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Albert Bond Lambert

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Albert Bond Lambert
Personal information
Born(1875-12-06)December 6, 1875
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DiedNovember 12, 1946(1946-11-12) (aged 70)
St. Louis, Missouri
Resting placeBellefontaine Cemetery
Alma materSmith Academy at Washington University in St. Louis
ChildrenGeorge Lea Lambert, Albert Bond Lambert Jr.
ParentJordan W. Lambert
Medal record
Men's Golf
Representing  United States
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1904 St. Louis Team

Albert Bond Lambert (December 6, 1875 – November 12, 1946) was an American businessman. He was the president of Lambert Pharmacal Company, marketer of Listerine, for over 25 years. He was also a keen amateur golfer and prominent St. Louis aviator and benefactor of aviation.[1]

Early life

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He was son of Jordan W. Lambert, founder of Lambert Pharmacal Company, which marketed Listerine. He initially studied at the University of Virginia and became president of the family business in 1896. He became chairman in 1923 and stepped down in 1926 when it was acquired by another firm.[2]

Golf

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In October 1900, Lambert competed in the golf competitions held as part of the Exposition Universelle in Paris. He finished eighth in the men's championship competition, later classified as part of the 1900 Summer Olympics, and won the handicap competition.[3][4]

Four years later he was part of the American team which won the silver medal, making Lambert the only golfer to have competed in both Olympic golf tournaments prior to the sport's long hiatus from 1908 to 2016. He finished 12th in this competition. In the individual competition he finished eighth in the qualification and was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the match play.

Aviation

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Lambert lifted by a kite at the Forest Park airfield, 1908

In 1906 he became interested in aviation and took ballooning lessons. In 1907 he was one of the founders of the Aero Club of St. Louis. (The Club used "military" titles; hence Lambert's title "Major.") He attended the Smith Academy at Washington University in St. Louis

In 1909, Lambert met the Wright Brothers, and purchased his first airplane from them. He took flying lessons from Orville Wright, and in 1911 became the first St. Louis resident to hold a pilot's license. During World War I, he served in the Aviation Section of the United States Army Signal Corps, as an instructor in ballooning and parachuting.

In 1926, a young Charles Lindbergh visited this home while looking for financial support for his proposed transatlantic flight. Lambert offered financial support to Lindbergh and encouraged others to do the same. In return for this financial support, Lindbergh's plane was named The Spirit of St. Louis. Furthermore, St. Louis' Lambert Airport was later named after Albert Bond Lambert.

In 1925, for $68,000, Lambert purchased Kinloch Field of Kinloch, Missouri, a 170-acre (0.69 km2) field northwest of St. Louis, which had been used for hot air balloon ascensions and the first international air meet.

Lambert, at his own expense, developed the field with runways and hangars. In 1927 he was one of the St. Louis committee of backers of Charles Lindbergh's purchasing of his airplane The Spirit of St. Louis for his epoch-making transatlantic solo trip to Paris. Lindbergh was at the time a resident of St. Louis as well as an airmail pilot flying the mail between St. Louis and Chicago. The following year, 1928, Lambert sold the field to the city of St. Louis for $68,000, the same price he had paid for it before making improvements. St. Louis Lambert International Airport thus became one of the first municipal airports in the nation.

Family

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Lambert was married to Myrtle McGrew, daughter of the George F. McGrews of St. Louis. They had a daughter, Myrtle and sons, Albert Bond Lambert Jr., Don L. Lambert[5] and George Lea Lambert. George, a pilot instructor, died in an airplane accident on July 29, 1929, in St. Louis, Missouri.[6]

Residence

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2 Hortense Place was the Lamberts' home in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Albert Bond Lambert House is a red-brick and symmetrical mansion which has a two-story portico with columns.[7] The nearly 12,000 square foot Neoclassical-style home was designed by noted architect George W. Hellmuth and was built between 1902 and 1903.[8] It has 6 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms.[9] Before construction, its cost was estimated to be $45,000 (equivalent to $1,584,692 in 2023).[10] This home was constructed just before the 1904 World's Fair. The King of Sweden also visited this house with the fireplace in the solarium apparently being a gift from the king.[11]

References

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  1. ^ "Albert Bond Lambert". Olympedia. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  2. ^ Christensen, Lawrence O. (1999). Dictionary of Missouri Biography. University of Missouri Press. p. 469. ISBN 0-8262-1222-0.
  3. ^ "Albert Bond Lambert, St. Louis Millionaire, A Golf Winner In France". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 4, 1900. p. 1. Retrieved February 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Concours internationaux d'exercices physiques et de sports (in French). 1901. pp. 77–79.
  5. ^ "Widow of Pioneer St. Louis Airman, Maj. Lambert, Dies". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. August 23, 1954. p. 3A – via newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "George Lambert, Passenger, Killed As Plane Crashes". Alton Evening Telegraph. Illinois. Associated Press. July 29, 1929. p. 1 – via newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Nini Harris (2018). This Used to Be St. Louis. St. Louis, MO: Reedy Press, LLC. pp. 41–42. 9781681061139.
  8. ^ "2 Hortense Place". Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  9. ^ "2 Hortense Place St Louis, MO 63108 — Hortense, St Louis City County". Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  10. ^ "Building Intelligence". The American Architect and Building News. November 8, 1902.
  11. ^ "2 Hortense Place, St Louis". October 16, 2019. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
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