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Edward Gardner Lewis (March 4, 1869 – August 10, 1950) was an American magazine publisher, land development promoter, and political activist. He was the founder of two planned communities that are now cities: University City, Missouri, and Atascadero, California. He created the American Woman's League (1907), a benefits fund for women who sold magazine subscriptions, as well as the American Woman's Republic (1911), a parallel organization designed to help women prepare themselves for a future in which they would have the right to vote. He also founded the People's University and its associated Art Academy in University City, as well as two daily newspapers and two banks.

Early history

Lewis was born in Connecticut in 1869. The school was most noted for its Art Academy, where such artists Adelaïde Alsop Robineau, Frederick Hurten Rhead, and Taxile Doat worked. Its director was Hungarian immigrant George Julian Zolnay, who was known as the "sculptor of the Confederacy".

Lewis also established two daily newspapers and two banks, one of which — the "People's Bank" — was shut down by Postmaster General George B. Cortelyou because it would have offered mail-order services in direct competition with U.S. postal money orders. The architectural centerpiece of the town was the city hall and museum, an Italian Renaissance–style building built of local-clay bricks that was damaged in the 2003 San Simeon earthquake.

Further reading

  • Morse, Sidney. The Siege of University City: The Dreyfus Case of America. University City Publishing Company, 1912.
  • Edward Gardner Lewis archive at Palos Verdes Library — guide
  • Photos of the People's University