David L. Cohen on Stephen Girard
"His was our nation's first fully-integrated vertical conglomerate - from land to raw materials, to transportation by land and then by sea, to finance"
Philadelphia millionaire Stephen Girard, dying childless in 1831, left his fortune to build Delaware Ave. and other public works - and especially to Girard College, the city-administered free school for orphans which still occupies the 40-acre walled compound Girard designed for it in North Philadelphia.