When Rodgers Ruled The Air: Part I

The story of how a scion of Havre de Grace’s storied Rodgers family became the first man to fly across America

Part I "An aristocracy of heroes"

Most folks in Havre de Grace know the story of Captain John Rodgers, the commander of the USS Constitution “Old Ironsides” in the , or the story of his equally famous son-in-law, Matthew C. Perry, who introduced steam to the US Navy and opened Japan to the west. And, of course, there is a on Washington Street, and another across the river.

September marked the centennial of the exploits of another Rodgers family member, Calbraith Perry Rodgers, the first man to fly across the United States. His story is a classic turn of the century adventure!

Calbraith Perry Rodgers had a difficult childhood. His father, an Army officer, was struck by lightning and killed before Calbraith was born. He contracted scarlet fever and the resultant hearing loss would rob him of his early dream, to follow his illustrious ancestors into the US Naval Academy. There had been at least one Navy man in every generation of the Rodgers family. Sadly, if Calbraith Perry Rodgers was to join what his mother described as “an aristocracy of heroes,” young Cal would have to find another route.

Cal’s hearing loss may have kept him out of the Navy, but it didn’t keep him from adventure.

He enrolled at Columbia, but his studies seems to have progressed more to sporting interests; college football played with leather helmets, motor boat racing, and yachting. He even managed to join the New York Yacht Club, the home of the America’s Cup. There he rubbed shoulders and crewed for many of the club’s millionaire members; men like W.K. Vanderbilt, John Jacob Astor IV, newspaper magnate James Gordon Bennett, and P.A. Valentine, the financial agent for J. Ogden Armour, the meat packing magnate. One on outing, he rescued young Mabel Graves, who had fallen overboard. Overboard in more ways than one, for they eventually married.

Rodgers dropped out of Columbia and lived the life of a gentleman sportsman, sailing, and motorcycle racing and generally playing the man about town. 

Meanwhile, Cal’s cousin, John, namesake of the famous captain, did pursue a naval career; and an illustrious one in his own right.  He was sent to Dayton, OH to be schooled by the Wright Brothers in the new art of flying. Rodgers would write his cousin Cal about the joy of flying, “For speed, you can’t beat flying.” That was enough for Cal!

Soon, he showed up in Dayton, learned to fly, and became the first private citizen to own a Wright Flyer. Three days after the Aero Club of America awarded Calbraith Rodgers license number 49; he entered and won a flying competition in Chicago, and pocketed a prize of over $11,000—a fortune in 1911.

Fortune smiled on Cal Rodgers in another way after his victory. The prize attracted the attention of local promoter Stewart DeKrafft, who arranged an introduction to J. Ogden Armour, the meat packing millionaire.

Cal and DeKrafft had their eyes on a bigger prize.

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Visit Patch on Tuesday for Part II of Tom's tale of Cal Rodgers.