Steele MacKaye

James Morrison Steele MacKaye (/məˈkaɪ/ mə-KY; June 6, 1842 – February 25, 1894) was an American playwright, actor, theater manager and inventor.

His father, Colonel James M. MacKaye, was a successful attorney and an ardent abolitionist; Steele's mother died when he was young.

[3] While young, Steele attended Roe's Military Academy in Cornwall-on-Hudson and the William Leverett Boarding School in Newport.

MacKaye would later model in full uniform for John Quincy Adams Ward's Seventh Regiment Memorial statue, which stands in Central Park.

As a dramatist, MacKaye is seen as representative of the transition from an older theatrical tradition to a newer one, incorporating realism and naturalistic portrayals.

He was also well known for his theatrical innovations, having invented a variety of devices including flame-proof curtains, folding theater seats[11] and the "Nebulator", a machine for creating clouds onstage.

[14] For the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, he began to construct a theatre capable of seating 10,000 people—the "Spectatorium"—but the Panic of 1893 deprived the project of necessary funds.

The train was near Timpas, Colorado on February 25 when MacKaye's health began to rapidly decline up until his death at 7:45 in the morning.