Who was Chester Kellogg?
Chester Kellogg offered $3000 toward the project of a new school house and town offices for the Town of Granby MA, if they would raise the balance of the estimated $7000 cost. When a wrangle came over the building site, Mr. Kellogg bought the Fay lot in the center of town, and conditioned his $3000 gift on the acceptance of that location. When the building plans proved too costly for the appropriation, Mr. Kellogg again came to the rescue, adding $1000 to his gift.
Four thousand dollars was a size-able donation for 1889, which equates to $109,440 in today's dollar value (using a CPI inflation calculator; at an average inflation rate of 2.59 % per year, $100 in 1889 is equivalent in purchasing power to $2,736 in 2019, a difference of $2,636 over 130 years) . We don't know how much he paid for the 1.78 acre lot he donated.
So why would Chester Kellogg give this large donation?
Chester Kellogg
