Col. Frederick Moulton Alger

By Betsy Alexander
Historical Education Coordinator, The War Memorial

Gen. Russell Alger’s youngest of his two sons, Frederick Moulton Alger, was born in Detroit at the Alger family’s Fort Street home on June 27, 1876. Brothers Russell Jr. and Fred were very close, frequently investing in ideas or goods that were presented by the other. Unlike most typical brothers, there was a lot of sharing of yachts and planes between them, too. As adults they built spectacular estates, “By-Way” and “The Moorings,” and lived about a quarter mile from each other on Jefferson Avenue/Lake Shore Road in the Pointes.

On May 2, 1901, Fred married Mary (Mignon) Eldridge Swift, a popular young socialite living two blocks away from the Alger homestead and began a family.

While Russell was busy looking after his father’s many companies and business assets, Fred was fighting in Cuba in the Spanish American War as a Captain under Gen. Shafter. Years later, he went on to fight in France in WWI commissioned as Lt. Col., Field Artillery. He received France’s Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur (Chevalier, National Order of the Legion of Honor). Although he followed the military path and was very much like his father, Fred strongly rebuffed attempts throughout his life to be drawn into the political arena.

Col. Frederick Moulton Alger, courtesy of the Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University.

In 1907, when Gen. Alger died in Washington D.C. while in office, Fred and his mother, Annette, were at the General’s bedside. It was up to Fred to do the initial death notifications and to try to locate his brother, who was yachting somewhere off the coast of Florida. Russell made it back just in time for his father’s funeral.

Fred invested with Russell in the Packard Motor Company, the Wright Brothers, and the General Aeroplane Company business ventures, decision-making and serving on their boards.

The entire Alger family were traditionally involved with all things horses, but Fred was a particularly skilled and avid fan. In addition to leisure riding, fox hunting, and competing, he owned a stable of thoroughbreds and raced them in prestigious contests around the country including the Grand National Steeplechase. A sweepstakes race was even named for him, The Col. Alger Memorial Handicap. He was considered royalty among horse circles in Metamora, Grosse Pointe, and well beyond Michigan.

Both Fred and Mary Alger were staunch, very vocal anti-Prohibition activists, and prominent sparring partners of the Anti-Saloon League and Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Morals. They spoke frequently to organizations and media regarding repeal, and never turned down a good chance to argue their point publicly. Firebrand Mary was directly involved in Prohibition being repealed in Michigan in 1933 via the powerful action groups she headed; by 1935 she was a State Liquor Control Commissioner!

Both were extremely active in the community, solid leaders, famously philanthropic, involved in numerous cultural and musical causes, and had sizable personal followings (like influencers today). Fred was considered to be a warm and very humble gentleman, good to his word, a loyal comrade, and the ideal American citizen, per descriptions.

In April 1919, Fred was tasked by Teddy Roosevelt, Jr. to organize Michigan’s American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars organizations. The Gen. Russell A. Alger and Col. Frederick M. Alger VFW Post 995 was 1,000 members strong and active in Grosse Pointe for many years. In February of 1934, a separate Col. Frederick M. Alger American Legion Post 86 was created to “foster and emulate the spirit of comradeship, patriotism, and good citizenship as personified in the life of Col. Frederick M. Alger.” In April of 1935, the Frederick M. Alger Post 7 of the Polish Legion of American Veterans was formed. Alger American Legion Post 303 was based in Grosse Pointe and is still in existence, although the “Alger” was eventually dropped from their name.

As with his older brother, Russell, Fred’s charmed life took an abrupt and tragic turn.

At the 15th Annual National Convention of the American Legion the first week of October 1933, he had a seemingly minor incident: he bumped his left leg on his car door upon exiting. He had a slight bruise the next day when he returned home from Chicago and thought nothing more of it. On November 22, he awoke to find no feeling in his leg so checked into Detroit’s Charles Godwin Jennings Hospital. Dr. Jennings ran various tests and diagnosed a dangerous blood clot in a major artery of his leg; his left leg was amputated November 28. He was not recovering from the procedure as expected so he remained hospitalized. He then developed a second blood clot, this time in his lung, with devastating consequences.

Fred Alger died New Year’s Eve of 1933 still at Jennings Hospital; he was 57 years old. Mary Alger never left his side from November 22 until his death.

At Mary’s request, The American Legion handled all funeral arrangements, with assistance from the VFW, United Spanish War Veterans, and the military. Four honor guards stood silent watch at Col. Alger’s two hour public viewing, followed by the funeral mass all at Grosse Pointe Memorial Church where he and Mary had been so active. Thousands of members of various military units, the numerous clubs he belonged to, various veterans’ groups and posts, and the public followed the funeral cortege down Jefferson into Detroit, the route lined by hundreds of police officers. The American Legion’s ritualistic rites were solemnly performed during his internment in the Alger mausoleum at Edgewood Cemetery; another Alger soldier was lain to rest.

Among the many tributes following his passing were a few of the more unusual:

-A new yellow variety of Class 1 chrysanthemum bred by Vince DePetris was named “Col. Frederick M. Alger.” Its public debut was November 15, 1935, at the of 34th Annual Exhibition of the Chrysanthemum Society of America at Brodhead Armory.

-The Detroit Symphony Orchestra performed a musical tribute to their benefactor at the conclusion of their first season performance.

-The Forty and Eight’s Most Distinguished Medal from the American Legion was awarded posthumously March 17, 1934.

-A trophy, the R.O.T.C.’s manual of arms, and Alger Falls, a waterfall near Munising, MI, were both named for him.

-Alger Memorial Library was installed in Detroit’s American Legion Home, January 1951.

-A large bronze commemorative plaque was affixed to the wall outside the front entrance of the original Veterans Building by Detroit’s Common (City) Council, November 11, 1934.

“The history of the life of Col. Alger is an example of the part that may be played for good by a man of honor and conscience and in the finest sense of the word, a gentleman. The death of Frederick M. Alger leaves a sad gap in the citizenry of Detroit and Michigan.”

--The Detroit News, January 1, 1934

To learn more about the history of The War Memorial and the Alger Family, please contact Betsy at  balexander@warmemorial.org to schedule a tour.