An illustration by A.I. Keller from the 1901 edition of Amos Judd by John Ames Mitchell

Publisher, architect, artist, novelist, mystic, mystery: John Ames Mitchell (1844-1918) was a Renaissance man who kept to himself but influenced many. A Harvard educated architect who studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris Mr. Mitchell founded the original Life magazine in 1883. Much more like today's New Yorker than the Life of the later 20th Century, Mitchell's magazine discovered and encouraged many fine writers and artists at the turn of the 20th Century, such as Charles Dana Gibson, the illustrator who created the Gibson Girl. It covered the literary scene as well as political and social issues. He and Horace Greeley of The New York Herald Tribune founded the Fresh Air Fund, which for many years operated the Life Fresh Air camp for city kids on the site of today's Branchville School in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the town in which Mitchell also lived. cole des Beaux Arts refers to several art schools in France. ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... A cover of Life Magazine from 1911 Life has been the name of two notable magazines published in the United States. ... Charles Dana Gibson (September 14, 1867 _ December 23, 1944) was an American graphic artist, noted for his creation of one of the first pin-up girls, the Gibson Girl. Woman Jurors by Charles Dana Gibson, 1902 He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. ... A USPS stamp depicting a Gibson girl The Gibson Girl was the personification of the feminine ideal as portrayed in the satirical illustrated stories created by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson during the first 15 years of the twentieth century. ... Photographic portrait of Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811–November 29, 1872) was an American editor of a leading newspaper, a founder of the Republican party, reformer and politician. ... The New York Herald Tribune was a newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald. ... The Fresh Air Fund is a charity meant to help inner city children have fun in less urban environments. ... Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. ...

Mitchell penned a half dozen novels, the most famous of which, Amos Judd (1895), was made into the 1922 silent film, The Young Rajah, starring Rudolph Valentino. Life was purchased in 1936 by another Ridgefield resident, Henry Luce, who turned it into a picture-oriented magazine. The headquarters of Mitchell's Life is now The Herald Square Hotel in New York, a gift to Mitchell from Charles Dana Gibson in appreciation of the publisher’s having seen and developed his potential as an artist. The Young Rajah is a 1922 silent film starring Rudolph Valentino. ... Rudolph Valentino (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926) was an Italian actor. ... Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 - February 28, 1967) was an influential American publisher. ... Charles Dana Gibson (September 14, 1867 _ December 23, 1944) was an American graphic artist, noted for his creation of one of the first pin-up girls, the Gibson Girl. Woman Jurors by Charles Dana Gibson, 1902 He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. ...

Mitchell died in 1918 and is buried in Ridgefield Cemetery. Windover, his estate, was subdivided years ago, but the main house is still on West Lane. Its owner also operates The Herald Square Hotel, once Mitchell's Life headquarters.^[1]

Footnotes

1. ^ Notable Ridgefielders