Bio of THORPE, Samuel Skidmore (b.1864), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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Vol II, pg 15-16
SAMUEL S. THORPE (Samuel Skidmore Thorpe)
The business record of Samuel S. Thorpe covers an uninterrupted period of
thirty-five years devoted to real estate dealing, in which he has achieved a
position of leadership among the realtors of Minneapolis, conducting the
business under the name of Thorpe Brothers, Incorporated. Other enterprises,
individually owned, or of a public nature, have also profited by his cooperation
and sound judgment. Mr. Thorpe is a native of Minnesota, his birth having
occurred April 20, 1864, in Red Wing, his parents being Samuel S. and Caroline
E. (Emery) Thorpe, who were of New England ancestry, although the father's
family was early established in the state of New York, while the mother's people
lived for generations in Maine. The Rev. Samuel S. Thorpe, Sr., was a Methodist
minister and. for a considerable period was a member of the faculty of Ham-line
University of Minnesota.
Samuel S. Thorpe started out at an early age to provide for his own support, but
later continued his education, begun in the public schools, by study in Hamline
University. Entering mercantile circles, he won substantial success, but
although two years' effort brought him seventy thousand dollars, his ambition
for a college education led him to become a student in Princeton University,
where two years later he was graduated as a member of the class of 1889.
Previously he had learned many valuable lessons in the school of experience. In
his youthful days he had been a newsboy and his sale of newspapers was an
initial element in the attainment of his living. After a year as Western Union
messenger he was employed in a hat store in 1883 and then for two years he
worked in a bank. From his entrance into the real estate field his success has
been continuous. He seemed to have almost an intuitive perception as to value of
property and the possibilities for its purchase and sale, and with his return
from Princeton he reentered the real estate field, with his twin brother, J. R.
Thorpe, in the organization of the corporation of Thorpe Brothers. For fifteen
years they were associated in the conduct of the business, at the end of which
time, owing to the condition of his wife's health, J. R. Thorpe retired, to take
up his abode in Denver, Colorado, where he still makes his home. Samuel S.
Thorpe remains the directing head of the splendid business organization, which
they have built up. He has erected a large number of the jobbing houses in the
city and has handled, sold and erected a considerable number of the wholesale
and retail business structures. He has acted as agent for and built a number of
the leading business blocks in Minneapolis, including the Andrus building, the
Palace building, the Plymouth building, the Dyckman Hotel and others of
importance. He watches with close interest the trend of events and the progress
of Minneapolis along every line and is always ready for any emergency and any
contingency that may arise, while throughout his course as a realtor he has
utilized and improved every opportunity that has been presented. In 1911 he was
elected to the presidency of the National Real Estate Association, of which he
had formerly served for several years as vice president. He is, likewise a
director of the Minneapolis Real Estate Board and the National Association of
Real Estate Boards, the International Associates, the Civic & Commerce
Association and the Morris Plan Bank.
On the 3d of October, 1899, Mr. Thorpe was married to Miss Margaret A. Andrus, a
daughter of Hon. John E. Andrus of Yonkers, New York, and they have become
parents of four children: Andrus, James R., Julia and Samuel S., Jr. Mr. Thorpe
is a member of Khurum Lodge, A. F. & A. M., has attained the thirty-second
degree of the Scottish Rite in the Minneapolis Consistory and is identified with
Zuhrah Temple of the
Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Minneapolis, Minneapolis Athletic,
Minikahda, Woodhill, University and Automobile clubs. His connections, however,
extend far beyond these associations into those fields where the public welfare
and public service are conserved through the establishment of institutions and
organizations that meet the needs of humanity at large. He is the vice president
of the Asbury Hospital of Minneapolis and his support is freely and willingly
given to any plan that looks to the benefit of his fellowmen, to the upbuilding
of the city and to the promotion of higher civic standards. In his chosen line
of business he has advanced step by step until, according to the consensus of
public opinion, he has no superiors and few equals in the real estate field.