1. Robert Dollar, known as Captain Robert Dollar, was a Scottish-American industrialist born in Bainsford, Falkirk, Scotland.
32 Facts About Robert Dollar
1. 2.
Robert Dollar was born on 20 March 1844, to William Dollar and Mary Melville.
3.
Robert Dollar's mother died in 1853, and Robert dropped out of school and worked in a machine shop and then as an errand boy for a lumber shipping company to help support the family.
4.
Robert Dollar began working at a lumber camp as a cook's helper when he was 14 years old, and later found work in a barrel stave factory.
5.
Robert Dollar learned French, and worked his way up to doing the camp accounting.
6.
In 1861, Robert Dollar held his first real job as a logger.
7.
Robert Dollar had the task of driving the logs down the river to the mill.
8.
In 1866, Robert Dollar began to keep a diary, which he continued until 1918; thus, he was able to write his memoirs in later years and tell the vivid tales of logging in Canada.
9.
Robert Dollar was a quiet person, but very determined to keep up with Robert's adventures.
10.
Robert Dollar took an airplane ride over Shanghai in 1927.
11.
The Dollars had four children: Alexander Melville and Robert Stanley were born in Bracebridge.
12.
At age 22, Robert Dollar took over running a camp as Director of the English and American Lumber Company.
13.
Robert Dollar bought camps and timberland in Canada, then in the upper peninsula of Michigan and finally in Northern California.
14.
In 1888, the family moved to San Rafael, California, and Robert Dollar bought timberland and logging camps in Sonoma, a mill and lumber business at Usal in Mendocino county, and other places such as Oregon and as far north as British Columbia.
15.
In 1906, Robert Dollar bought a Victorian style home in San Rafael and named it "Falkirk," after his birthplace in Scotland.
16.
Robert Dollar left the estate to his family and it was purchased by the community in 1975 for $250,000.
17.
In 1910, Robert Dollar built an 11-story office building in San Francisco, headquarters of the Robert Dollar Steamship Company, which was expanded in 1919.
18.
The Robert Dollar family were prominent Republicans, in 1930 they had named one of their newest liners the President Hoover, and thus drew the ire of incoming administration.
19.
In 1945, Stanley Robert Dollar filed a lawsuit to recover ownership of the line.
20.
Robert Dollar had interests in China that included land, buildings, and wharves for his ships.
21.
Robert Dollar had wharves on the West Coast at Bandon and Reedsport, OR, Seattle, WA, and Honolulu, HI; on the East Coast at Boston, MA, New York, NY, and Washington, DC; on the Great Lakes at Cleveland, OH, Toronto, ON; Chicago, Ill; in Asia, at Kobe and Yokohama, Japan, at Shanghai, Hankow, Tientsin, Yangtze River, Tayeh, and Wuchang, China; at Havana, Cuba, and at Naples, Italy,.
22.
Robert Dollar gave to many causes, mostly involving religion, but some involved social and community endeavours.
23.
Robert Dollar had a school built on the property in 1902 and rebuilt after a fire in 1913.
24.
In 1917 Robert Dollar founded the Chair of the New Testament Interpretation with an endowment of $50,000 known as the Robert Dollar Chair.
25.
Rev White was astounded when Robert endowed the Margaret S Dollar Chair of Christian Social Ethics and requested Rev White be installed as the first professor.
26.
Mr and Mrs Robert Dollar donated the 13 chime carillon in 1922 that was placed in Montgomery Hall.
27.
In 1923 he donated 11 more acres and other funding The Robert Dollar Scenic Drive was constructed from Boyd Park to the summit of San Rafael Hill.
28.
Robert Dollar provided money that bought Dollar Park and Arnotdale House, which he gave to the town, in person.
29.
Robert Dollar paid for a drinking fountain that commemorates the First Battle of Falkirk; the first town library at the YMCA; the bells that were made in Baltimore and now hang and are regularly played in the tower of the ancient "Faw Kirk" Parish Church in the town centre, which is still in use.
30.
Robert Dollar developed bronchial pneumonia and died on 16 May 1932.
31.
Robert Dollar, who had been active in his father's business for years, and was at the helm when the shipping company was transferred to the US Shipping board, became the president of the United States Line that was formed by Roosevelt SS Co.
32.
The daughter of Robert Stanley Dollar, and granddaughter of Robert Dollar, Diana Dollar Hickingbotham Knowles, was a well known philanthropist in San Francisco, who died in 2013 at the age of 95.