Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

RICHARDS, Leonard, Jr.,
Manufacturer, Public Official.
Leonard Richards, Jr., treasurer of
Richards & Company, manufacturers of
artificial leathers, is among the leading
business men and citizens of Stamford,
Connecticut. The name of Richards has
been intimately connected with the arti-
ficial leather business for many years.
Leonard Richards, Sr., father of our sub-
ject, was the founder and pioneer.
Leonard Richards, Sr., was born in
Newark, New Jersey, and was educated
at the military academy at Sing Sing. He
then entered the employ of the Lehigh
Valley Railroad, where he remained for
three or four years. Mr. Richards then
entered business on his own account in
Bloomfield, New Jersey, in chemical lines.
He was one of the originators of the arti-
ficial leather industry in this country, and
the manufacture of lacquers. Later, he
removed his business interests to Spring-
field, New Jersey, and thence to Stamford,
Connecticut, in 1904. Mr. Richards was
a pioneer in this line of manufacture, and
his start was a conservative one. In the
Stamford plant which he built, there are
now an average of six hundred employes,
and a large export business is carried on
as well as a domestic trade. For many
years the firm name was Richards &
Company, Mr. Richards acting as president.
In 191 7 the Atlas Powder Company
purchased his interests and in that
year he retired, and is now (1920) a resident
of Havre de Grace, Maryland, where
he has a fine estate named "Oakington
Farm."
Mr. Richards married Caroline, daughter
of Amzi Dodd, of Bloomfield, New
Jersey, and there were three children by
this marriage. Mrs. Richards died in
1909. The children are : Helen, who is
the wife of Matthew E. Hanna, of the
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
190
U. S. Diplomatic Service ; he
was gradu-
ated at West Point and resigned from the
army with the commission of captain;
Leonard, of further mention ; Peyton, who
is in the class of 1922, at Yale College.
Leonard Richards, Jr., the eldest son of
Leonard and Caroline (Dodd) Richards,
was born September 2, 1886, in Bloom-
field. There he grew up and was edu-
cated at Montclair Academy, a military
school, and at St. Paul's School at Concord,
New Hampshire. He was graduated
from Yale College in 1908, and then en-
tered the employ of the dry goods house
of Francis Mc Masters & Company, New
York, where he spent two years in their
office. Thence he went to Stamford,
Connecticut, and entered the factory of
his father in order to thoroughly learn the
practical and technical sides of the arti-
ficial leather business. After two years of
conscientious work, Mr. Richards re-
turned to New York, and in 1909 was ap-
pointed treasurer of the company, an of-
fice he has held since that time. Mr.
Richards is also a director of the Atlas
Powder Company.
His residence is in Stamford, Connecti-
cut, where he has lived since 1907, and he
takes an active interest in the affairs of
that city. He is a Republican in politics,
and was a member of the Common Council
in Stamford for two years, during
which time he served on the Street Light-
ing Commission, of which he was chairman.
Mr. Richards is a member of sev-
eral clubs among them being: The Suburban,
the Stamford Yacht, Woodway
Country, and WeeBurn Golf, of Stam-
ford ; the Yale, the New York Yacht,
and the Larchmont Yacht clubs, of New
York City.
Mr. Richards married Anita, daughter
of Herbert C. Warren, of New Haven, and
they are the parents of three children: 1.
Leonard (3), born August 12, 1910. 2.