John McDougal Atherton
John McDougal Atherton (April 1, 1841 – June 5, 1932) was an American businessman,[1] property developer, economist,[2] investor and politician based in Louisville, Kentucky.
[5] He was born in LaRue County, Kentucky, on April 1, 1841,[6] the son of Peter Atherton and Elizabeth Mayfield (1808–1885).
His stepfather, Marshall Key was his first business partner and they engaged in making sweet mash whisky for the next 8 years.
Cochran & Fulton, a wholesale liquor dealers from Louisville purchased his stepfathers interests in the Atherton distillery in 1875.
[11] His portfolio of whiskey brands included: “Atherton” (from 1867), “Mayfield” (from 1869), “Windsor“, “Clifton“ and “Howard”, “Carter” and “Kenwood”, “Brownfield” and “Baker”.
[14] At the age of 41, in 1882 he had acquired a total of four distilleries within LaRue County, which combined, made him the biggest Bourbon producer in the United States.
[18] His son Peter Lee Atherton (1862–1939) entered the family business in 1883, although legally he had been company Vice President two years prior at the age of 18.
[22][23] The whiskey scandal continued for the following decade with Atherton testifying to a congressional committee headed by William Windom on July 27, 1888.
[24][25][26] During his testimony Henry Smith, representative for Wisconsin asked whether the cheep rectifier whiskeys made by large scale mid-Western manufacturers had any redeeming qualities.
[29] Anti-alcohol fervor ran strong and dry forces successfully promoted Prohibition as a solution for many societal ills.
The Bottled in bond act also had implications, when brands like Old Forester, owned by George Garvin Brown who previously blended bourbon sourced from Atherton's distilleries, as well as other neighboring distilleries like Mattingly and Mellwood, abided by the law and began bottling in bond.
[31] Ultimately the never-ending campaign by the dry forces movement was a factor when he made a business decision in 1899 to dispense of his controlling stock in the J M Atherton Company.
[35] He witnessed first hand the momentum of the Temperance movement gathering pace leading up to Prohibition; the immediate loss of jobs and the impact on the local economy.
Agents raided the prestigious Pendennis Club, of which he was a founding member, confiscating large amounts of alcohol.
[37] A few years earlier he had built his own depot and connected the line from New Haven, KY with a Louisville & Nashville railroad spur.
However, when his son died less than seven years after his own death, a taxation question arose,[40] and some cases, particular the ownership of the Atherton Building, which housed the H.P.
[42] He was an active participant in Kentucky's agenda build up the commonwealth's overland transportation links, in order for the region to prosper, and compete with neighboring states.
His views expressed in an interview with The Mexican Herald provide an insight into his political position on external current affairs at the turn of a new century, and he can be described as an Anglophile.
However, his overview of the politically chaotic climate over the preceding five-year period in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which culminated with the assassination of State Governor William Goebel of German heritage is more notable, since the deceased had been campaigning for populist causes such as railroad regulation, whilst Atherton was one of the board of directors of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad company.
In respect of Goebel's displeasure with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the governor's body was transported not by the L&N direct line.
His son, Peter Lee Atherton, continued his legacy, initially as a distiller; subsequently as a Louisville businessman, as well as a state legislator.
Atherton was chairman of the City Government Committee, which studied municipal reform and was a member of the Louisville Board of Education in 1884.
In 1905, John McDougal Atherton moved to 2542 Ransdell Avenue in the fashionable Cherokee Triangle area of Louisville.
John M. Atherton (1918–1942),[52][53] a Line Officer on board USS Meredith (DD-434), torpedoed and sunk during the Asiatic-Pacific Theater of World War II on October 25, 1942.
By the time Kentucky firmly established statehood over this area, Aaron and his son, Peter Lee Atherton (1771–1844)[57] had been operating a small log distillery on the western banks of Rolling Fork River at Knob Creek for over thirty years, since around 1790, making them one of the first whiskey pioneers of Kentucky.
