Last updated: March 1, 2023
Person
Don Felipe Chavez
Photo courtesy of the Center for Southwest Research, University Libraries, University of New Mexico
Quick Facts
Significance:
Prominent businessman and Santa Fe Trail trader
Date of Birth:
1834
Date of Death:
1906
Don Felipe Chávez, who became known as el millonario (the millionaire) was born in 1834. A descendant of one of the most prominent families in New Mexico, he was the son of José María Chávez and Manuela Armijo. He attended the Seminario Conciliar de Guadalajara, Mexico, where he distinguished himself, receiving awards for his academic efforts, and completed his education in 1852.
He returned home and began to help his father with the management of the family’s thriving commercial operations. Four years later, he took charge of the entire business.
Chávez was able to build on the fortune he inherited from his father because he adopted a sound, flexible commercial strategy. Diversification was crucial to his success. Chávez sold American and European manufactures, raised grains and sheep, shipped wool and precious metals, bought large amounts of merchandise, purchased real estate in New York City, and acted as a banker, commissioner, wholesaler, and retailer. He maintained economic relations with merchants in Liverpool and Manchester (England), New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, El Paso, Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, and Guadalajara. He established partnerships with other New Mexicans and was an intermediary between American and Mexican wholesalers. Although he was unable to organize Río Abajo freighters into an association to obtain government contracts, he did use funds from the United States quartermaster office to finance large purchases of merchandise.
Cautious, but not overly so, he regularly requested and received information on the prices of precious metals and commodities, among other investment opportunities. He often based his decisions on the advice he received from business associates in New York, St. Louis, and Mexico. His meticulous record-keeping ensured that losses due to carelessness and mistakes were kept to a minimum. He invested capital where he could receive the highest possible return, yet he appeared to have been generous with kin and friends to whom he often lent large sums of money.
This story was adopted from the Santa Fe Trail Association’s Hall of Fame published in “SFTA Hall of Fame: Felipe Chávez.” (2015).Wagon Tracks, 30(1), p. 13.