Lithuanian American publisher and banker (1863?1942)
Antanas Ol?auskas
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Born
| (
1863-06-13
)
June 13, 1863
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Died
| May 10, 1942
(1942-05-10)
(aged 78)
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Other names
| Anton Olszewski
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Occupation(s)
| Newspaper publisher, banker
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Children
| Anthony A. Olis
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Antanas Ol?auskas
(June 13, 1863 ? May 10, 1942) was a
Lithuanian American
businessman. He was the published of the Lithuanian weekly
Lietuva
and founder of A. Olszewski Bank.
Orphaned at an early age, Ol?auskas did not receive any formal education. He worked as a carpenter before emigrating to the United States at the age of 25. He managed to get a job at a Polish printing press. In 1893, he took over the struggling Lithuanian weekly newspaper
Lietuva
and turned it around. It became a popular liberal periodical. He then established A. Olszewski Bank which served the Lithuanian American community. It became successful and customer deposits peaked at $1 million. Ol?auskas used customer deposits to build offices and open other business ventures (Theater Milda, clothing shop, car dealership, residential real estate). A
bank run
in 1916 forced him to sell these businesses and liquidate the bank. However, he was able to raise capital and establish the Universal State Bank in 1917. After quarrels with the new leadership of the Universal State Bank, Ol?auskas resigned in 1919. He then made a modest living selling ship tickets and insurance.
Biography
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Early life
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Ol?auskas was born on June 13, 1863, in
A?truliai
[
lt
]
, a small village near
Liudvinavas
, to a family of petty
Lithuanian nobles
.
He was orphaned at the age of four and his family's farm was sold off for debts. He was raised by his maternal grandparents who taught him basic literacy skills. Ol?auskas never received any formal education.
Due to poor health, he could not perform hard physical labor and searched for better means of living. He learned carpentry and worked to construct furniture, repair church altars, etc. For two years, he worked to restore the Catholic church in
Krasnopol
. In 1889, having saved 300 rubles, Ol?auskas decided to emigrate to the United States.
Publisher of
Lietuva
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]
He arrived to
Plymouth, Massachusetts
, in April 1889.
He tried to pursue carpentry, but could not get a better job due to poor English language skills. Ol?auskas was inspired by the example of two Lithuanian businessmen who published the Lithuanian newspaper
Vienyb? lietuvinink?
and pursued jobs at emigrant publishing houses. Eventually, he was hired by the Polish
Gazeta Polska
published in Chicago.
In 1892, Ol?auskas worked as a typesetter for Polish newspaper
Nowe ?ycie
but it went bankrupt. He convinced the new owner, Stasys Rako?ius, to publish the first Lithuanian newspaper in Chicago
Lietuva
. The first issue was published on December 6, 1892, but Rako?ius sold the printing press to Vincas ?aliauskas who fired Ol?auskas.
The printing press of
Lietuva
continued to struggle. Ol?auskas and three other men agreed to take it over for US$300 (equivalent to $10,173 in 2023).
Ol?auskas was primarily in charge of content starting with the 24th issue. The newspaper became a liberal publication which advocated for unity among Lithuanian immigrants, campaigned for a Lithuanian representative in the U.S. Congress, promoted entrepreneurship and self-improvement, discussed relations between Poles and Lithuanians, debated political issues concerning Lithuania. The newspaper gained popularity and the printing press relocated to more spacious premises in 1894.
Experienced journalist
Juozas Adomaitis-?ernas
became chief editor of
Lietuva
in December 1895.
[5]
In addition to publishing
Lietuva
, the printing house also published Lithuanian books.
[6]
In 1894?1917, it published a total of 131 books, of which 45 were original and others were translations. These included 28 books on fairytales, legends, novellas, 31 theater plays, 20 popular science works, 15 texts on history, ethnography, culture, and three dictionaries.
[6]
Banker
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Ol?auskas became known as a reliable man. Thus, Lithuanians began bringing him sums of money for safekeeping. This inspired Ol?auskas to establish a bank which primarily served as a bank of the Lithuanian American community.
He built two-floor house on the 33rd Street for $5,000 (equivalent to $183,120 in 2023) in 1896. He lived on the second floor, while the first floor had the printing press, bookstore, and A. Olszewski Bank. The business was going well and Ol?auskas was able to buy out other owners of
Lietuva
remaining the sole shareholder of the printing press in 1901.
In 1905, socialists inspired printing press workers to go on strike. When
Lietuva
missed an issue, rumors spread that Ol?auskas was going bankrupt, but his bank withstood a
bank run
and continued to grow.
Customer deposits at A. Olszewski Bank peaked at $1 million. Lithuanians sent some $4 million to relatives at home via the bank in 1895?1914.
In 1906, Ol?auskas decided to build three-floor house on the corner of 33rd and
Halsted Street
at a cost of $100,000 (equivalent to $3,391,111 in 2023).
It housed not only the printing press and bank, but also a clothing store, medical offices, and rented apartments. He used customer deposits for other business ventures ? opening a clothing and a furniture store, establishing a car dealership, building residential houses, etc. He built 1200-seat Milda Theater at a cost of $250,000. He also improved the printing press and wanted to publish the first
Lithuanian-language encyclopedia
.
In 1916, Ol?auskas started raising the required $200,000 capital for the establishment of a
state bank
.
However, another Lithuanian community bank (Tananevicz Savings Bank) failed which caused a bank run on Ol?auskas' bank. It is estimated that at the time, the bank had about $600,000 in customer deposits and only $100,000 in cash.
Ol?auskas was forced to sell the various businesses (including
Lietuva
) and personal assets at prices that were deflated due to the ongoing
World War I
. Nevertheless, he managed to return the deposits to customers and establish the Universal State Bank in 1917.
However, because he lacked any financial education, Ol?auskas was allowed only a vice-president role. He quarreled with the new leadership under chairman Juozapas J. Elias and resigned from the bank in 1919.
Ol?auskas then opened a small office that sold ship tickets to new Lithuanian emigrants, sold insurance, provided notary services, etc. He did not regain his business fortune and died on May 10, 1942, in Chicago.
References
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- ^
"Lietuva"
.
Lietuvos integrali bibliotek? informacijos sistema
(in Lithuanian). Lietuvos nacionalin? Martyno Ma?vydo biblioteka
. Retrieved
April 30,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
"Ol?ausko leidykla"
.
Visuotin? lietuvi? enciklopedija
(in Lithuanian). Mokslo ir enciklopedij? leidybos centras. November 27, 2018 [2009]
. Retrieved
April 30,
2024
.
Bibliography
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