Leander, his wife and children fled their burning home in the early morning hours. They moved to the west side of the city for the next several years. The McCormicks, under Leander's direction, quickly rebuilt and recovered. By 1879, the business had fully recovered and was merged into a corporation. Leander stayed active in the management of the business until his retirement in 1889. Later life After retiring from the business, McCormick then invested heavily in real estate. In his later years, McCormick remained in Chicago and began to research the McCormick genealogy. He eventually produced and published a book on the McCormick family. In 1889 he funded construction of the Virginia Hotel at Rush and Ohio, where McCormick spent the rest of his life. The 400-room hotel was advertised as "an absolutely fire-proof building and a finished hotel second to no other." The hotel featured ornate granite interiors decorated with marble statues, separate "gentlemen's smoking room" and "ladies dining room", and a room of boilers and dynamos to offer the latest technology: electric lights. It was ready in time for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. At the time of his death in 1900, he had extensive holdings in downtown Chicago, and a stock farm in Lake Forest, Illinois. McCormick donated funds for a refracting telescope to the University of Virginia. The telescope and building are known as McCormick Observatory and opened in 1885; the telescope was the largest in the U.S. and second largest in the world when completed. Personal life On October 22, 1845, at age 26, McCormick married Henrietta Maria Hamilton at her parents' homestead, Locust Hill, in Rockbridge County. Henrietta was the daughter of John Hamilton (1789–1825). Together, Henrietta and Leander were the parents of four children: Robert Hall McCormick II (1847–1917), who married Sarah Lord Day on June 1, 1871. Elizabeth Maria McCormick (1850–1853), who died young. Henrietta Laura McCormick (1857–1932), who married British barrister Frederick E. McCormick-Goodhart (1854–1924) on November 14, 1883, established a estate northeast of Washington D.C. known as Langley Park. She published a memoir titled Hands across the sea. Leander Hamilton McCormick (1859–1934), who married Constance Plummer on February 14, 1887. His wife died in November 1899, and he died on February 20, 1900, at the Virginia Hotel. His eldest son became executor of the estate. Family tree References External links 1819 births 1900 deaths 19th-century American inventors Businesspeople from Chicago