Warren Antoine Cartier

Warren Antoine Cartier
Born	January 12, 1866 Manistee, Michigan, US
Died	November 7, 1934 (aged 68)
Resting place	Pere Marquette cemetery, Ludington, Michigan
Nationality	American
Education	Civil engineer from Notre Dame
Occupation	businessman, lumberman, general manager, secretary, treasurer, mayor, banker, manufacturer
Known for	developing Ludington, Michigan
Spouse(s)	Catherine (Kate) Dempsey
Children	three
Parent(s)	Antoine E. Cartier Eliza N. Ayers

Warren Antoine Cartier (January 12, 1866 – November 7, 1934) was a 19th-century northern Michigan businessman who helped establish Ludington, Michigan. He was twice elected mayor of the city and was the owner of several businesses, a banker, a lumber tycoon, a sawmill owner/operator, and a real estate investor. In civic life, he was involved with many societies and organizations.

Early life[]

Warren Antoine Cartier was the third child member of Antoine E. Cartier and his wife Eliza Ann of a family of nine children. He was born on January 12, 1866, in Manistee, Michigan. His family moved in 1878 to Ludington, Michigan, when he was twelve years old.^[1]

Cartier went to church schools as well as public schools for his initial education while he was growing up. From there at the age of 16, he attended a Varennes business college near Montreal for two years.^[2] He then enrolled at Indiana's University of Notre Dame in 1884 at the age of 18 and graduated in 1887 with a civil engineering degree.^[3]

Career[]

Cartier founded Ludington State Bank

In 1887, Cartier returned to Ludington after graduating from college. He then joined his father in the lumber business where he was gradually promoted to positions of higher responsibility and ultimately became general manager, secretary, and treasurer of Cartier Lumber Company.^[1]

Cartier also served as president of the Northern Michigan Transit Company, operating steamships on the Great Lakes.^[1] He also promoted nine banks and held the following positions in these various businesses:

• Cartier-Magmer Company – secretary and treasurer^[1]
• Star Watch Case Company – secretary^[1]
• State Bank of Ludington – vice-president^[4]
• Bank of Fountain, Mason County – vice–president^[1]
• Mason County Real Estate Company – vice–president^[1]
• Rath & Cartier – partner in a lumber company^[2]
• Ludington State Bank – founder^[1]
• Ludington Gas Company – founder^[5]
• United Home Telephone Company – founder^[2]
• Electric Tamper & Equipment Company – president^[2]

Kate Dempsey c1888

Personal life[]

Cartier married Catherine (Kate) Dempsey on May 22, 1888. They had a wedding reception party that involved many people and received wedding gifts including table linens, silver spoons, pearl-handled fruit knives, oyster forks, teapots, pickle castors, decorative vases, and poetry books.^[6] They had three children: Warren Ray, Morgan Edward and Vincent George.^[2]

Cartier was a devout Catholic who helped found the Catholic Church Extension Society, which aided under-resourced poor parishes and missions around the United States. Both he and his wife were communicants at the St. Simon Church of Ludington.^[7]

Cartier supported the Republican party, serving as secretary of the Mason County Republican committee for two years. He was the Ludington city mayor in 1899 and 1903. In 1908 he represented Michigan's 26th Congressional District as a Republican presidential elector. He served two years as the city recorder.^[1][3]

Notre Dame[]

Cartier served as president of the Notre Dame Alumni Association for 15 years. He played for the first Notre Dame football team. Some years later, during an enlargement project, the school's Athletic Association decided to build an enclosed field for varsity sports. Experiencing difficulties raising funds for the project, they sent a letter to Cartier in June 1899 requesting his help. He had a reputation of being "respected for his abilities and for his genial character." He responded by purchasing a 10-acre (40,000 m²) site and furnishing the lumber required for the fencing of an enclosed athletic field and grandstand and it was named the Cartier Field in his honor.^[8]

Associations[]

Elks Lodge (BPOE) of Ludington lodge #736

Cartier was connected with or a member of the Knights of Columbus, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE), Knights of the Maccabees, Royal Arcanum, and the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association (he was president of the state association of Michigan for nine years; also a member of the board of trustees).^[1] He was also recording secretary of the National Catholic Extension Society and past grand knight of the Pere Marquette council of the Knights of Columbus. He was knighted by Pope Pius XI to the Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1894^[2] and, in 1927, received this highest honor of the Catholic laity again.^[9]

Homes[]

Warren A. Cartier house, Ludington

Ludington home[]

Cartier and his wife's primary residence was at Ludington, Michigan. They received a Victorian style home from Cartier's parents when they were married, which was one that was fully furnished. The home was one door east of the Cartier seniors and had recently been remodeled and updated in 1999.^[10] Cartier built a home on the west side on Ludington Ave in 1906, a three-story neoclassical style mansion built of Roman pressed brick and trimmed with Bedford limestone. It had a steam heating system, a pulley-operated draft system to provide cooling, and both gas and electric chandeliers. The interior woodwork was mahogany, cherry, walnut, white maple, oak, and hickory.^[11] In 2021 it was a bed and breakfast lodge.^[12]

Fort Myers home[]

In winter the home the Cartiers' lived in at Poincians Park in Fort Myers, Florida is where they owned additional property.^[13][14] Neighbors of Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, they lived a block from Thomas Edison. Cartier recalled in a newspaper article on the date of Edison's death that he visited the Edisons often in the past while in Florida. He remembered Edison allowing his grandchild, Morgan Cartier Jr., to be photographed with him. Another picture was taken with the Edisons holding hands with the grandchild, who was only five years old. He recalled how these pictures were precious and would become family heirlooms.^[15]

Death[]

Cartier died at age 68 in Chicago on November 7, 1934. He had a kidney ailment two weeks earlier and was hospitalized, receiving two blood transfusions. He died suddenly of a heart attack while receiving medical attention for the kidney problem.^[4] Cartier is buried in the Pere Marquette cemetery at Ludington next to his wife.^[16]

Footnotes[]

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Warren Antoine Cartier.

• Powers, Perry F. (1912). A History of Northern Michigan. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. OCLC 10213013.