Charles Jasper Glidden

Charles Glidden began working at age 16 and quickly rose to positions of major importance in the telegraph and telephone company. This enabled him to retire at age forty three, as a very wealthy man. He fell in love with the automobile. Purchasing a car in Europe in 1901, he and his wife traveled the continent in a party of three that included a mechanic. In the next eight years, they traveled all over the world, more than 46,000 miles through 39 countries. In this country, automobile owners realized the advantages of banding together to promote fairer laws, better roads, and safety. Glidden led the first group to travel by car to the World’s Fair in St. Louis in 1904. Yearly tours were held, and Glidden donated and awarded prizes. He was a “pioneer in all methods of transportation and communication including the telegraph, telephone, radio, automobile, balloon, and airplane”. (In Lowell, major automobile races were held along Pawtucket Boulevard in the early party of the 20th century.) Glidden and his wife Emma, who died in 1931, are buried in one of the largest lots with only a very simple marker.