Frank Porter Glazier (? - Jan. 1, 1922) was a leading citizen of Chelsea until his downfall for charges of embezzlement landed him in prison.
Sources
The biography everyone quotes from is Less Than Immortal, The Rise and Fall of Frank Porter Glazier of Chelsea, Michigan by Louis W. Doll.
- Portrait of Frank P. Glazier with child, Ann Arbor District Library
- 100 S. Main St., Ann Arbor District Library
Frank P. Glazier had developed his father's iron foundry in Chelsea into a prosperous stove factory. Glazier also owned the Chelsea Savings Bank, and had held every local political office. But Chelsea, a small town 13 miles west of Ann Arbor, was too small for Glazier. As his biographer Louis Doll notes, Glazier had a "lust for power" that eventually corrupted him and caused his downfall.
- The Glazier Building, Ann Arbor District Library
The Glazier Building still stands across Main Street to the left. It was built by Chelsea stove manufacturer and state treasurer Frank P. Glazier to house his newspaper and offices. A symbol of his wealth, ambition, and influence, it became instead a reminder of personal failure. Bankruptcy--followed by a prison term for embezzlement--forced him to resign as state treasurer before the building was completed in 1908.
John Frank, chairman of the Chelsea Historic District Commission, said that the facility helped keep Glazier Stove Co. employees out of trouble during their weeks away from home.
As with all things political, including questionable indictments, politics intervened to free him from prison. He was pardoned by Governor Chase Osborne in January 1912 because he was suffering form diabetes. He went home to live the remainder of his life on Cavanaugh Lake where he died on Jan. 1, 1922.
