• Trinity Church ( New York , NY )
• Trinity Church ( Newport , RI )
• Young Men ’ s Christian Association ( New York , NY )
• Young Women ’ s Christian Association of the City of New York ( New York , NY )
Hospitals and Charitable Institutions
• American National Red Cross ( Washington , DC )
• The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ( New York , NY )
• Beekman-Downtown Hospital ( New York , NY )
• Bide-A-Wee Home Association ( New York , NY )
• Hospital for Joint Diseases ( New York , NY )
• Institute for Crippled and Disabled ( New York , NY )
• Lenox Hill Hospital ( New York , NY )
• Memorial Hospital of Green County ( Catskill , NY )
• Miriam Osborn Memorial Home Association ( Harrison , NY )
• New York University – Bellevue Medical Center ( New York , NY )
• New York Women ’ s League for Animals ( New York , NY )
• Peabody Home for Aged and Indigent Women ( Bronx , NY )
• Rockingham Hospital Association ( Bellows Falls , VT )
• St . Luke ’ s Home for Aged Women ( New York , NY )
• St . Luke ’ s Hospital ( New York NY )
• St . Luke ’ s Hospital ( New Bedford , MA )
• The Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospitals ( New York , NY )
• The Johns Hopkins Hospital ( Baltimore , MD )
• The Massachusetts General Hospital ( Boston , MA )
• The New York Society for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled
• The Roosevelt Hospital ( New York , NY )
• The Society of the New York Hospital ( New York , NY )
• Women ’ s Hospital ( New York , NY )
Bethany Bengtson is pictured with the will of Sylvia Green Wilks .
A Tale Worth Re-Telling
“ She was always merry , even to the last , and she had one of the sweetest smiles I have ever seen . She was always smiling , too , except when telling how she had got the best of J . P . Morgan , the elder , or some other Wall Street giant . Then she would look at you solemnly and slowly close one eye in the slyest , most mischievous wink .”
— Friend of Hetty Green
The financial history of the United States includes many memorable acts of heroes and villains . Occasionally , historians mistake villains for heroes and heroes for villains . Hetty Green is perhaps the most extreme example of the latter . She tamed the lawless markets of the Gilded Age in the face of formidable headwinds that only threatened women who dared to seize the helm . She offered desperately needed aid at below market rates when the entire financial system approached the brink of failure . She charmed neighbors with her modesty , caregiving and wry sense of humor , thereby bringing joy to their lives .
Hetty Green ’ s tradition of quiet public service continues today . Fifteen educational institutions provide formal training in business , finance and countless other
14 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Winter 2025 | www . MoAF . org