Everything about John Mcshain totally explained
John McShain (
December 21 1898 -
September 9 1989) was a highy successful
American building contractor known as "The Man Who Built Washington."
Born in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania the son of
Irish immigrants, John McShain graduated from
La Salle University in 1917. His father founded a successful construction company, which he was forced to take over at age twenty-one, when his father died in 1919. Under his management, the company became one of the leading builders in the United States. From the 1930s to the 1960s, McShain's company worked on more than one hundred buildings in the
Washington, D.C. area. Most notably, the company built or was the prime contractor for a number of landmark structures in the including
The Pentagon, the
Jefferson Memorial, the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the
Library of Congress annex,
Washington National Airport, and the 1950-51 reconstruction of the
White House. Of his many construction projects, McShain also built the
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library at
Hyde Park, New York.
McShain acquired the
Barclay Hotel on Philadelphia's
Rittenhouse Square and become part owner of the "Skyscraper By The Sea", the 400-room Claridge Hotel in
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Ireland
In 1927 John McShain married Mary J. Horstmann (1907-1998). Over the years, the McShains began visiting Ireland and in the late 1950s acquired the Killarney Estate in
Killarney in
County Kerry. McShain owned
Killarney House and eventually spent a great deal of time there. In 1973, they gifted
Innisfallen Island and the ruins of its historic abbey to the government of Ireland. In 1979, he turned over the entire state for a nominal sum on the understanding that he and his wife would retain a life tenancy of the home. As part of the agreement, the property was to be merged into
Killarney National Park in perpetuity.
Thoroughbred racing
In 1952 John McShain established Barclay Stable in the United States and in 1955 expanded its operations to Ireland. Based in
New Jersey, his racing stable met with reasonable success at
New York State tracks and
Monmouth Park in
New Jersey, notably with
Turbo Jet II. However, his greatest racing success came in
Europe where in 1958 he was the
British flat racing Champion Owner. McShain's colt
Ballymoss won numerous prestigious races including Ireland's
Irish Derby Stakes, England's
St. Leger Stakes and France's
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Ballymoss was voted 1958
European Horse of the Year honors and in 1981 the
Republic of Ireland honored him with his image on a
postage stamp. McShain also owned the
filly Gladness who had victories in the
Goodwood Cup and the
Ascot Gold Cup.
A devout
Roman Catholic, John McShain was a major benefactor to
Wheeling Jesuit University. In 2000, the newly-constructed admissions center was dedicated to the memory of him and his wife. McShain served on the
Board of Directors of a number of major American corporations and educational institutions including
St. Joseph's University,
Catholic University, and
Georgetown University. John also attended
St. Joseph's Preparatory School, an urban Jesuit high school in North Philadelphia.
McShain retired in 1976 and died at Killarney House in 1989. His wife lived there until her death in 1998. They are buried together in Philadelphia and commemorated with medallions at the
Cathedral-Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul. Their only child became a Roman Catholic
nun. Through the John McShain Charities, Sister Pauline McShain continued her parents' tradition of financial support for various Catholic organizations such as the
Neumann College scholarship program.
Further Information
Get more info on 'John Mcshain'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://john_mcshain.totallyexplained.com">John McShain Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
