Awards
- Honorary Degree - 1938
- LL.D.
- Doctor of Laws
- Commencement
- Bloomington, Indiana
- Presenter: Herman B Wells
About William Fortune
A successful entrepreneur, businessman, and civic leader, William Fortune amassed a long list of remarkable lifetime achievements throughout his accomplished career. An Indianapolis native, Fortune was a reporter, editor, publisher, and co-founder of the Indianapolis Press Club. He was president of twelve independent telephone companies and founder of the Commercial Club, forerunner to the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Red Cross.
Fortune came to know James Whitcomb Riley during his time as a journalist and remained a dedicated champion for the famed Hoosier poet. Fortune served as chairman of the executive committee that arranged Riley’s 65th birthday in 1915 when friends gathered in Indianapolis to honor Riley. Fortune was among the group of prominent business and political leaders who expressed his support at the first organizational meeting in August 1917 announcing plans to build Riley Hospital for Children. He also bought the house where Riley had lived as a paying guest with Charles and Magdalena Holstein for the last 23 years of his life to “save the property.” Fortune went on to hold the property in trust until the establishment of the Riley Memorial Association (now the Riley Children’s Foundation) in 1921. The Riley Memorial Association organized a committee to preserve the Riley home, and Fortune was asked to serve on it. As Fortune was the owner of the property, Hugh McK Landon, president of the Association, had met earlier with Fortune that year to discuss selling the home to the Association. In April 1921, Fortune was one of twenty-one Incorporators for the Association. In October 1921, the Association purchased the original furniture of the home from the estate of Katie Kindell, the Holstein’s long-time housekeeper to whom the home’s contents had been willed. All that remained was securing the house itself. And in February 1922, Fortune sold the house that he had retained in trust to the Association for exactly the amount he paid for it.
With their purchase of the house from Fortune, the Association moved quickly, and necessary improvements were made at the house to open it as a museum. The James Whitcomb Riley Home opened with great fanfare and celebration in April 1922 and was a springboard for increasing public awareness. A statewide campaign provided additional funds to complete the $2,000,000 needed to build the James Whitcomb Riley for Children. Fortune’s foresight to buy and preserve the Riley house has provided generations of visitors the opportunity to learn about James Whitcomb Riley and what life was like in the late 19th century.