Metcalf, Jesse Houghton ()
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Portrait Location: Unlocated
Artist: Berkeley Studio ()
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Medium: photograph
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Brown Portrait Number: 149
Brown Historical Property Number: 2260
Jesse H. Metcalf was born in 1860 to Jesse and Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf. The origin of the family fortune is credited to Jesse's grandfather, who founded the Wanskuck Company, which was the biggest name in the manufacture of worsted textiles in the state. Jesse H. worked at the company in different capacities for most of his life while pursuing other interests and serving other institutions. The Metcalf family were avid philanthropists. Jesse and Helen gave both the land and the funds to establish the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to educate the young people of Rhode Island in design theory and techniques that would support the local manufacture of textiles, jewelry, and silver. Following his parents' example, Jesse H., along with his sisters, Eliza and Sophia, and brothers, Stephen and Manton, gave generously to local institutions, including RISD and Brown, throughout his life.
Jesse H. began his life of civil service in 1888, when he was elected to the Providence City Council. There he served for the next four years and for an additional year in 1896. In 1891 he married Harriet D. Thurston and they had a daughter, Cornelia Thurston Metcalf. He then was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1899 to 1901 and again in 1907 to 1909. In 1903 his wife Harriet died, and on June 25th 1909 he married Louisa Dexter Sharpe, the sister of Henry Dexter Sharpe whose portrait, also by Laurens (BP 174), hangs in nearby Sharpe Refectory.
Following his stint in state politics Jesse H. Metcalf returned to life as a private citizen. He served as president of Rhode Island Hospital from 1915 to 1934, and on the board of the Metropolitan Park Commission from 1912 to 1919, which he chaired from 1917 to 1919. The Metcalf family also owned a controlling share of The Providence Journal . At this time he was associated with the Chemistry Department at Brown, helping to develop technology for his family textile business. In response to the increased need for facilities and laboratories at Brown he gave the Jesse Metcalf Memorial Laboratory in his father's name. He later gave more money for Metcalf Research Laboratory.
During the lean years of 1933 and 1934 Metcalf, who was famously rich (at the time of his death in 1942 his estate was valued at $10.7 million), provided the $150,000 owed to depositors when the Cosmopolitan Trust Company of Providence closed, as well as the complete salaries of all Parks Commission employees when the board and city were deadlocked on budget and wage issues. Jesse Metcalf was again thrust into civil service in 1924, when he was appointed United States Senator from Rhode Island to fill the remaining term of Senator LeBaron B. Colt, who died in office. Metcalf was subsequently elected to his own term in the senate and served until 1931.
Jesse Houghton Metcalf died eleven years later, on October 9th 1942, at the age of 82. In a 1930 Golden Anniversary dinner held in honor of his 50 years of dedication to his native Providence, James R. MacColl said of Metcalf, "There is hardly a charitable or public enterprise in the State with which he is not connected. He is honest, upright, and without reproach."