Name/Title
Holladay, Benjamin F., & Ophir Hall NY Residence, Photos (5), c. 1870 & 1960Entry/Object ID
P1992.1H.31Description
Holladay, Benjamin F., & Ophir Hall NY Residence, Photos (5), c. 1870 & 1960. b/w & sepia. Portrait photo of Ben Holladay, eventual owner of the Pony Express, Also two photos three photos of Holladay's's Purchase, New York Mansion, Ophir Hall, with Barlett Boder standing in front. Included is a listing of Weston, MO sites related to Holladay.
(There is also an un-numbered 5 x 7 photo included in the file. It pictures an old clapboard store with covered walk and 1940s car parked at curb. Handwritten on back: The Fashion Store, Virginia City, Montana. It is not apparent how this is related to Holladay. When it was scanned it was labeled Holladay Store.)
Ben Holladay was a business man who was involved in freighting, stage coach routes, and when the Pony Express went bankrupt, purchased the company during its last days in 1861. He and brother are responsible for starting the McCormick Distillery in Weston, MO that survives into 2020. Holladay moved to Oregon and began among other businesses building railroads. A very rich man, he lost much of his wealth in the Panic of 1873. See Museum Graphic, Vol.1V, No. 3, Summer, 1952, p.8. & Vol. 6, Summer, 1954, p. 11.
92.1 H.31 & 32 = Portrait photo of Holladay in mid-life. He has dark, curly hair, receding at forehead, full dark beard & mustache. He is wearing a dark suit jacket with dark vest, dark scarf-style tie at neck. one photo (#31) is sepia, 5' x 7".
Handwritten on back: "Ben Holladay, Bought Pony Express Stables. Became Stage Coach King. Took over Pony Express after Waddell bankrupt. He ? ? when R.R. came in."
92.1H.33 & 34 = Castle-style mansion, two view. of front facade. Six-story, 84 room granite stone residence with rectangular turrets, known as Ophir Hall (later Reid Castle), located at Purchase St. & Anderson Hill Rd, Purchase, New York, built for Holladay some time after the Civil War.
It has crenelated towers and balustraded roofline. The Holladays also built a Norman Gothic chapel, a coach house, stables, a root cellar, and houses for the 60 servants that they employed. Mr. Holladay also built a museum on the estate dedicated to the Old West. He stocked the grounds with herds of elk and buffalo, and the streams with trout and wild ducks. Holladay was financially ruined by the panic of 1873, and soon lost the estate.
Ophir Hall was eventually purchased by Whitelaw Reid, publisher of The New York Tribune. While Mr. Reid was having the castle altered, it caught fire, burning to the stone walls. The house was rebuilt, on a greater and grander scale with the assistance of the firm of McKim, Mead, and White. http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/reid.htm
92.1H.35 = Photo of Bartlett Boder, in light-colored suit, standing in front of the castle-like mansion, c. 1950s.
Original digital scan located on History CD 02Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
Print, PhotographicNomenclature Primary Object Term
PhotographNomenclature Sub-Class
Graphic DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsLOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
Pony expressSearch Terms
Holladay Family, Stage Coach Lines, Overland Mail, Ophir Hall, Holladay ResidenceRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Benjamin F. Holladay
