How opium addiction in China paid for this Connecticut landmark

Samuel Russell’s Opium Empire from Middletown to Canton

Samuel Russell lost his parents at age 12 and started as a clerk in Middletown. By 1819, he sailed to Canton and soon built an empire on banned goods.

His ships, marked with blue and white flags, smuggled Turkish and Bengal opium into China despite strict laws. In just a few years, Russell moved nearly 1,500 chests of opium yearly, worth about $2 million.

He then came home in 1836 to enjoy his wealth, building a grand Greek Revival mansion that still stands in Middletown today. The Russell House remains a stark reminder of fortune built on addiction half a world away.

A 12-Year-Old Boy Starts His Journey in Maritime Trade

Samuel Russell was born August 25, 1789, in Middletown, Connecticut. His parents, Captain John Russell and Abigail Warner Russell, both died when he was just 12.

Left poor with no college education, young Samuel started as an apprentice clerk for Whittlesley & Alsop, a local merchant company. He learned trading basics during these years.

After finishing his apprenticeship, Samuel moved to New York in 1810, hoping to succeed in shipping.

Commission Work Pays Off for the Young Trader

Samuel worked as a supercargo for Hull & Griswold from 1812 onward, traveling on ships and earning money by trading cargo.

This job paid him enough to start Russell & Company, working as a commission trader for Hull & Griswold. He based this early business in his hometown of Middletown.

Through his work, Samuel built a good name in maritime trade. The money in China trade caught his eye, as everyone knew it brought big profits.

Providence Merchants Spot Talent in Young Russell

In 1818, several Providence businessmen offered Samuel a deal he couldn’t turn down. Edward C. Carrington, Cyrus Butler, and the Hoppin brothers (Benjamin and Thomas) wanted him to run their new firm in Canton, China.

They named it Samuel Russell & Company.

The deal gave Samuel a five-year contract with shared profits, and he didn’t need to put up any money. His job was to live in Canton and run the trade house while the merchants brought in business.

Canton Opens Doors to Illegal Drug Profits

Samuel arrived in Canton in 1819 at age 29 and set up shop as a trader.

While working for Edward Carrington & Company, he sold various goods including opium, which made lots of money despite Chinese laws against it.

Foreign merchants who smuggled opium stayed safe because Chinese law couldn’t touch them in the foreign quarter of Canton. This area became a base for Americans bringing Turkish and Indian opium into China.

The Providence merchants put up $20,000 to start the company.

Money Troubles Hit the Young Company Hard

By 1820, Samuel’s company felt the pain of the Panic of 1819, an economic crash that lasted until the mid-1820s.

Samuel Russell & Co. struggled as trade slowed across America. The tough times caused partners Cyrus Butler and Edward Carrington to leave the business in 1823.

Only Samuel and the Hoppin brothers stayed in Canton during these hard years. The company changed how it did business to stay alive during the money crunch.

Breaking Free to Build a Smuggling Empire

After his five-year contract ended in January 1824, Samuel teamed up with factory owner Phillip Ammidon. Together they created Russell & Company as a fully independent business, free from the Providence merchants.

They jumped into the opium trade right away, with Ammidon sailing to India to buy opium. For the first year, they worked only as middlemen for trade between China and America.

The two partners split their time, with one always staying at their Canton headquarters to keep things running.

Two Rival Companies Join Forces to Control the Market

Russell & Co. merged with Perkins & Company in 1830 after the founder died.

John Perkins Cushing agreed to the terms, joining two of the biggest American opium traders.

Samuel and Cushing both left Canton for Boston in August 1831, putting Augustine Heard and Abiel Low in charge of daily work. The merger made Russell & Co. the top American business house in East Asia.

Now they had all the resources and connections they needed to control American opium smuggling in China.

Blue and White Flags Mark Ships Full of Illegal Drugs

Between 1818 and 1831, Samuel built his fortune by smuggling Turkish and Bengal opium into Canton.

His clipper ships, flying blue and white triangle flags, carried American silver dollars and opium to trade for Chinese goods. By the late 1820s, Russell’s operation moved around 1,500 chests of opium yearly into Canton.

Each chest held about 140 pounds of opium, worth about $2 million by 1830.

American smugglers handled about one-third of all the opium used in China by 1818, competing with the British East India Company.

Samuel Walks Away at the Perfect Time

Samuel left Russell & Company in 1836 after spending 18 years in the Canton opium trade. The company made over $400,000 in profit from 1834 to 1836, about $133,000 yearly.

By 1842, Russell & Co. grew into the largest American trading house in China until it closed in 1891.

Samuel went back to America a rich man, letting younger partners take over.

He timed his exit well, leaving before tensions between China and Western powers over the opium trade got worse.

Drug Money Builds a Greek Temple in Connecticut

While still in Canton in 1828, Samuel hired architect Ithiel Town to design a mansion in Middletown.

He asked his wife Frances and friend Samuel Hubbard to watch over the building of what he called a “plain handsome neat” home.

Hubbard brought in Town to create an elaborate Greek Revival mansion that looked like a Greek temple.

The house featured six Corinthian columns taken from the failed New Haven Eagle Bank and hauled by oxcart to the building site.

The finished home set a new standard for luxury on High Street, which Charles Dickens reportedly called the most beautiful street in America.

Opium Fortune Creates a Lasting Legacy

Samuel first saw his completed mansion in summer 1831 from the deck of a sloop on the Connecticut River.

His house became one of the first mansions built to look like a Greek temple, helping launch the popular Greek Revival architectural style.

Inside, he decorated with Chinese souvenirs, antiques, and gifts from his Chinese trade partner Howqua.

Samuel lived in this mansion until he died in 1862, the house standing as a monument to wealth built on China’s opium addiction crisis.

The house stayed in the Russell family for five generations before Wesleyan University took it over in 1937.

Visiting Samuel Russell House, Connecticut

The Samuel Russell House at 350 High Street on Wesleyan University’s campus now houses the Philosophy Department.

You can join campus tours Monday through Sunday with advance registration to see the Greek Revival mansion filled with period antiques.

The building hosts Distinguished Writers lectures on Wednesdays at 6pm during the academic year and serves as an event space for up to 100 people.

Currently, no signage mentions Russell’s opium trading history that funded the mansion’s construction.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• After Pequot War massacres, one sachem’s desperate deal with English colonists
• This state executed more “witches” than Salem and nobody talks about it
• Harlem’s all-black opera cast that made Broadway history in 1934