection, ROVA
Archives.
234
Snell, "Historical Handbook Manuscript," 6. Snell cites New York Times, August 22, 1926, 27; Snell,
"Preliminary Report," 7.
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