Charles Sumner Richardson (c. 1854 or 1855 – 1904) was the first president of South Dakota's normal school, Madison Normal, that later became Dakota State University.[1][2]

Charles S. Richardson
DiedJune 24, 1904
Alma materColby College
Harvard in chemistry and mineralogy
SpouseEdith May Adams
Parent(s)Susan M. B. Richardson
Isaac E.
RelativesCharles Francis Adams (Brother-In-Law)

Richardson was born to Issac E. and Susan M. B. Richardson about 1854[3] in Hartford, Maine,[4] where he grew up.[5] He attended the nearby Colby College in Waterville, Maine where he graduated in 1883;[1][5] whereupon he took the job of organizing the newly created Madison Normal School in South Dakota. He was president of the school from 1883 to 1887.[1] In 1884 he married Edith May Adams.[4] Richardson was succeeded as president by William F. Gorrie of Watertown, South Dakota, who assumed office in September 1887.[6]

After leaving Madison, Richardson took graduate course work at Harvard in chemistry and mineralogy, followed by accepting appointment at Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan where he briefly was a professor of mathematics and physics.[7] In 1891 he moved to Salt Lake City due to his interest in mining. He became involved with a number of mines in the Bingham Canyon mining district, notably the Old Jordan and South Galena mines.[7] In 1895, he moved to Anaconda, Montana where with a Mr. Olson, Richardson together with his brother-in-law, Charles Francis Adams,[8] ran a merchantile, supplying clothes and other dry goods to the miners. In 1899, he and his brother-in-law returned to Salt Lake City and opened the firm of Richardson & Adams. Richardson & Adams primarily ran an upscale clothing store (clothier) in downtown Salt Lake City,[7][9] but it still also held a number of mining claims.[10]

The Richardson Hall dorm at Dakota State was named after him in 1970.[11] He died on June 24, 1904, in Omaha, Nebraska,[11][7] and was buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery, in Salt Lake City, Utah.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Lowry, Vayne Arnold (1984). Forty Years at General Beadle (1922–1962). Madison, South Dakota: Dakota State University. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2016-12-15.
  2. ^ Olson, Bonnie (2007). Historical Calendar of Dakota State University (1881–2007). Madison, South Dakota: Dakota State University.
  3. ^ "Isaac E Richardson". United States Census, 1880.
  4. ^ a b "Charles S. Richardson". New Hampshire Marriages, 1720-1920.
  5. ^ a b Colby College (1881). Colby College Catalogue 1881 - 1882 (PDF). Colby College. p. 34. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2016.
  6. ^ Lowry 1984, p. 9
  7. ^ a b c d "Richardson of Richardson & Adams dies as a result of an operation". Salt Lake Herald. 25 June 1904.
  8. ^ "New Hampshire Necrology: Thomas A. Adams". Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine. Vol. 38. 1906. p. 487.
  9. ^ Utah State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1903-1904, Volume 2. p. 399.
  10. ^ "Dips, Spurs and Angles". The Salt Lake Mining Review. 11 (22): 34. 1910.
  11. ^ a b "DSU Archives: Professor Charles S. Richardson". Dakota State University. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016.
  12. ^ "Charles Sumner Richardson". Find a Grave.