The Frauenthal Legacy

Max Frauenthal (1836–1914)

The Father of Heber Springs & Cleburne County

Max Frauenthal (also Frankenthal, or Fronthall) was born November 11, 1836 in Marienthal, a village in what was then Rhenish Bavaria (today part of the Donnersbergkreis district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany). His grandfather, known simply as Meyer, adopted the surname "Frauenthal" — taken from a town south of Vienna, Austria — in the early 19th century when the Napoleonic Code swept across Europe and required Jews to adopt permanent surnames. It was a name that would echo across American history for the next two centuries.

Early Life

Max's family emigrated to the United States when he was 15 years old, part of the great wave of German-Jewish immigration that brought hundreds of thousands of Central European Jews to America in the mid-19th century. The family moved restlessly at first — short stints in New York City, Texas, and Louisiana — before eventually settling in Brookhaven, Mississippi, a small town in Lincoln County in the piney woods of southern Mississippi. It was there, in the antebellum South, that the young Bavarian immigrant would put down his first American roots.

The Soldier

When the Civil War erupted in 1861, Frauenthal enlisted in the Confederate States Army as a private in Company A of the 16th Mississippi Infantry Regiment at Summit, Mississippi. He was one of approximately 1,500 Jewish volunteers who served in the Confederate Army — a little-known chapter of American Jewish history. Although officially enrolled as an army drummer, Frauenthal often picked up his musket and fought alongside the infantry in the thick of battle.

The 16th Mississippi saw action across some of the bloodiest theaters of the war, but nothing would compare to what happened on May 12, 1864. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia was part of Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign — the relentless Union push toward Richmond that would ultimately end the war. On that day, at a salient in the Confederate lines known as the "Mule Shoe", Union forces launched a massive assault at dawn. The fighting at the apex of the salient — a spot that would forever be known as the "Bloody Acute Angle" — became one of the most savage episodes of close combat in the entire Civil War. For nearly twenty hours, soldiers fought hand-to-hand in rain and mud, sometimes across the same breastworks, bayoneting and clubbing each other at point-blank range. An oak tree behind the Confederate lines was literally cut down by the volume of musket fire.

It was here, in this hellscape, that Max Frauenthal became a legend. For several hours, surrounded by Union soldiers pouring over the earthworks, Frauenthal stood his ground amid the "most terrific hail of lead, and coolly and deliberately loaded and fired without cringing." He was a small man — witnesses described him as "little" and "insignificant in appearance" — but his courage was titanic.

Frauenthal's bravery made a lasting impression. Almost 30 years after the battle, in an 1893 letter, Private A. T. Watts (by then a judge in Dallas) wrote:

The phrase "a regular Fronthall" was used to refer to the bravest soldiers in the 16th Regiment. Brought home by the veterans from Texas, it is still in use in the area around Galveston.

The Merchant

After the war, Frauenthal returned to civilian life. In 1869, he married Sallie Jacobs, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, in Louisville, Kentucky. (Some sources give the location as Louisville, Mississippi — a discrepancy that remains unresolved in the historical record.) Together they would have thirteen children, of whom six survived to adulthood — a heartbreaking but not uncommon ratio in 19th-century America.

In 1871, Frauenthal moved to Conway Station, a raw new railroad town in Faulkner County, Arkansas, that had sprung up along the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railway. He arrived with a railroad construction crew and saw opportunity. In 1872, he opened the town's second store.

What happened next reveals the commercial instinct that would define the Frauenthal legacy for generations. Rather than locate his store on the town square — the obvious, conventional choice — Max placed it on the alley where he noticed farmers would park their wagons. It was a stroke of genius: the shoppers visited his store first, before they ever reached the square. His store became the most successful in town. Other retailers took notice and followed him to the alley, and the entire commercial center of Conway shifted from the square to what would later become Front Street. Max Frauenthal didn't just open a store; he moved the center of gravity of an entire town.

In 1875, Frauenthal was among the 30 petitioners who successfully incorporated "Conway" as a town, dropping "Station" from its name. Three years later, in 1878, a devastating fire swept through Front Street. While others hesitated, Frauenthal was the first to rebuild. In 1879, he erected Conway's first brick building — a structure that included the town's first plate glass window, a marvel of modernity on the Arkansas frontier. He brought in his cousins Jo Frauenthal from Louisville, Kentucky and Leo Schwarz from Germany to help run the business. Max eventually sold his interest to his cousins, and the store operated as Frauenthal and Schwarz for an astonishing eighty years, from 1872 to 1952. The building at 824 Front Street, redesigned in 1925 by architects Sanders & Ginocchio in the Chicago Commercial Style, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

The Town Builder

Max Frauenthal's greatest legacy was yet to come. In 1881, he purchased a large tract of land in Van Buren County from John T. Jones. The land contained something remarkable: a cluster of natural healing springs that had been known to the region's inhabitants for generations. Frauenthal saw not just springs, but a town.

He formed the Sugar Loaf Springs Company, surveyed and platted a town site, and on October 4, 1882, the town was officially incorporated as "Sugar Loaf". But Frauenthal's ambitions went far beyond founding a village. He wanted to create an entire county.

Working with fellow Confederate veterans, Frauenthal lobbied the Arkansas legislature to carve a new county from parts of Van Buren, White, and Independence counties. In 1883, the legislature agreed. Frauenthal and his allies chose the name Cleburne County to honor Major General Patrick R. Cleburne, the Irish-born Confederate officer known as the "Stonewall of the West," who had been killed at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864. It was a fitting tribute from one Civil War veteran to another.

To ensure that Sugar Loaf would become the county seat of the new Cleburne County, Frauenthal made a series of donations that effectively built the town's civic infrastructure from scratch:

• He donated land for the courthouse square
• He built a frame courthouse on the donated land — at his own expense
• He donated the land for Spring Park, the town's centerpiece

It worked. Sugar Loaf became the county seat, and Frauenthal had accomplished something almost unheard of in American history: a single individual had founded a town, created a county, built its courthouse, and donated its public park.

In 1910, Sugar Loaf's name was changed to Heber Springs to avoid confusion with another Arkansas town that already had a post office named Sugar Loaf. Frauenthal himself chose the new name, honoring Dr. Heber Jones, the son of original landowner John T. Jones. Dr. Jones was a prominent physician in Memphis, Tennessee, where Frauenthal had since moved. Some hold that the name "Heber" is also reminiscent of the Hebrew word meaning "Pleasant" — a quiet nod to the Jewish heritage that Max had carried from Bavaria to the battlefields of Virginia to the springs of Arkansas.

Spring Park, which Frauenthal donated to the town, contains seven natural mineral springs: Red Sulfur, White Sulfur, Black Sulfur, Magnesia, Iron, Arsenic, and "Eye Water" — the healing waters that had drawn Frauenthal to the land in the first place.

Frauenthal died on March 8, 1914, in McGehee, Desha County, Arkansas, and is buried at Temple Israel Cemetery in Memphis.

Max's Children and Descendants

Of Max and Sallie's thirteen children, six survived to adulthood and spread across Arkansas, Tennessee, and beyond:

The Extended Frauenthal Dynasty in Arkansas

Max's cousins Jo Frauenthal (from Louisville, Kentucky) and Leo Schwarz (from Germany) took over the store, which operated as Frauenthal and Schwarz at 824 Front Street, Conway until 1952 — eighty years of continuous operation. The building was redesigned in 1925 by architects Sanders & Ginocchio in the Chicago Commercial Style and is on the National Register of Historic Places (listed 1992). A separate, older 1879 Max Frauenthal Building at 904 Front Street — a two-story Italianate structure — is the oldest remaining building in the Conway Commercial Historic District.

Jo married Ida Baridon Frauenthal (1868–1947), a niece of Conway founder Asa P. Robinson. Ida became president of the Arkansas Federation of Women's Clubs and served on the Arkansas Defense Board. Baridon Hall at the University of Central Arkansas and Baridon Street in Conway are named in her honor.

Jo's father Jacob Frauenthal (from Bavaria, emigrated 1850) settled in Louisville, Kentucky before moving to Conway. Jacob's son Samuel Frauenthal (1862–1935) became the first Jewish justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court, appointed in 1909 — yet another Frauenthal who made history.

Four Frauenthal Properties on the National Register

Dr. Henry Frauenthal (1862–1927)

Titanic Survivor • Pioneer of Orthopedic Surgery

Dr. Henry William Frauenthal was born around 1862 into the extended Frauenthal family. He became a prominent American physician, a pioneer of orthopedic surgery, and the founder of the Jewish Hospital for Deformities and Joint Diseases in New York City — an institution that would grow into one of the most important orthopedic centers in the world, now known as the Hospital for Joint Diseases and part of the NYU Langone Health system.

The Surgeon

Henry established himself as one of New York's most respected orthopedic surgeons at a time when orthopedic surgery was still emerging as a recognized medical specialty. The hospital he founded around 1905 was dedicated specifically to treating joint diseases and skeletal deformities — a revolutionary focus that brought relief to thousands of patients who had previously had nowhere to turn. His work helped establish orthopedics as a serious surgical discipline in the United States, and the institution he created has now been serving patients continuously for over a century.

During the Titanic voyage itself, Henry's medical skills had already been called upon before the sinking. He treated fellow first-class passenger Mrs. Harris, who had fractured her arm in a fall on the ship's famous Grand Staircase. It was a prelude to the far more desperate medical work he would perform in the hours to come.

Three Frauenthals on the Titanic

While Barney Frauenthal was busy managing the bustle of Union Station in St. Louis, three of his close relatives boarded the world's most famous ocean liner for its ill-fated maiden voyage in April 1912: Dr. Henry William Frauenthal, his new bride Clara Heinsheimer, and his brother Isaac Gerald Frauenthal, a New York lawyer.

On March 26, 1912, Henry married Clara in Nice, France. The three Frauenthals traveled in First Class, boarding the RMS Titanic at Cherbourg on April 10, 1912.

The Premonition

In an eerie twist of fate, Isaac Frauenthal reportedly had a vivid nightmare before boarding. He dreamed the "unsinkable" ship was sinking. He was so unsettled that he shared the dream with Henry and Clara, but like many others, they dismissed it as pre-travel nerves. After all, they were on the most advanced vessel ever built.

The Night of April 14, 1912

At 11:40 PM on April 14, 1912, four days into the maiden voyage, lookout Frederick Fleet spotted an iceberg dead ahead in the frigid North Atlantic. The Titanic struck it along the starboard side, rupturing five of its sixteen watertight compartments. The ship was designed to survive with four compartments flooded. Five was a death sentence.

While many first-class passengers were told to return to their staterooms — that the ship was unsinkable, that this was merely a precaution — the Frauenthals were among the few who took the danger seriously from the beginning. Isaac's nightmare almost certainly kept him on edge. While others lingered in the lounges or refused to put on life jackets, the three Frauenthals made their way to the boat deck.

They were directed to Lifeboat No. 5, launched from the starboard side at approximately 12:43 AM — barely an hour after the collision and one of the very first lifeboats to leave the ship. Because it launched so early, before most passengers understood the severity of the situation, the boat was not even at full capacity. It carried approximately 36 people in a boat designed for 65. The Titanic would sink at 2:20 AM, less than two hours later, taking more than 1,500 souls with it.

The Leap

As Lifeboat 5 was being lowered, Dr. Henry — a large man weighing about 250 pounds — jumped into the boat from a higher deck. He landed on another passenger, Annie May Stengel, unintentionally breaking several of her ribs. Despite the chaos, his medical training was immediately put to use.

All three Frauenthals survived and were rescued by the RMS Carpathia. On board, Henry helped treat fellow survivors suffering from shock and exposure.

Parallel Lives in 1912

It is fascinating to think about the parallel lives of the Frauenthals in that fateful year:

• Max Frauenthal, the Civil War hero, was living out his final years in Arkansas, having built a town and a mercantile legacy.
• Barney Frauenthal was at the height of his career in St. Louis, ensuring thousands of people navigated the railroads safely.
• Dr. Henry and Isaac were literally jumping for their lives in the middle of the Atlantic.

Later Life

Dr. Henry continued his medical practice and hospital work in New York for fifteen more years. Tragically, on March 11, 1927, suffering from illness and depression, Henry took his own life at the age of 64. Isaac continued his law practice in New York until his death in 1932.

Their survival ensured that this particular branch of the family continued, eventually leading to Barney Ebsworth, who, ironically, spent his life building the very thing that almost claimed his relatives: grand, luxurious ships.

Henry's hospital — the Hospital for Joint Diseases — continues as a world-renowned orthopedic center within NYU Langone Health, more than a century after he founded it.

Video: Isaac's Premonition

One Passenger's Warning Before the Titanic Disaster — This video details Isaac Frauenthal's chilling premonition and the family's experience during the sinking of the Titanic.

Barney A. Ebsworth (1934–2018)

A Life Defined by Vision and Quality

Bernard Alec "Barney" Ebsworth was more than a successful entrepreneur; he was a man of immense curiosity who spent his life building things that lasted — whether they were world-class cruise ships, iconic businesses, or one of the most significant private collections of American art in history. When Barney died in 2018, the combined value of his art collection, his Hunts Point estate, and his business legacy exceeded $400 million. He had started with nothing — the son of modest parents living on "one and a half paychecks" — and built an empire of beauty.

Origins: A British Father and an American Mother

Barney was born alongside his twin sister Muriel on July 14, 1934 in St. Louis. His father, Alec Ebsworth, was British — Alec had grown up at Buckingham Palace, where his grandfather was commander of the Grenadier Guards. His mother, Bernice Ebsworth, was American. The family was modest — described as living on "one and a half paychecks" — but young Barney grew up playing cricket (very unusual for an American boy) and dreaming big.

The Early Years: Eagle Scout to the Louvre

Barney achieved the rank of Eagle Scout at the same time as his father and excelled as a track athlete at Cleveland High School in St. Louis, where he was a standout quarter-miler. Ten years older than his cousin Paul Terry Walhus, Barney became a mentor to the younger boy. Paul, running at Bayless High in Affton, was also a gifted quarter-miler — finishing 2nd in his conference, behind only Wayne Hermann of Clayton High. The two cousins were close friends growing up in St. Louis, and Barney — the older, more experienced runner — pushed Paul to be faster, tougher, and more disciplined on the track. It was a bond forged in shared sweat and competitive fire that would last a lifetime.

Barney's speed earned him an athletic scholarship as a sprinter to the University of Missouri, and he later transferred on an academic scholarship to Washington University in St. Louis as a business major.

It was his service in the U.S. Army during the 1950s that changed everything. Stationed in France, he spent his weekends at the Louvre, teaching himself art history by simply looking.

Martine

On New Year's Eve 1956, at a USO party in France, Barney began dancing with Martine de Visme, a 19-year-old French girl, at the stroke of midnight. They married in March 1958 in France. He brought his bride home to St. Louis, where they had their only child, Christiane.

The Builder: Ships and Dreams

Upon returning to the U.S., Barney channeled his energy into the travel industry. He wasn't just a businessman; he was a pioneer of the "luxury experience." He founded INTRAV and later the Royal Cruise Line (1972) and Clipper Cruise Line (1981).

Under his leadership, ships like the M/S Golden Odyssey and the M/S Crown Odyssey were built, redefining what it meant to travel the world by sea. His entrepreneurial spirit didn't stop at the shoreline; he was also the angel investor who provided the initial funding for the Build-A-Bear Workshop, helping turn a simple idea into a global phenomenon.

The Collector: "Quality, Quality, Quality"

While he was building fleets of ships, Barney was also quietly assembling a "fleet" of masterpieces. He applied a rigorous philosophy to his collecting:

Barney made a brilliant strategic decision that separated him from every other collector of his generation. He recognized that his millionaire's budget couldn't compete with the billionaires — the Gettys, the Broads, the Lauders — who were vacuuming up European masterworks. Instead, he would focus exclusively on American Modernism and build not the biggest collection, but the best. He would own the single finest example of each artist's work, and nothing less.

He was entirely self-taught. He had no art history degree, no curatorial training. What he had was the eye he'd developed at the Louvre and an almost obsessive commitment to quality. He spent decades acquiring over 85 masterworks spanning the 20th century — from the Ashcan School through Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. He didn't just buy paintings; he befriended the artists. Georgia O'Keeffe was a personal friend. Wayne Thiebaud became a close companion. He served as trustee for the world's most prestigious art institutions.

A 2017 oral history interview conducted by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art and the Frick Art Reference Library captured Barney's philosophy and life story in his own words, preserving it for future generations of collectors and historians.

Edward Hopper's Chop Suey (1929)

The crown jewel of the Ebsworth Collection was Edward Hopper's Chop Suey (1929) — a luminous scene of two women at a table in a Chinese restaurant, bathed in pale winter light. It is considered one of the greatest American paintings of the 20th century. At Christie's in November 2018, it sold for $91,875,000 — a record for any pre-war American artwork and the most expensive Hopper ever sold.

View Chop Suey on Wikipedia • View on WikiArt

The Complete Christie's Auction — November 13–14, 2018

Under the title "An American Place: The Barney A. Ebsworth Collection", the two-day sale brought $323.1 million, set 13 artist auction records, and was the first auction recorded using blockchain technology.

Evening Sale Highlights — November 13, 2018

Day Sale Highlights — November 14, 2018

Previously Sold or Gifted Works

Artists Represented in the Collection

George Ault, Peter Blume, Charles Burchfield, Alexander Calder, Francis Criss, Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Willem de Kooning, Arthur Dove, Suzy Frelinghuysen, William Glackens, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, Morris Graves, O. Louis Guglielmi, Marsden Hartley, David Hockney, Edward Hopper, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Franz Kline, Gaston Lachaise, John Marin, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell, Alice Neel, Georgia O'Keeffe, Claes Oldenburg, Jaume Plensa, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Charles Sheeler, David Smith, Leon Polk Smith, Pat Steir, Joseph Stella, John Storrs, Wayne Thiebaud, Bob Thompson, Andy Warhol, and others.

Museum Leadership

Barney didn't just collect art — he shaped how Americans experience it:

• Trustee, St. Louis Art Museum
• Trustee, Seattle Art Museum
• Commissioner, Smithsonian American Art Museum
• Commissioner, Smithsonian Institution
• Member, Trustees Council and Co-Chairman, Collectors Committee, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

The Tadao Ando Chapel That Never Was

In one of the most extraordinary acts of art patronage, Barney sold Warhol's Big Campbell's Soup Can in 2010 for $23.8 million specifically to finance the construction of a chapel designed by legendary Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The triangular-shaped design featured glassed-in walls cantilevered over a reflecting pool — a place of meditation and spiritual reflection in honor of the Ebsworth Family, with an estimated cost of $10 to $20 million.

Barney, who had moved from St. Louis to Hunts Point, WA in 2000, hoped to provide a significant piece of architecture for the Puget Sound region. But the chapel was never built. Community opposition blocked construction first in the Bridle Trails neighborhood of Bellevue, WA, where residents objected to the project. It was then relocated to a site near Interlaken Park in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, but residents there also objected, dismissing the project as a "vanity temple."

The chapel remained unbuilt. Design models and perspective drawings survive at the Art Institute of Chicago. It remains one of art history's great what-ifs: Barney traded one masterpiece to create another, but the world wouldn't let him.

Chapel project details courtesy of Ally Whiteneck. Source: Pacific Coast Architecture Database.

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Personal Friendship

Barney's connection to Georgia O'Keeffe went far beyond collecting her work. When he married his second wife, Patricia Ann "Trish" Kloepfer, in approximately 1981, O'Keeffe herself served as the witness at their wedding, held at O'Keeffe's home in Abiquiu, New Mexico. He served on the O'Keeffe Museum board and collected her work extensively.

The Hunts Point Estate

In his later years, Barney moved to Seattle, where he commissioned architect Jim Olson of Olson Kundig to design a home at 4053 Hunts Point Road on the shores of Lake Washington. Completed in 2003-2004 at a cost of approximately $20 million, the 9,400-square-foot residence sat on 3.27 acres with 300 feet of waterfront and a 2,200-square-foot dock accommodating boats and seaplanes. The house was designed specifically around his art collection — Olson described it as "both about nature and about art, a backdrop for both."

After Barney's death, the estate was listed for $45 million and sold in April 2019 for $37.5 million — then a record for the most expensive home sale in the Seattle area. The buyer was later revealed to be Jeff Bezos.

Daughter: Christiane Ebsworth Ladd

Barney's only child, Christiane, from his marriage to Martine, married Mark J. Ladd in Chicago. Together they built a stunning 10,400-square-foot home at 54 East Scott Street in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood — the first LEED Gold certified single-family home in Illinois, featuring geothermal heating, a rooftop rain collector, and a five-car garage. The home won a Historic Preservation Award for New Construction. It was listed in 2021 for $10.2 million and sold in 2023 for $6.5 million.

Christiane served as sole executor of her father's estate and made the controversial decision to auction the collection at Christie's rather than honor the 65 works Barney had previously promised to the Seattle Art Museum. Barney had reportedly told Christiane he was giving her two specific works: a Walt Kuhn portrait of a clown and Hopper's French Six-day Bicycle Rider — because her mother was French.

A Lasting Legacy

Barney Ebsworth died on April 9, 2018 at his Hunts Point home, with his fourth wife Rebecca Layman-Amato and daughter Christiane by his side. He was 83.

He is remembered not just for the record-breaking auctions or the businesses he founded, but for his quick wit, his devotion to his daughter, and his belief that great art — like a great ship — should be shared with the world. At the Seattle Art Museum, a double-height gallery bears his name. At the Olympic Sculpture Park, the 46-foot Jaume Plensa sculpture Echo — which Barney donated and funded — gazes out over Puget Sound.

Timeline

The Common Thread

Connecting the Dots

Step back far enough and a pattern emerges — a common thread winding through nearly two centuries and two continents.

In 1836, a boy named Max is born in a Bavarian village. His grandfather doesn't even have a last name yet. Within fifty years, that boy will have survived one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War, moved the commercial center of an entire town by placing his store in an alley, founded a town, created a county, built a courthouse, and donated a park. Four of his family's buildings will end up on the National Register of Historic Places. His relative will sit on the Arkansas Supreme Court.

In 1869, a boy named Barney is born in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He will move to St. Louis and bring order to the chaos of the busiest railroad station in the world. He will write guidebooks to help millions of visitors find their way through a city hosting the greatest World's Fair in history.

In 1862, a doctor named Henry is born. He will found a hospital that still heals people today, survive the most famous shipwreck in history, and treat the injured in a lifeboat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in the dead of night.

In 1834, in Telemarken, Norway, a girl named Ingeborg is born. She will cross the Atlantic, raise nine children on the Minnesota frontier, and live past the age of 100 — witnessing the entire sweep of American history from covered wagons to automobiles.

In 1934, twin babies are born in St. Louis: Barney and Muriel. Barney will build cruise lines, collect $323 million worth of art, have his home purchased by Jeff Bezos, and leave behind a cultural legacy that fills museums across America. His boyhood friend and cousin Paul, born a decade later in the same city, will build 108 websites.

Two Gapen sisters married two different men — one a Frauenthal, one an Ebsworth — and from those two marriages came an entire American saga.

Whether it was a bureau of information in a 1900s train station, a general store in a fledgling Arkansas town, a lifeboat in the North Atlantic, a cruise ship traversing the Mediterranean, a Broadway stage, a dental office in Spring Grove, a fire station named after a TV producer, a cottage at Chautauqua, a mansion in Walnut Creek, a DJ booth in Sonoma County, or a network of 108 websites built by one person in Austin, Texas — this family has always been in the business of connecting people to places and ideas.

The Frauenthal flame burns on.

Photos & Images

Portraits, paintings, ships, and places connected to this family story.

Max Frauenthal

Max Frauenthal in later life. Civil War hero, founder of Heber Springs, Arkansas. Source: Wikipedia.

The RMS Titanic

RMS Titanic departing Southampton, April 10, 1912. Dr. Henry Frauenthal, Clara, and Isaac boarded at Cherbourg later that day. All three survived in Lifeboat No. 5. Source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

St. Louis Union Station

St. Louis Union Station, designed by Theodore Link (opened 1894). Barney W. Frauenthal managed the Bureau of Information here when it was the busiest rail terminal in the world. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Spring Grove, Minnesota

Spring Grove, Minnesota — the first Norwegian settlement in the state (est. 1852). Home of the Walhus family for generations. Dr. Martin J. Walhus practiced dentistry here for 50 years. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Edward Hopper's Chop Suey (1929)

Ebsworth's Ships

The M/S Crown Odyssey (1988), Ebsworth's flagship — 616 feet, 34,242 GRT, 1,052 passengers. Built at Meyer Werft, Germany. Now sails as MV Balmoral for Fred. Olsen. Shown here as Norwegian Crown. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The Clipper Adventurer, Ebsworth's expedition vessel. Originally Alla Tarasova (1975), refurbished for $13 million in 1998 for polar and expedition voyages. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Jaume Plensa's Echo — Donated by Ebsworth

Echo (2011) by Jaume Plensa. 46-foot sculpture at the Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle. Donated by Barney Ebsworth to the Seattle Art Museum. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Barney Ebsworth

Christiane Ebsworth Ladd & the Chicago House

Ebsworth's Wives

The Ebsworth Collection — View the Artworks

Frauenthal Historic Buildings

The Titanic