The Other Harmon By Carl Oechsner Edited by Gretchen Bock Clifford B. Harmon is well-known to Crotonites as the famous aviator and real estate developer who created what he modestly advertised as "HARMON, the New City on the Hudson -- the most important and extensive suburban development in the history of New York." But how many of us have heard about his older brother and partner, William E. Harmon? William Elmer Harmon was born in 1862 in Lebanon, Ohio. His father, William, fought with the 70th Ohio volunteer infantry during the Civil War. After the war he served as an officer with African-American "Buffalo Soldiers" on the western frontier, dealing with Native American tribes. This group of soldiers had been created by Congress as the first peacetime, all-Black regiment in the regular army. William's younger brother, Clifford Burke Harmon, was born in 1868. Both boys were reared in Lebanon, where their mother, Mary "Molly" Wood, also had grown up. William graduated from public school in 1881 and then, wanting to be a physician, enrolled at the Jefferson School of Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky. He married in 1883 but tragedy struck fifteen months later when his wife died in childbirth. Because of his father's financial difficulties, William interrupted his medical schooling and returned home. Tragedy again struck, his mother dying in 1884 and his father, six months later. The family misfortunes weighed on him -- he had a younger brother to care for and no professional job credentials. At age 24, Harmon was at a crossroads. He had worked briefly as a salesman selling flowers, shrubbery and fruit trees for a local company and after two months was leading 56 other employees in total sales. He certainly felt he had talent. But would that lead to success? He told a friend: "The surest way is to hit upon something that everybody wants, make it possible for anyone to buy it and let them know that I have it for sale. But what does everybody want? Land is my answer." He devised a plan so that even low-wage earners could buy property with $1 in cash and the promise to pay a few cents per week. Harmon said, "It is simply the installment plan applied to real estate and I am sure it will work." His younger brother, Clifford, and an uncle, Charles Wood, both living in Cincinnati, liked the idea and in 1887 they pooled their money for a total of $3,000. With that they bought land south of Loveland, Ohio, not far from Lebanon, laid out lots and built wooden sidewalks for a subdivision called Branch Hill. The amateur subdividers knew they must publicize their proposal and prepared an advertisement that practically used up all their cash. December 14, the day of the sale, they waited nervously to see what was going to happen. Buyers arrived slowly but as the day wore on, sales began to mount. From one crude ad, the entire allotment sold out in four days. The 200 lots sold for $25 each, with a deposit of $2 and payments of 25 cents a week. No taxes or interest were charged until a lot was paid in full, and all payments in advance were given a credit of 10%. People had been enabled to purchase land with a small down payment, and the public at large learned the possibilities of home ownership on a scale grander than ever before in the country. Shortcomings to this basic venture, however, were gradually revealed. Something was lacking in the mere selling of small, unimproved tracts of land. In residential communities elsewhere, necessities like electricity, telephones, natural gas, water and paved streets had become as much a part of the sales contract as the land itself. In their higher priced locations like Pelhamwood and Larchmont Gardens in lower Westchester County, Wood, Harmon & Co. included these amenities in order for lots to sell. Prices of land with improvements were rising and a higher standard of home development was starting to take hold. Encouraged by successfully navigating the changing needs of buyers, Wood, Harmon & Co. branched out. They expanded to Cincinnati and Dayton, to 26 other Midwestern cities including Pittsburgh and Chicago, and to Boston, Brooklyn, Midwood, Flatbush and Staten Island. In the years just after 1900, the company spent more than $4 million for building sites in Brooklyn that were sold on small partial payments. When Brooklyn became part of New York City and Model T Fords started crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, William had jumped at the opportunity. Together with the explosion in population in Brooklyn following NYC subway extensions, the wisdom of his choice of territory was proven. He bought up farm after farm and organized multiple companies, comprising over 20,000 building lots. By 1905 Wood, Harmon & Co.