Edward R. Bradley

Edward R. Bradley

Colonel Edward Riley Bradley (December 12, 1859 – August 15, 1946) 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 are from the town of Draperstown 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. What is known is that at age fourteen, Edward Bradley was working as a roller in a steel mill before heading for Texas in 1874 to work on a ranch. During the Wild West era, legend says that he traveled about, working as a cowboy, a scout for General Nelson A. Miles during the Indian War campaigns, and was a friend of Wyatt Earp and considered Billy the Kid to be bad news.