Foshay Tower
The Foshay Tower was built between 1928 and 1929 by Wilber Foshay. Foshay was a businessman who's business was creating gas and electric utilities. He had had much success in the Western states and in Central America, and his company found itself in need of a building in the late '20s. Foshay chose Minneapolis and started construction on a building modelled after the Washington Monument. George Washington had been Foshay's boyhood hero and to pay tribute to Washington, the building's design had a simular look to the famous monument in Washington, DC.
The building opened with much fanfare in September of 1929. The opening ceremonies lasted three days and cost a significant
fraction of what the building cost to construct. Foshay even commissioned the "March King" John Phillips Sousa to write a march
for the occasion. The Foshay Tower Washington Memorial March was played at the opening and there were many famous guests in
attendance.
The general good feelings were not to last, however. Just a month later the stock market crashed and so did Foshay's fortunes. He was eventually indicted on 21 counts of mail fraud, and was convicted of 3. He was sent to federal prision at Leavenworth, KS. The charges alleged that Foshay was selling new stock and then using those revenues to pay dividends to the holders of old stock. This is a pyramid scheme and was and still is illegal.
Foshay remained popular with the public and a letter writing campaign to President Franklin D. Roosevelt led him to commute Foshay's sentance. President Harry S. Truman later gave him a full pardon.
Foshay's troubles were many during his collapse and one of his more famous problems came from the bill he owed to Sousa. Apparently, the check he wrote to Sousa bounced and Sousa was deeply offended at having his good name dragged through the mud along with Foshay's. Having not been paid for services rendered, Sousa forbid the playing of the Foshay Tower march until he was paid what he owed for it. He never saw the money, but his estate did. About 6 years or so ago, a group of music lovers here in Minneapolis, raised the balance of the debt, and bought the march from Sousa's estate. Afterwords, it was played at Orchestra Hall for the first time since the opening of the Foshay Tower.
