Albert Winslow Nickerson was an American businessman.
Personal life
Nickerson was born on Perkins Street in Jamaica Plain on May 21, 1840 to Joseph Nickerson, a prosperous Boston businessman. He attended the Eliot School in Jamaica Plain and did not attend college. Later in his life, Joseph Nickerson became involved in several railroads and was the president of two. When the elder Nickerson died as one of the richest men in Boston, Albert Nickerson inherited several million dollars and was made a director of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Mexican Central Railway. He was married twice, and his second wife, a Miss Lindsay, survived him, as did five children, a brother and a sister. He was a vestryman at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Dedham. He was a close friend of president Grover Cleveland. His friendship with the president was a leading cause of Cleveland purchasing Gray Gables. Nickerson entertained him here and helped convince him to purchase the adjoining estate Grey Gables.
Career
After he inherited his father's stock in 1880, he joined the boards of both the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Mexican Central Railway and held them until his death. He was an accomplished businessman in his own right by this time, with an estimated $3 million in holdings. He invested in milling companies in Lawrence, Massachusetts, becoming president of Arlington Mills. Though he could be overbearing, he was known as a good friend to his employees. Nickerson was a business partner of Levi C. Wade. His net worth was rumored to be between $10 million and $20 million.
Homes
Dedham
Nickerson lived in Jamaica Plain until 1878 when he purchased the home of a failed Dedham lawyer, Edward S. Rand, near Connecticut Corner in Dedham. He soon became civically involved, running for selectman, and making charitable contributions to causes around town. Four years after moving to Dedham, he wanted to build a new house on the highest point of land along Common Street. To do so would require moving the street, which the Norfolk County Commission refused to do. Around the same time, the Dedham Board of Assessors dramatically increased his taxes to a level he felt was unfair. Partially as a result of these two setbacks, Nickerson sold the house to his brother George and he moved to an estate on Buzzards Bay in Marion, Massachusetts.
Marion
In Marion, Nickerson bought a large estate known as "Great Hill," with 40 rooms and seven square miles of forests and winding driveways. He undertook an extensive remodeling of the waterfront home, adding conservatories and stables, and redecorated it with expensive furnishings. It was here that he would host president Grover Cleveland and convinced him to purchase the nearby Grey Gables estate.
Riverdale
Nickerson quarreled with Marion officials over his taxes as well and, three years before his death, moved back to Dedham. There, he purchased Riverdale, an estate on the Charles River that was the childhood home of John Lothrop Motley. In 1886, he commission the architectural firm of Henry Hobson Richardson to build him a castle on the estate and hired Frederick Law Olmsted's firm to do the landscaping. It was constructed by Norcross Brothers. Olmsted determined the exact spot upon a hill for the home, laid out the roads on the property and changed the direction of the road rather than cut down a favored tree. Russell Sturgis called it "one of the best pieces existing of the peculiar Romanesque sculpture of semi-Byzantine character which Mr. Richardson’s work introduced to this community." The castle has a number of interesting architectural elements but its best known is its numerous secret passages and "legendary underground mazes and hallways." At Nickerson's request, Richardson also included a number of unusual features to add both protection and entertainment. Below the study was a wading pool, rifle range, and a dungeon. The escape routes and secret hiding places were presumably added because Nickerson was concerned that people "would try to murder him for his abundant wealth." It was built on top of a rocky hill "so that the Castle and the River appeared magically to carriages or cars arriving through the forested Pine Street entrance." The home cost $300,000 to build and $200,000 to furnish. While the mansion was being built, Nicekrson lived in a home on the property that once belonged to Joseph Guild.
Philanthropy
Nickerson was the wealthiest man in Dedham at the time of his death. He was a member of Dedham's St. Paul's Episcopal Church, but donated $10,000 towards the construction costs of St. Mary's Church, a Catholic church in Dedham. He had previously paid off the Catholic parish's $800 debt. This was welcome news, as the parish was bankrupt at the time. He also contributed $5,000 to the construction of the Dedham Public Library.
Death and legacy
Nickerson died on May 17, 1893 of a burst appendix. His funeral at St. Paul's Church attracted a large number of mourners, and special trains were run from Boston to accommodate them all. At his death, Nickerson's fortune was estimated at $10,000,000. The Panic of 1893 greatly reduced his fortune, and his family was forced to sell off his 60,000 shares in the Atchison railroad to hold onto their property. They also sold Great Hill. They attempted to hold onto Riverdale, but eventually Nickerson's widow sold the property and moved to Europe. The Noble and Greenough School purchased Riverdale on August 30, 1921, to use as their new campus.
