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.
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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"