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Samuel B. Ruggles

Samuel Bulkley Ruggles (April 11, 1799 – August 28, 1881) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1838, and a Canal Commissioner from 1839 to 1842 and in 1858. As a large landholder, he donated the land for the creation of Gramercy Park in New York City. Its restrictive covenant has preserved it through much development nearby. He was a member of the city's Chamber of Commerce, which published his reports on economics and public policy. In the 1860s, he represented the United States at several international conferences on economics and statistics in Europe.

Samuel B. Ruggles

Samuel Bulkley Ruggles

(1799-04-11)April 11, 1799
New Milford, Connecticut, U.S.

August 28, 1881(1881-08-28) (aged 82)
Fire Island, New York, U.S.

Whig

Mary Rosalie Rathbone
​
​
(m. 1822; died 1878)​

Charles Ruggles (cousin)

Yale College

Created Gramercy Park

Early life[edit]

Samuel Ruggles was born in New Milford, Litchfield County, Connecticut, of an old New England family.[1] He was the son of Ellen (née Bulkley) Ruggles and Philo Ruggles (1765–1829), who became Surrogate and District Attorney of Dutchess County, New York.[2] Chief Judge Charles H. Ruggles was his cousin.


Samuel was a precocious student and graduated from Yale College in 1814 at the age of 14. Although he read for the law, he had to wait to be admitted to the bar until he came of age in 1821.[2]

Ellen Ruggles, who married to the attorney (1820–1875) and lived in New York

George Templeton Strong

James Francis Ruggles (1827–1895) also lived in New York and who married Grace Baldwin (1857–1930). After his death, she married Henry Meyer Johnson.

Bender, Thomas, New York Intellect: A History of Intellectual Life in New York City, from 1750 to the Beginnings of Our Own Time, Knopf, 1987.  978-0-394-55026-8

ISBN

The New York Times, Editorial, 'July 3, 1921, p. 22. Gramercy Park's 90th anniversary and history.

"Gramercy Park"

Antiques Digest, reprinted. Originally published 1921.

"Samuel B. Ruggles, Founder Of Gramercy Park"

compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, New York: Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858, pp. 42, 221 and 301

The New York Civil List

New York Times, 29 August 1881 (stating erroneously he had been a member of the Canal Board for 18 years)

"An Old New-Yorker Gone; The Busy Life of Samuel B. Ruggles Brought to a Close"

Copies of letters to and from Ruggles on his 1858 appointment, New York Times, 22 July 1858

"The Canal Commissionership"

at Find a Grave

Samuel B. Ruggles

at Internet Archive

Works by or about Samuel B. Ruggles

Virtual American Biographies

"Samuel Bulkley Ruggles"

New York: J. F. Trow, 1854

Samuel B. Ruggles, "The Duty of Columbia College to the Community"

. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Reno.

Samuel B. Ruggles Correspondence, 91–32