By Chris Whipple
Did you ever wonder how it would feel to experience one of The Great Gatsby’s parties? While this story was written in the 1920s, every young generation wants to experience a lavish party where one rubs elbows and interacts with the rich and famous. This fictional prose was set in New York City and, while it will never be believed in New York City or other east coast cities, it’s literally possible the Great Gatsby was based on Cleveland-area families and parties that occurred in the region during the period.
The recent Great Gatsby movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and the original F. Scott Fitzgerald book reminded Clevelanders of all the similarities between this fictional character and the Van Sweringen brothers. An earlier blog post — Mentor and Mistress — tells of these two extremely wealthy and powerful brothers sharing a love for a married woman named Daisy, just as Gatsby’s fictional love was named.
The similarities between the real life Van Sweringens and fictional Jay Gatsby are so numerous they needed to be examined more fully. From the evidence below it’s likely The Gatsby Character was based on Clevelanders and their lifestyles.
As a writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald was known to have based his stories on real people. The story Bernice Bobs her Hair was said to be written about a young woman from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. As F. Scott was from St. Paul, Minnesota, he may have heard stories about her and this is upon who he based this story. It’s therefore not too hard to fathom that Jay Gatsby and his love Daisy could have been based on real life Clevelanders.
The real Daisy’s maiden name was Louise Davidson and when the name Louise was quoted to a friend who knew Daisy, she simply stated “they didn’t know her.” Anyone who was a friend of Daisy knew her by that name. Mr. Fitzgerald may have given his leading lady the name Daisy for a reason. The name Daisy is not a common name today and searching database names from the 1920s it wasn’t even in the top 100 names during that period.
Daisy Davidson married Mr. Ben Jenks and shortly thereafter the two Jenks became close friends with two of the Van Sweringen brothers. The ‘Vans’ were beginning their careers in real estate and railroads. Daisy’s wisdom and drive helped her husband and the two ‘Vans’ begin to build a multi-billion dollar railroad and real estate empire. People who knew them said Daisy was the brains of the operation.
The Vans started with a single small railroad and quickly began expanding their enterprise. Using the stock market to raise capital they continued to purchase railroads and soon they were the largest railroad owners in the country. They had amassed great wealth and by some accounts had net worth of over $2 billion dollars in the 1920s, a massive fortune today but even bigger during the time.
This is similar to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s character in The Great Gatsby. Mr. Gatsby had started from humble beginnings (The Vans started out as paper boys) and amassed a great fortune. Also just as “Jimmy Gatz” had changed his name to Jay Gatsby, the Van Sweringen’s also changed their name. Originally their last name was Sweringen, and they added the “Van” early in their career. In both stories they were in love with a woman named Daisy.
By the 1920s, the Vans and the Jenks had moved to Hunting Valley on what is now known as “Daisy Hill.” The Jenks’ front door is directly across from the front door of the Van Sweringen home. In the book, Gatsby could see Daisy’s home across the way, just at the Vans could.
F. Scott wrote also of a light at the end the pier and that the light could be seen from Gatsby’s home. To this day there is a prominent light and light fixture on the Jenks’ home. Anyone driving anywhere near the home would see this prominent architectural feature and this may have been why it was written into the story. In the fictional story there was a waterway separating the two homes; in the real world there is half mile of open land between the two homes. Though not in the story, in the real world there is an underground tunnel between their two homes; it exists to this day.
It was said the Vans worshiped and idolized Daisy and were lifelong friends. The Vans at the time were known by all Clevelanders and used their money and influence over much of the Cleveland area. It was they who moved the private schools and many country clubs out of Cleveland into the suburbs. They also developed many area roads and railways which we still use today. If you have ever traveled to the Greenbrier in West Virginia, this was also created by the Van Sweringens. You can almost imagine the Great Gatsby walking through the Greenbrier’s opulent halls.
If you were in Cleveland or knew anything about Cleveland or railroads you certainly knew about the Van Sweringens. However as with most wealthy individuals, they were private and secretive about their activities. Few knew them personally and even fewer knew of their activities. This was a time of great wealth in Cleveland and they were at the top of the ladder, at least for a time.
Today it’s hard to imagine how well known, feared or cheered they were. A similar set of brothers exist today and they are the Koch brothers of New York. Imagine the Koch brothers living in Cleveland and this was the influence of the Van Sweringen’s. (For a detailed and thorough appreciation of their business and personal lives, please read Invisible Giants by Herbert Harwood. His title says it all.)
It might also be difficult to visualize Cleveland as an area for the rich and famous, however the 1880 US government census showed there were more millionaires living in the Cleveland area than any place else in the United States. This was true all the way through the 1920s.
To understand the wealth in Cleveland at the time anyone who remembers watching Gilligan’s Island and seeing Thurston Howell III the millionaire can appreciated how Clevelanders lived and behaved during this period. Jim Backus who played ‘the millionaire’ was originally from a wealthy Cleveland area and has told reporters that many of his lines from Gilligan’s Island were simply lines he heard from his father and his father’s friends. Mr. Backus was born in 1913 and would have been a young boy in the 1920s. His role as Gilligan’s Island millionaire was developed during his time growing up in Cleveland.
There was another well known Clevelander who is central to this story. His name is Leonard Hanna and Leonard was heir to the great Hanna mining fortune and was a strong supporter of the arts. In his support of the arts it is said he knew F. Scott and may have invited him to parties at his home. Mr. L. Hanna was said to have large, noisy parties with many influential individuals attending. It’s not hard to imagine the writer writing these parties into his book. He may have also been introduced to the Vans.
There is connection between the Vans and Mr. Hanna which needs to be mentioned. Mr. Hanna was known to live an alternative lifestyle which at the time was rare and hardly mentioned in public. The Vans also lived in the same bedroom their whole life and by some accounts the same bed. While they shared a love for Daisy they may too have had alternative lifestyles. This certainly would create a connection between the Vans and Mr. Hanna as their wealth and lifestyle would have certainly put them in contact with each other. Mr. Fitzgerald meeting them is almost a certainty.
Even today, it’s not unusual for married men to have a mistress or even a married mistress. It certainly is not worth writing a book about it. However two powerful extremely wealthy, rags-to-riches individuals in love with a woman named Daisy — this is a different story. Hearing a real life story such as this is something most writers can only dream about. While in the 1920s and even today it would be hard to believe or write about two brothers in love with the same married woman, a story could certainly be written about one rags-to-riches individual in love with a woman named Daisy.
There is another story in the Great Gatsby which ties the origins of the book with the Cleveland area elite. In one edition of the book, it is written about how ‘rich are different than the rest of us’ and an example is given of two wealthy cousins marrying each other. This may have happened in New York and in other cities, however in at least one situation it happened here in Cleveland. They may have been in love, however, these Clevelanders’ wedding occurred to help preserve the family fortunes. I remember my aristocratic friend who told me this, saying “they had to get permission from the bishop first.”
As discussed, the Great Gatsby and the Vans were in love with a woman named Daisy. In addition they each began in humble and meager circumstances. They each changed their names. However further research is needed to cement this story.
Any photographic evidence of Scott Fitzgerald’s trips to Cleveland and possibly attending parties at the Hanna’s would be great. If there is a possible photograph of The Vans with F. Scott, this would almost cement the connection between the book and these Clevelanders. Let’s hope one day photographic or at least written accounts of the 3 or 4 (including Daisy) of them meeting can be found.
While F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a wonderful ending to The Great Gatsby, not even he could foresee the ending to the Vans Sweringens and their fortunes. The roaring and profitable 1920s came to an abrupt end in 1929 with the stock market crash. The Van’s fortune had been made by selling more and more stock in their railroad ventures. Not quite a Ponzi scheme, but close.
The stock market crash punished their holdings considerably and it literally killed them. Mantis James Van Sweringen passed away of ill health in December 1934 and his older brother Oris Paxton Van Sweringen met a similar fate to Jay Gatsby in November 1936. They both passed away too young and as others have written, their work was unfinished.
[Pictured, top to bottom: Daisy Jenks, Van Sweringen brothers, Daisy’s house]
Christopher Whipple has a long interest in the Cleveland area as his family has lived in the area since 1830’s. The stories he has heard from various family members helps him appreciate how great an area we live in and he is constantly pained when people speak poorly of this wonderful region. For this reason he began writing on the positive aspects of Cleveland. Christopher has a masters degree in Economics, and works as a marketing manager full time. Chris has many pursuits and is active in politics, exercise (he runs marathons), Cleveland history, the Civil War and his son’s education.