Riverbank: “Laboratories unlike any on earth”
Our Riverbank Marketing Internship was named after a lab created in 1913 called Riverbank Laboratories.
Many have visited Riverbank which had a Japanese Garden, a private zoo, a Roman-style swimming pool, a lighthouse, gardens, grottoes, greenhouses, and a farm but few know how prolific the work which was done there.
“Genius scientists lived there, on his payroll, working in laboratories unlike any on earth. Celebrities made pilgrimages to get a glimpse of projects under way. Teddy Roosevelt, his personal friend. P. T. Barnum. Famous actresses. Riverbank was a place of wonders.”
It’s 1916, the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and a school teacher named Elizabeth from Indiana is visiting the Newberry library in Chicago to view a rare volume of Shakespeare’s work.
While there, she strikes up a conversation with the librarian and explains she wants to switch careers into research and the librarian connects her with an eccentric millionaire named George who is looking for researchers to help crack the code of Shakespeare’s writings.
It is believed at the time that the true author of Shakespeare’s writings is Sir Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626), a philosopher, essayist and scientist.
George believes Shakespeare’s plays contain secret messages and he invites Elizabeth to come back with him to his 350 acre estate called Riverbank. Elizabeth reluctantly agrees to spend the night at Riverbank and never leaves (for 4 years).
She meets her husband who together birth cryptology, the NSA and it all happens in our backyard, in Geneva at George’s estate, or better known as "Colonel" George Fabyan.
“Some rich men go in for art collections, gay times on the Riviera, or extravagant living, but they all get satiated. That’s why I stick to scientific experiments, spending money to discover valuable things that universities can’t afford. You can never get sick of too much knowledge.”
I’ve spent countless hours at what remains of Fabyan’s estate and never knew the history until reading “The Woman Who Smashed Code” by Jason Fagone, published in 2017.
I was reading it in 2019 when the idea of starting a marketing internship took shape. The idea that this humble spot along the Fox River could once again become a center of study and exploration of new and impactful technologies seemed an ideal local symbol for our program and “Riverbank Marketing Interns” was born.
The Riverbank NFT Art Auction
Below are pictures taken over the years at Fabyan including two with my daughter who struck up ballet poses throughout the Japanese gardens.
I find it especially intriguing how NFT’s or Non Fungible Tokens and the blockchain are shaping a new and uncharted opportunities in the digital realm. The NFT market value tripled in 2020, reaching more than $250 million. During the first quarter of 2021, NFT sales exceeded $2 billion.
It is with these opportunities that we’ll fund internship program.
