CO U RTE S Y O F T H E G R E E N W I C H H I S TO R I C A L S O C I E T Y; L I B R A RY O F CO N G R E S S
was extensive, as it included the construction of a lake as well as the building of a stone 37-room manse with an accompanying boat house, guest house, and golf course. Tod contributed to defining Greenwich as the suburb of New York that it is today: he commuted from his home to his office, J. Kennedy Tod & Co. at 45 Wall Street, and socialized at the Knickerbocker Club and the Metropolitan Club, among other clubs at which he was a member. Like many New Yorkers, he engaged in philanthropy, and was especially involved with the Presbyterian Hospital of New York as his uncle, John S. Kennedy, had been the president of its board of trustees. Often, Tod and his wife, Mary Howard Potter, would invite the staff of the hospital of New York to Innis Arden, providing a respite from New York. They developed a relationship with their visitors, including Anna Maxwell, a nurse credited with pioneering the field of nursing in the United States—she organized nurses for the SpanishAmerican War and World War I and succeeded in lobbying to award a military rank to nurses in the army. When the Tods died, he in 1925 and she in 1939, they bequeathed their estate to the Presbyterian Hospital of New York. And in 1944, the hospital accepted $550,000 for the 148.5 acres from the town, under the condition that it would be used “along dignified lines without undesirable concessions or other features which would be unattractive or objectionable to the general neighborhood or to those making use of the property for bathing and wholesome recreation.” Today, Greenwich Point is used for just that. X
This page: A current view of Greenwich Point; J. Kennedy Tod, who started the process of purchasing the property in 1884, soon renaming it “Tod’s Point” (inset). Opposite page: Tod’s pond, with black and white swans (above); another interior view of Tod’s home, circa 1910—also featuring an animal-skin rug.
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