Benjamin E. Bates

Benjamin E. Bates
Benjamin E. Bates
Born	Benjamin Edward Bates; July 12, 1808; Mansfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	January 14, 1878 (aged 69); Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Burial place	Mount Auburn Cemetery; Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupations	Rail industrialist, textile tycoon and philanthropist
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Sarah Chapman Gilbert
Children	Josephine; Benjamin Edward; Sarah; Lillian;
Parents	Hannah Copeland; Elkanah Bates;

Benjamin Edward Bates (/beɪtɛs/; July 12, 1808 – January 14, 1878) was an American rail industrialist, textile tycoon, and philanthropist prominent in New England. His financial support and patronage of the Maine State Seminary with Oren Burbank Cheney led to his namesake Bates College being established in Lewiston, Maine in 1855. The Bates Mill was a dominant economic driver of the city for over a century as industrialization swept the region.

Bates was born to a large family in Mansfield, Massachusetts. He moved to Boston to work as a clerk at the dry goods store owned by Barnabas T. Loring until Loring's death in 1835. With partners, he subsequently ran the Davis & Bates, and the Davis, Bates, & Turner firms until 1847. After entering the textile business, he created the Bates Manufacturing Company in Lewiston, building its first mill in 1850. His company quickly became one of the largest employers in Maine. Within the already-extant Lewiston Water Power Company, he oversaw the creation of the first canal waterway in the city.