Fred T. Baker, purchased on April 21, 1896, one share in the American Tribune Soldier Colony Company. From 1900 to ca. 1915, Baker was a hardware merchant and postmaster in Aurora. In 1920, he is the proprietor of a cigar shop in Brookings. It is unknown why he purchased this stock share.
This piece of paper has an interesting story behind it. The president of the American Tribune Soldier Colony Company was Philander H. Fitzgerald, a U.S. Army veteran. The governor of Indiana appointed him to serve as a pension attorney representing Union veterans. He was also an investor who purchased the newspaper "Veteran’s Review." He renamed the paper "American Tribune" which had a weekly circulation of 25,000.
During the 1890s, farmers, especially in the Midwest, were suffering from widespread economic depression and long-term drought. Fitzgerald, an astute businessman used his newspaper to promote his idea of creating a colony for Union veterans in the South. The aging veterans then would have a warmer climate to mover to when they retired. He created the American Tribune Soldiers Colony Company, selling shares for $10. The shares could then be converted into lots in town or 5-10-20-or 40 acre “farmettes.” Fitzgerald presented his plan to the governors of several southern states and Georgia’s governor accepted the plan; helping Fitzgerald find land to start his colony.
Fitzgerald soon had enough money from stock share purchases to buy 50,000 acres of land in southwest Georgia, near the town of Swan, from the Drew Brothers, local lumbermen. Eventually another 50,000 acres were bought for the colony. Work and survey crews arrived and began to clear land and measure off lots. Some Southerners didn’t like all the Yankees moving in and tried to stop them. The town’s center stake was moved three times yet despite that, the colony grew quickly and prospered due to the influx of veteran’s pension dollars. By the fall of 1895, before the town’s surveying was completed, more than 2,500 people arrived at Shantytown. When surveying was completed, the town was officially named Fitzgerald and street names were chosen. A certain number of streets were named for Union generals and the same number of streets were named after Confederate generals. The town of Fitzgerald still exists and has a population of over 9,000 people.