She Built Newport's Grandest Ballroom. She Died in It Greeting Guests Who Were Not There
Velvet Society
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Tessie Fair was born in 1871 in a Nevada silver camp, the daughter of a Comstock millionaire whose wife divorced him for adultery in 1883. At 18 she married Hermann Oelrichs, 21 years her senior, and her father, who was not invited, sent a check for $1 million. With the silver fortune she built Rosecliff in Newport, a reported $2.5 million copy of the Grand Trianon wrapped around a ballroom 40 by 80 feet, the largest in Newport, and on August 19, 1904 she filled it with between 400 and 500 guests dressed in white. Two years later her husband died at sea, and his will said: "As my wife has an ample fortune of her own, I make no bequest or devise to her." In 1926 she died in the house she built for crowds, and Newport began to tell a story about who she was greeting in that empty ballroom.
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In this video we talk about the life of Tessie Fair Oelrichs of Rosecliff, including Slippery Jim Fair and the Big Bonanza, her parents' 1883 divorce and custody fight, the wedding her father paid for but could not attend, the forged pencil deeds and the fight over the Fair millions, Stanford White's Rosecliff and the day she ordered the workmen out, the White Ball and the revolt over white satin knee breeches, the marriage that became a separation, Hermann Oelrichs in the San Francisco earthquake and his death aboard the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, the will that cut her out and the court fight that followed, the triumvirate that replaced Mrs. Astor, her last two years at Rosecliff, the legend of the guests who were not there, and the $21,000 auction of her house.
🔔 Subscribe for more of the women behind the great Gilded Age houses, told in full.
💬 Comment where you're watching from and tell me what you make of the empty ballroom at Rosecliff, a memory, a borrowing from Mrs. Astor, or the ending Newport thought she deserved.
📢 Share this with anyone who loves Newport and its cottages, on Facebook, Reddit, or in your group chats. You are the reason these stories keep getting told.
Chapters:
00:00 Opening
01:19 A Silver Fortune And Slippery Jim
15:31 The Wedding Her Father Paid For
22:51 Three Funerals And A Forged Deed
30:46 She Threw The Workmen Out
45:12 The Husband Who Lived Out West
52:39 A Ballroom Full Of White Satin
1:07:50 A Liner Came In At Half Mast
1:15:03 He Left His Wife Nothing
1:22:54 The Queens Of Newport Begin To Go
1:38:13 The Guests Who Were Not There
1:45:39 Sold For The Price Of A Birthday
Sources:
Preservation Society of Newport County, Rosecliff history: https://www.newportmansions.org/mansi...
Preservation Society of Newport County Archives, Rosecliff Collection biography: https://www.riamco.org/render?eadid=U...
New-York Tribune, 20 August 1904, Mrs. Oelrichs's White Ball: https://tile.loc.gov/text-services/wo...
Minneapolis Journal, 11 September 1906, the Oelrichs will: https://tile.loc.gov/text-services/wo...
The Sun, 25 November 1906, the Oelrichs will compromise: https://tile.loc.gov/text-services/wo...
Time, 28 July 1941, The Dismantling of Newport: https://time.com/archive/6786303/hous...
California Supreme Court, In re the Estate of Fair: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion...
DISCLAIMER:
This video is based on real historical events and figures, drawn from the sources listed above alongside primary archives, biographies, court records, period press, and leading historical scholarship. While every video is heavily researched, occasional minor inaccuracies in dates, quotes, or specific details may occur — historical sources sometimes disagree, and interpretation is sometimes required where the historical record is silent. Any errors are unintentional.
#VelvetSociety #TessieOelrichs #Rosecliff #Newport #NewportMansions #GildedAge #HermannOelrichs #JamesFair #ComstockLode #StanfordWhite #WhiteBall #BalBlanc #MamieFish #AlvaBelmont #CarolineAstor #TheFourHundred #BirdieVanderbilt #SanFranciscoEarthquake #History #Documentary #AmericanHistory #WomensHistory
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She Built Newport's Grandest Ballroom. She Died in It Greeting Guests Who Were Not There
Velvet Society
8,871 views
Hey guys! We're now on Spotify 🎧
Join us here: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Cvs0yj...
Tessie Fair was born in 1871 in a Nevada silver camp, the daughter of a Comstock millionaire whose wife divorced him for adultery in 1883. At 18 she married Hermann Oelrichs, 21 years her senior, and her father, who was not invited, sent a check for $1 million. With the silver fortune she built Rosecliff in Newport, a reported $2.5 million copy of the Grand Trianon wrapped around a ballroom 40 by 80 feet, the largest in Newport, and on August 19, 1904 she filled it with between 400 and 500 guests dressed in white. Two years later her husband died at sea, and his will said: "As my wife has an ample fortune of her own, I make no bequest or devise to her." In 1926 she died in the house she built for crowds, and Newport began to tell a story about who she was greeting in that empty ballroom.
Subscribe to the channel: @velvetsociety-s7l
In this video we talk about the life of Tessie Fair Oelrichs of Rosecliff, including Slippery Jim Fair and the Big Bonanza, her parents' 1883 divorce and custody fight, the wedding her father paid for but could not attend, the forged pencil deeds and the fight over the Fair millions, Stanford White's Rosecliff and the day she ordered the workmen out, the White Ball and the revolt over white satin knee breeches, the marriage that became a separation, Hermann Oelrichs in the San Francisco earthquake and his death aboard the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, the will that cut her out and the court fight that followed, the triumvirate that replaced Mrs. Astor, her last two years at Rosecliff, the legend of the guests who were not there, and the $21,000 auction of her house.
🔔 Subscribe for more of the women behind the great Gilded Age houses, told in full.
💬 Comment where you're watching from and tell me what you make of the empty ballroom at Rosecliff, a memory, a borrowing from Mrs. Astor, or the ending Newport thought she deserved.
📢 Share this with anyone who loves Newport and its cottages, on Facebook, Reddit, or in your group chats. You are the reason these stories keep getting told.
Chapters:
00:00 Opening
01:19 A Silver Fortune And Slippery Jim
15:31 The Wedding Her Father Paid For
22:51 Three Funerals And A Forged Deed
30:46 She Threw The Workmen Out
45:12 The Husband Who Lived Out West
52:39 A Ballroom Full Of White Satin
1:07:50 A Liner Came In At Half Mast
1:15:03 He Left His Wife Nothing
1:22:54 The Queens Of Newport Begin To Go
1:38:13 The Guests Who Were Not There
1:45:39 Sold For The Price Of A Birthday
Sources:
Preservation Society of Newport County, Rosecliff history: https://www.newportmansions.org/mansi...
Preservation Society of Newport County Archives, Rosecliff Collection biography: https://www.riamco.org/render?eadid=U...
New-York Tribune, 20 August 1904, Mrs. Oelrichs's White Ball: https://tile.loc.gov/text-services/wo...
Minneapolis Journal, 11 September 1906, the Oelrichs will: https://tile.loc.gov/text-services/wo...
The Sun, 25 November 1906, the Oelrichs will compromise: https://tile.loc.gov/text-services/wo...
Time, 28 July 1941, The Dismantling of Newport: https://time.com/archive/6786303/hous...
California Supreme Court, In re the Estate of Fair: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion...
DISCLAIMER:
This video is based on real historical events and figures, drawn from the sources listed above alongside primary archives, biographies, court records, period press, and leading historical scholarship. While every video is heavily researched, occasional minor inaccuracies in dates, quotes, or specific details may occur — historical sources sometimes disagree, and interpretation is sometimes required where the historical record is silent. Any errors are unintentional.
#VelvetSociety #TessieOelrichs #Rosecliff #Newport #NewportMansions #GildedAge #HermannOelrichs #JamesFair #ComstockLode #StanfordWhite #WhiteBall #BalBlanc #MamieFish #AlvaBelmont #CarolineAstor #TheFourHundred #BirdieVanderbilt #SanFranciscoEarthquake #History #Documentary #AmericanHistory #WomensHistory