John Edward "Ed" Chilberg (1867-1954) was a prominent Seattle merchant, investor, and banker best known for his leadership in organizing the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.
Chilberg was born in Wapello County, Iowa on January 19, 1867, to Swedish immigrants Nelson and Matilda Chilberg. He moved to Seattle when he was five years old, where his father started a grocery business. His uncle, Andrew Chilberg, was already a prominent figure in Seattle and president of the Scandinavian-American Bank, who later became the vice-consul of Sweden and Norway in 1879.
Chilberg was briefly enrolled in the Territorial University of Washington and worked as a traveling salesman before following his father and uncle’s footsteps in the sales, grocery, and mining industries. J.E. Chilberg and Company dealt in a variety of goods, including crockery, glassware, flour, feed and grain.
He lost many of his businesses in The Great Seattle Fire of 1889, but seized the opportunities that arose from the ashes of the recuperating city. That same year he married Anna Mary Rinehart of Seattle and later fathered two sons, Hugh Rinehart Chilberg and Carl Edward Chilberg. He moved to Alaska and turned his attention to steamships, becoming master of the Transit and operating the Monarch and the Sovereign. He also had interests in the Pioneer Mining Company and Miners & Merchants Banks of Nome and Ketchikan. Upon returning to Seattle, he worked his way to become vice-president of Seattle’s Scandinavian-American Bank and president of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
Chilberg invested in Seattle’s culture, believing it to be as important as infrastructure. He was one of 20 local investors who collectively donated $50,000 to help support Edward S. Curtis produce his well-known work “The North American Indian.”
Chilberg was also involved in several high-profile real estate developments. In 1903, Chilberg, Jafet Lindenberg, and others led Seattle's Scandinavian-American Bank to purchase the southeast corner of 2nd Avenue and Cherry Street with the intention of constructing a new bank building but were persuaded by J.C. Marmaduke to construct something more ambitious. The Alaska Building was finished in 1904, and until 1910 was Seattle tallest “skyscraper” at 15 stories. In 1906 Chilberg and Marmaduke purchased the northeast corner of Stewart Street and 2nd Avenue for $200,000 to construct the New Washington Hotel, later the Josephinum. President Theodore Roosevelt was the New Washington’s first guest, and many more would follow, as the hotel was built in anticipation of the crowds coming to the World’s Fair in 1909.
The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition was Chilberg’s most outstanding contribution to the Pacific Northwest. After being first proposed by Godfrey Chealander in 1905, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce unanimously decided that Seattle should host the fair and Chilberg would serve as president. Prominent Seattle figures such as R.A. Ballinger, Edmond Meany, and W.H. Perry also made significant contributions. The initial idea was to honor Seattle’s impact on the Yukon Gold Rush but expanded to celebrate the entire Pacific Rim, extending invitations to British Columbia, Canada, Japan, California, Oregon, the Philippines, and China. The AYPE opened in June 1909 and saw 3.7 million visitors before closing four months later. It would transform Seattle from a port city narrowly associated with the Klondike Gold Rush to a city representative of cultural and social modernism.
Sources: Historylink, Pacific Coast Architecture Database
Organized into 2 accessions.
Reminiscences, clippings, report on the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition, other papers documenting Chilberg's involvement with the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, various business endeavors, correspondence, photographs, reminiscences, and ephemera. This collection also includes writings, scrapbooks, and ephemera relating to William V. Rinehart (Chilberg's father-in-law), Anna Mary Chilberg (wife), and Ann Inez Devlin (daughter-in-law). Included are photos from travel to Guatemala.
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