Henry Clay Frick

Henry Clay Frick 1849-1919, American industrialist, b. Westmoreland co., Pa. He worked on his father's farm, was a store clerk, and did bookkeeping before he and several associates organized (1871) Frick & Company to operate coke ovens in the Connellsville coal district. He strengthened his position by buying out competitors during the Panic of 1873 and soon held a key place in the industry.

Andrew Carnegie , in order to control a business so vital to steelmaking, acquired heavy interests in Frick's organization. Frick, in turn, was given large holdings in the Carnegie company, and because of his managerial ability, he was made (1889) chairman of the steel company. He played a key role in the organization (1892) of the Carnegie Steel Company, and as its acting head Frick engineered a large expansion of the company by buying out competing companies and acquiring many holdings in railroad securities and in Lake Superior iron ore lands. Frick, frequently over Carnegie's protest, dealt in strong-handed fashion with the company's workers, and his adamant stand resulted in a pitched battle in the strike (1892) at Homestead, Pa.—one of the bitterest strikes in U.S. history (see Homestead strike ). He was largely responsible for the antiunion policy that characterized the steel industry for many decades.

Disputes between Frick and Carnegie led to a struggle between them for control, and in 1899 Frick resigned. He became a director of the U.S. Steel Corp. and turned to other interests, chiefly railroads. His mansion in New York City, together with his art collection and endowment of $15 million, was willed to the public as a museum. Princeton Univ. and the city of Pittsburgh also benefited from his philanthropies.

Bibliography: See biography by G. B. M. Harvey (1928).

Frick, Henry Clay (1849–1919). American industrialist, art collector, and philanthropist. He made an enormous fortune in coke and steel operations and devoted much of his wealth to his passion for art and to philanthropy (he endowed several hospitals for example). Although he sometimes took expert advice (notably from Roger Fry), Frick essentially relied on his own taste and eye for quality. In addition to paintings, his purchases included drawings, prints, enamels, bronzes, and porcelain. On his death he left his New York mansion and a large fund to form the Frick Collection, which was opened to the public in 1935. It is generally regarded as one of the finest small museums in the world, with a choice collection of works from the Middle Ages to the late 19th century. Rembrandt's Polish Rider and Giovanni Bellini's St Francis are among the celebrated masterpieces in the collection. Frick's will stipulated that further acquisitions could be made and a few pictures have subsequently been added to the collection, maintaining the superb standards he set. Attached to the Frick Collection is the Frick Art Reference Library, which has major collections of books and photographs. It was founded in 1920 by Frick's daughter, Helen Clay Frick. In 1970 she established the Frick Art Museum in Pittsburgh, the city where her father had made his fortune.