4.4 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 March 2023
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
March 3, 1910. John D. Rockefeller commits to donating the bulk of his fortune to charity, leading to the creation of the Rockefeller Foundation and turning the oil tycoon into one of the biggest philanthropists in American history.
Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
0:00.0 | There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily Add Free. |
0:03.7 | Listen with Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, |
0:06.0 | or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at intohistory.com. |
0:20.5 | It's a cold fall morning in 1854 at the Erie Street Baptist Mission Church in Cleveland, Ohio. |
0:27.7 | A 15-year-old boy strikes a match and lights several candles sitting in sconces hanging on the wall. |
0:34.4 | Then he grabs a fire poker and shifts the wood burning in the small fireplace at the front of the church. |
0:40.0 | The boy and his family haven't been in Cleveland long but already he's found a home at this |
0:44.7 | small Baptist church where he serves as a volunteer. This morning the boy's getting the chapel ready |
0:49.7 | for his favorite weekly event, the Sunday service. Excitedly the boy walks to the front door. |
0:57.4 | Pushes it open and steps outside where members of the church are gathered. |
1:01.7 | Then he rings the small bell hanging above the entrance. The congregants begin to file inside |
1:07.1 | greeting the boy as they pass. Once everyone is settled the boy finds a spot in one of the front |
1:13.7 | pews eager for the service to begin. But as the pastor takes the altar the boy's excitement |
1:19.4 | turns to despair. The pastor announces that the church is in dire financial straits. He says that if |
1:26.0 | they can't come up with $2,000 soon he'll be forced to close its doors. So getting to his |
1:32.0 | feet he reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a pen and paper. He moves to the back of the |
1:37.0 | church slipping through the congregation before they leave. Then as the church goers do begin to |
1:41.8 | file out he announces that he's coordinating a fundraising effort and he'll start by writing down |
1:47.2 | the pledges of every single person in the hall. The congregation breaks into a pause and some |
1:53.0 | cheer and shout their encouragement. But the boy isn't trying to be a hero. For him the |
1:58.0 | eerie street Baptist mission has become a second home and he's determined to do everything in |
2:02.8 | his power to save the church and do God's will. The young boy John D. Rockefeller makes good on his |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Airship | Noiser | Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Airship | Noiser | Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.