The American Institute for Economic Research on Division Street near Seekonk Cross Road in Great Barrington is the oldest economic research institute in the United States. From a historical perspective, the house in which it is located is a neat fit. The two prior owners could have used some sound economic advice.
The life of the first owner reads like a Horatio Alger story. Frederick Stark Pearson was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1860. He lost his father at the age of 16 and went to work in Medford as a station agent for the Boston & Maine Railroad. Not content to while away his life handing out tickets to other people going places, he wanted to go places.
Pearson enrolled in Tufts College. Three years later, in 1879, he held a degree in engineering. From then on, Pearson went places on an upward trajectory, ending with houses in New York, Surrey in England and Great Barrington in Massachusetts, as well as a fortune estimated at $50 million.
Pearson was a hydroelectric and industrial engineer specializing in railroad expansion. He was also a speculator. Credited with attracting investors whose combined portfolio was more than $400 million, Pearson recommended they invest in Mexico, Canada and South America.
In 1902, while attending a conference for the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in Great Barrington, Pearson purchased the Tuller farm on Seekonk Cross Road. He added to that purchase, creating a 13,000-acre estate. The estate was the second largest in Berkshire County, just 1,000 acres less than the 14,000-acre October Mountain Reserve owned by William C. Whitney. The two Berkshire estates had more in common than vast size. Both Whitney and Pearson preserved large areas of woodland, and both established game preserves importing exotic animals from all over the world.
Pearson “engineered” his property. To keep the animals on the property, Pearson surrounded his preserve with a 7-foot-high fence; he moved large trees to enhance forestland and clear farmland. Pearson created miles of bridle path and established a working farm with crops, poultry and prize-winning sheep.
The outbuildings included three smaller houses for the groundsmen, multiple barns, a stable, a creamery and a 2-acre formal garden. It was estimated that between 40 and 75 men were employed on the grounds — some permanently, others seasonally. Regardless of the employment opportunities, the local talk was that Pearson was about to undermine the economy of Great Barrington. How?
On a 2-mile tract in a corner of the Pearson property was an enormous huckleberry patch. For decades, locals had collected the berries and augmented their incomes by selling them. Now they worried Pearson would deny them access to this cash crop. When Pearson was informed, he threw the tract open and invited them to continue to gather and reap the profits. They came by foot, on horseback and in wagons. They filled bags, crates and barrels with berries. In a 1907 newspaper article, grateful neighbors thanked Pearson and dubbed him the “Huckleberry King of the Berkshires.”
At the center of the property, Pearson built his country house, Edgewood. Edgewood was a large, well-proportioned New England Shingle-style house. Built on the brow of a hill, it afforded spectacular views of the Berkshires.
From 1903-15, Pearson enjoyed the property with his wife, Mabel Ward Pearson, whom he married Jan. 5, 1885, in Lowell, Massachusetts, when he was 25 and she was 23 years old. They had three children. One died at a young age. Early in 1915, their daughter Natalie married Reginald Nicholson, manager of the London Times. The following year son Frederick married Elizabeth Stoddard of Pennsylvania. The parents attended their daughter’s wedding but were not at their son’s wedding in May 1916.
On May 15, 1915, Frederick and Mabel were on the Lusitania when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sunk. Both were killed. When his estate was evaluated in August 1915, Pearson’s estimated $50,000,000 was gone. Investments in Mexico and South America were not wise; they depleted the estate. Executors were unable to distribute any of the bequests and legacies in the intended amounts. The children did not receive $4,000,000 each nor did the staff, churches or charities receive any of the amounts specified in the will. The New York house was sold, and the Great Barrington estate was put on the market.
Edgewood sat vacant for six years. In July 1921 the entire estate, including the main house with all the furnishings, was put on the auction block by D. Bradlee Rich & Co. of Boston. The house was described as a 20-room mansion. The main floor had an English oak-paneled living room and dining room, quarter oak-paneled den, lavatory, safe room, a 30-by-40-foot music room complete with 50-stop Aeolian pipe organ, and a grand hall and staircase reputedly a replica of one in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
At auction, farm and land were sold in parcels, but the house and its immediate grounds did not sell. In 1924, son Frederick A. Pearson incorporated the remaining property and attempted to operate it as the “Edgewood Vacation School, Inc.” In April 1926, Prentiss Loomis Coonley bought Edgewood and the center: 500 acres for $100,000. It was estimated that Pearson spent $1.25 million establishing his estate; the combined sales realized far less.
