Lucien C. Warner Papers

Lucien Calvin Warner, son of Alonzo and Lydia Converse Warner, was born in Cuyler, New York, on October 26, 1841. He attended school in Lincklaen, New York and Dehuyter Academy in Cortland, New York, before entering the Oberlin Preparatory School in 1860. In 1861, he enrolled in Oberlin College, graduating in 1865. During his junior year, he served one hundred days of emergency war service as a sergeant in the 150th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

Lucien earned his MD at New York University in 1867 and spent the following six years giving lectures on health-related issues throughout the United States. Oberlin College granted him an honorary Master’s degree in 1870.

Dr. Warner settled in New York City in 1873. Warner’s intent was to practice medicine, but his strong inclination for the business world led him to abandon a medical career in favor of entrepreneurship. With his brother, Dr. Ira DeVer Warner, he founded Warner Brothers. The company advertised its women’s corsets as less physically harmful than those previously available.

Warner Brothers was initially located in McGraw, New York. Later, the manufacturing division moved to Bridgeport, CT, and the office headquarters to New York City. In 1900, the brothers also organized Warner Chemical Co. Lucien was its Chairman of the Board of Directors at the time of his death in July of 1925.

In 1873, Lucien began what would be fifty-two years of service to Oberlin College as a member of the Board of Trustees. At the semi-annual meeting of the Board in June 1923, a gold Medallion was presented to him in recognition of his work and continual popularity with the alumni.

Dr. Warner married Karen Osborne (1849-1933) in 1868. The Warners gave repeatedly and generously to Oberlin College throughout their lives. The most notable of their material gifts were Warner Hall for the Conservatory of Music (1884-1887) and Warner Gymnasium for Men (1901 and 1912).

Lucien Warner served in several philanthropic and religious organizations. For fifteen years, he was Chairman of the International Committee of the Y.M.C.A.; for eighteen years, President of the Congregational Church Building Society; for thirty-three years, member of the Executive Committee of the American Missionary Association. Lucien was also a member and officer in the Broadway Tabernacle Church. He served as chairman of the Commission of the Congressional World Movement. In recognition of this public service, Oberlin College granted to him the Doctor of Laws in 1900. New York University conferred the same degree on him in 1917.

He died on July 30, 1925, at his home in New York City. His wife and four children survived him. All of the children studied at Oberlin College, three graduating: Agnes Warner Mastick (1872-1963), 1892; Franklin H. Warner (1875-1962), 1898; Lucien T. Warner (1877-1950), 1898 (member of Board of Trustees), and Elizabeth C. Warner Gallowher (1879-1952), enrolled 1896-97.

Sources Consulted

Student File and Trustee File in Alumni Records (RG 28).