Manufacturer
Centurion, 1904–1952
Born 24 December 1862 in New York (Manhattan), New York
Died 23 September 1952 in New York (Manhattan), New York
Buried Fort Hill Cemetery
, Auburn, New York
Proposed by D. Maitland Armstrong and Edward S. Martin
Elected 2 April 1904 at age forty-one
Century Memorial
Frank Richardson graduated from Trinity College in 1884. He shortly went into the decorating business of which his father was then the head and which had been founded in 1812 by his grandfather, Colonel John Richardson. The main office of the business was in Auburn, and Richardson’s early life was spent there; and there he married and raised a family; and there his wife died. Then he went to Syracuse, following the demands of the business, and finally to New York.
He was a member of the Club for forty-eight years, and in that long time, inevitably, most of his old friends died. He and Robert Bridges used to live at the University Club, and Richardson made it his home for twenty-five years.
He was a tall, thin man with piercing black eyes and a long pale face. His manner was uneasy, and this was accentuated by a continual nervous movement of his head. His conversation was rather abrupt, but he never said anything stupid or obvious, and when he stated a fact, it was invariably correct. He knew all about furniture and his taste was impeccable.
He was more interested in America in the nineteenth century, and earlier, than he was in modern developments, and he made no bones about it. He had been brought up in the Victorian tradition, and he was slightly uncomfortable in the casualness of dress and manners in which we live and move and have our being in these days. He did not complain about this, but he associated himself with The Pilgrims, the Society of Colonial Wars, and the Loyal Legion, and in those circles he was happy and contented.
George W. Martin
1953 Century Association Yearbook