By Helen Rue Lawler
(This is the second part of this two part article. This article first appeared on January 4, 1980 in the Prescott Sun. The author, Helen Rue Lawler, owns what is probably the only complete, Prescott-attributed, Wooten desk in the state. Her magnificent walnut "King" was first owned by John Fenton "Jack" Lawler, mining man, bank founder, and Prescott entrepreneur, for whom the "Lawler Block" on Cortez Street is named.)
When closed, the Wooton resembled a paneled cylinder-front desk with a cupboard base. The front opened vertically from the center. Two doors, or wings, spread to reveal the right wing full of pigeonholes, and the left wing divided into vertical and horizontal shelves. Some Wooton desks included a glass paneled letterbox door. When open, there are four drawers in the lower section, vertical shelves on the right wing, and horizontal shelves on the left. A writing flap, its upper surface lined with green felt bordered by tape embossed in a Greek key pattern, could be lifted to reveal several drawers, additional shelves, pigeonholes and compartments above.
Resting on bracket feet with sets of double casters, the desk could easily be rolled about, despite its massive size. Wooton Desks were built of polished French veneers of black walnut and Spanish cedar, and rich carvings painted with black and gold according to the grade. Pine, poplar, maple, holly, and satinwood were listed as "raw materials." The hardware was ornamental Berlin bronze, real solid bronze, or gold enameled.
The basic Rotary Secretary was made in four grades: Ordinary, Standard, Extra, and Superior, each of which came in three sizes. Prices ranged from $90 for the smallest Ordinary to $750 for the largest Superior. (Note: in 2002, a highly carved Superior grade is offered for sale at $250,000; two Extra grades are $35,000 and $40,000, and a Standard is priced at $21,000. Another Superior grade recently brought $123,200.
William Wooton was a kind, generous man. Besides presenting a secretary to Queen Victoria, he gave desks to President Grant and his son - Grant's is now on loan to the Smithsonian Institution; his son's can be seen at the newspaper office in Old Town San Diego.
President James Garfield's "King" is exhibited in his home in Mentor, Ohio. Other prominent American Wooton desks users were Spencer Baird, first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; G. B. Grinnell; Sidney Lanier; Joseph Pulitzer; Charles Scribner; Jay Gould; and John D. Rockefeller. The desk became a kind of status symbol, reflecting the Victorian appreciation for flexibility in furniture.
The fortunes of the Wooton Desk Company peaked about 1876. They had probably long since ceased making school and church furniture. A series of 1884 bank and business failures in Indianapolis caused the national Trade Bureau, to state on January 24, 1885: "During the past year the furniture trade in Indianapolis and adjacent cities has not yielded dividends." Another problem was that walnut trees, much in demand for furniture wood, had been essentially eliminated.
No mention was made in city newspapers of the firm's demise; however, it seems likely that William Wooton and Company fell victim to local economic conditions. The last known advertisements for the King of Desks appeared in Frank Leslie Illustrated Newspaper between 1884 and 1885, near the end of the Wooton Manufacturing Company. The Reverend Wooton and his wife moved to Glen Falls, New York, where they resumed preaching. He died on August 26, 1907.
The King of Desks appeared in an era when a man, with one large desk, could operate a business himself, and keep his records in one file. By the turn of the century, with typewriters and duplicating machines producing more records, bigger business outgrew the King. Businessmen reverted to smaller desks backed up by filing cabinets.
Many myths surround the King. For example, dealers claim to have Wooton Desks that once belonged to Wells Fargo. That express company scrupulously branded or stenciled all company equipment and fixtures, but no desks with their mark are known. Wells Fargo Bank Museum in San Francisco, owns two Wooton's, but neither came from company offices.
Today, Wooton Desks are eagerly sought by museums and antique dealers. But it is no simple matter to "know" a genuine Wooton Desk from derivative cylinder-shaped secretaries. Although the 1876 Wooton catalog warned about infringements, the words of warning seemed to go unheeded. Perhaps the Reverend sold his rights, or possibly the desks had enough variations to be innocent of patent violations, but the last "Wooton Style" desk was produced in 1897.
The Smithsonian's booklet on the King of Desks is the "must" if one hopes to authenticate a true Wooton by its trimmings and patent plate. The Wooton Desk Owners Society in Bayside, New York, states that the Wooton Desk is recognized as the finest piece of labeled American furniture ever made.
Mrs. Lawler says, "We have never put a price on our Wooton. There were overtures to buy Jack's desk even before the Lawler Block was demolished in 1960. Selling the venerable desk without knowing for sure where it would end up would be tantamount to doing away with one's grandfather. We hope to donate the King, in the future, to a proper place, where it will be preserved, seen and cherished."
John F. Lawler's desk still contains a trove of historical items, even to his original labels on its 40 filing boxes, including: Cattle Ventures, Mining Agreements, San Diego Properties, Personal & Masonic Receipts, Cimarron Bank Kansas, State Land Leases, and Valley National Bank.
Letters, ledgers, checks, cash books, and inventories attest to the fact that Prescott's business pulse, and that of the entire Arizona Territory, once coursed through the King's compartments. Take for instance, "Statehood for Arizona, Why We Should Have It." Another document to ponder: "An Act to create the County of Verde" introduced by J.B. Fondly March 12, 1901. Section 1 of the Act reads, "There shall be and is hereby created out of the Eastern portion of Yavapai County, in the Territory of Arizona, a new county, to be called and known as the County of Verde." This Act was tabled by John J. Binano.
Bundles of endorsed checks with elegant Spenserian signatures, wobbly X's, and puzzling Chinese characters are in the desk. Loans, to mention a few, were made to: George Luhrs, Gus Heyman, Jim Cashion, and the Englishman Barlow-Massick, builder of the Victorian house on Lynx Creek.
Burke and Hickey's note of May 18, 1901 for $1,969.47, at 7% per annum undoubtedly went to rebuild the Burke Hotel (now the Hotel St. Michael), which was destroyed in the July 14, 1900 Prescott fire.
Every item used in the construction of Lawler's Union Block on Gurley Street is accounted in a suede bound ledger, as are the services rendered. Mr. Kilpatrick, the architect, charged $600 for the plans, and H. Fishel billed Lawler $750 for surveying this site in 1900.
Threaded through a stack of work warrants are the names of Apache Jim, Long Haired Charley, Joe Geese, Chinese Mary, Indian Mushhead, Diego Ortego, G.H. Manyhouse, Valentino Frenchi, E.H. Aplestill, and Stella Shanks. Probably most were drifters, leaving only their names on the lined pages in an old desk to mark their passage.
In 1903, John F. Lawler, undoubtedly seated at the King, read the most important letter of his entire business career. After 11 years of litigation and $75,000, the United States Supreme Court ruled in his favor, returning his lucrative Hillside Mine and setting a mining precedent followed today.
It was also at the desk, that Lawler formulated plans for Yavapai County's first savings bank, which became a reality in 1906.
John Fenton Lawler's Wooton desk is far more than wood, felt and bronze. It represents a mountain town's blood and sweat for a half a century, plus ten years and then some.
There have been many flowery descriptions and wordy testimonials to the "perfectness" of Wooton's unique Patented Office Secretary. However, Governor W. P. Hunt summed up the King in one brief earthy statement, when he said to Jack Lawler, "That's one hell of a desk!"
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (composite of pb14, 75-176n and po897pf). Reuse only by permission.
Governor Hunt once said that John Fenton Lawler (inset) had "one hell of a desk." It was from his desk in his office in his block on N. Cortez (shown here in about 1946) that Lawler helped to build Prescott and Yavapai. This building, which stood where the Raible Block and Bulleri Professional Building are today, was torn down in 1960.