H.W. Clark: H.W. Clark, the man who was known as Dad

Herbert Walter Clark, better known as H.W. Clark, was born on October 4, 1851, in Clarksburg, Massachusetts. The town had been named after his family, which came before him. By age 15, he had already attended college and received his diploma from Comer’s Commercial College in Boston, Massachusetts. He began working early at Wholesage grocery and became the grocery owner in 1876. In 1885, he built the Clark Block to grow his wholesale firm.  He was a business owner and held multiple businesses, even if they all failed, because of his devotion to his main business, H.W. Clark Biscuit Company. He was much more than just a businessman. He was the director of Berkshire Mutual Fire Insurance Company and played a large role in the banks in the city of North Adams. He was elected to North Adams first City Council and he member on an advisory board for Drury High School.  He was so well-known in the community that the town gave him the nickname Dad. He even had it engraved on his stationery. He gave a large amount of money for various projects for the city. He donated money to the First Baptist Church, where he was a deacon and on the board of trustees. He contributions to the church totaled around $50,000. He also endowed the YMCA and was president of the North Adams Hospital, and he insisted that all bills should be paid on time, and if not, he paid them privately out of his pocket. He built a survival building worth $30,000 and the H.W. Clark Nurses Home for $110,000, with another $10,000 for its upkeep. His total known contributions are around $200,000, or around $6 million in today's money for the hospital. He died on April 19th, 1935, and many of the city's businesses were closed in respect. City Hall shut down and more than 1,000 people crowded into the church for his funeral. He was then transported to the Southview cemetery and laid to rest in the Clark Family mausoleum.