John Simmons (clothing manufacturer)

Simmons was a direct descendant of early Plymouth colonist, Moses Simonson.

[1] As a teenager, John Simmons traveled to Boston to join his elder brother, who had become a tailor.

[2] By the end of the American Civil War, he had become the country’s largest clothing manufacturer.

With the profits from his clothing business, he became a real estate investor and eventually owned much of the Financial District in Boston.

When Simmons died in 1870, his will provided for his estate to "found and endow an institution to be called Simmons Female College, for the purpose of teaching medicine, music, drawing, designing, telegraphy, and other branches of art, science, and industry best calculated to enable the scholars to acquire an independent livelihood.