Edward R. Bradley

Who was Edward R. Bradley?

Colonel Edward Riley Bradley was an American steel mill laborer, gold miner, businessman and philanthropist. As well as a race track proprietor, he was the preeminent owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses in the Southern United States during the first three decades of the 20th Century. Testifying before a United States Senate committee in April 1934, Bradley identified himself as a "speculator, raiser of race horses and gambler." He made the cover of TIME magazine on May 7, 1934 and in the year 2000, the Florida Department of State honored him as one of their Great Floridians.

Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania of Irish descent, there is more legend than fact concerning Bradley's early years between 1874 until his arrival in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1891. His ancestors were from Draperstown, County Londonderry, then in Ireland. His father is buried in the Sixtowns Chapel in Draperstown. By the time he had amassed a fortune in business and was being written about in newspapers and magazines across the United States, Bradley fueled the myths by revealing almost nothing about those years.