Louis Bromfield

Louis Bromfield

Mansfield-born Pulitzer Prize novelist who came home to rebuild worn-out farmland at Malabar Farm and became a national voice for soil conservation.

Born December 27, 1896, Mansfield
Died March 18, 1956, Columbus (University Hospital)

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: December 27, 1896, Mansfield (Richland County) source
Died: March 18, 1956, Columbus (University Hospital) (Franklin County) source
Buried: Olivet Cemetery, Malabar Farm, near Lucas (Richland County) source
Also known as: Lewis Brumfield
Education: Cornell University (agriculture), Ithaca, NY, 1914
: Columbia University (journalism), New York, NY, 1916
Known as: Writer
Organizations: Malabar Farm State Park

Life story

Louis Bromfield was born in Mansfield in 1896 and spelled his name Brumfield until he changed it. He studied agriculture at Cornell and journalism at Columbia.

After World War I ambulance service he wrote novels, and won the 1927 Pulitzer for Early Autumn. He lived in France from 1925 to 1938.

He came home in 1938 to buy farms near Pleasant Valley and made Malabar Farm a showcase of soil conservation, and the setting for the 1945 Bogart and Bacall wedding.

He died in Columbus in 1956; Malabar Farm is now a state park.

Ohio ties

Mansfield (1896-1914)
birthplace and hometown through high school Richland County · source
Lucas (Pleasant Valley, Monroe Township) (1938/39-1956)
built and farmed Malabar Farm; the Big House was built in 1939 Richland County · source
Columbus (1956)
died at University Hospital Franklin County · source

Timeline

1896 Born Lewis Brumfield in Mansfield on December 27. source
1914 Entered Cornell to study agriculture but left after a semester because of family finances. source
1918 Served with the American Field Service and U.S. Army Ambulance Corps attached to French infantry, and was briefly captured by the Germans. source
1927 Won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel for Early Autumn. source
1938 In December bought about 600 acres of worn-out land in Richland County, ending the family's 1925-1938 life in France. source
1939 Built the 19-room Greek Revival Big House, designed by Mansfield architect Louis Lamoreux. source
1941 Helped found the conservation group Friends of the Land. source
1945 Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall married in the Big House entrance hall on May 21 with Bromfield as best man; he also published Pleasant Valley. source
1956 Died of multiple myeloma on March 18 at University Hospital, Columbus, and was buried on the farm. source
1957 Friends of the Land bought Malabar Farm from Bromfield's estate after Doris Duke gave $30,000 to close the $145,000 purchase. source
1972 Ohio accepted the deed to Malabar Farm in August after the Louis Bromfield Malabar Farm Foundation faced foreclosure. source
1973 Malabar Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 11. source
1976 Malabar Farm became a state park. source
1989 Inducted into the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame; a bust followed at the Ohio Department of Agriculture in 1996. source
2021 Ohio Revised Code 1546.31, effective September 30, designated 120 acres of Malabar's mature hardwood forest as the Doris Duke Woods and barred timber removal. source

What Louis is known for

Pulitzer Prize for the novel Early Autumn (1927)
Founded Malabar Farm (bought 1938) as a showcase of sustainable farming; now a state park
The Green Bay Tree (1924)
Early Autumn (1926)
The Farm (1933)
The Rains Came (1937)
Pleasant Valley (1945)
Malabar Farm (1948)

Stories

A thousand uninvited wedding guests

Bogart and Bromfield had been friends since their early days in New York, so when Bogart married Lauren Bacall on May 21, 1945, the wedding was held at Malabar Farm, with Bromfield as best man. The couple had planned to marry on the terrace. Word reportedly got out through a local telephone operator, and about a thousand uninvited people showed up in Pleasant Valley, so the ceremony moved inside to the entrance hall of the Big House. The newlyweds spent their honeymoon on the farm.

Source

Doris Duke's $30,000 check

After Bromfield died in 1956, loggers had already blazed trees in Malabar's old woods, and developers eyed the farm for a dude ranch and golf course. Friends of the Land, the conservation group Bromfield had helped found, set out to buy the farm from his estate for $145,000 by a May 1957 deadline. James Cagney and Lauren Bacall each gave $1,000, Walt Disney spoke up for the farm, and schoolchildren in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa collected pennies. The drive still fell short until Bromfield's friend Doris Duke called and sent a check for $30,000, which closed the deal. The farm put up a sign honoring her in 1957 at the edge of the woods. In 2021 Ohio law set aside 120 acres of the park's most mature hardwood forest, between Bromfield Road and State Route 95, as the Doris Duke Woods, off limits to timber removal.

Source

Guests had to work

Hollywood friends visited Malabar often, but Bromfield expected guests to pitch in on the farm. James Cagney once sold vegetables at the farm's roadside stand. When the house was full, overflow guests were sent to a local restaurant. A weekend cabin built on the land by his friend George Pugh later appeared in the film The Shawshank Redemption.

Source

Honors and things named for them

Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (1927)
French Legion of Honor
Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame (1989)

Named for Louis Bromfield

Bromfield Road (Lucas, Richland County) source

Family

spouse: Mary Appleton Wood
daughter: Ann Bromfield

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

1 Malabar Farm State Park (Big House, barns, Mount Jeez, Doris Duke Woods)
Lucas, 4050 Bromfield Road Richland County · source
2 Ohio Historical Marker 8-70, Louis Bromfield / Malabar Farm (south end of visitor parking lot)
Lucas, 4050 Bromfield Road Richland County · source
Bromfield grave, Olivet Cemetery on Malabar Farm (picket-fenced hillside plot)
Lucas Richland County · source
Malabar Inn (1820 stagecoach inn, restaurant closed July 2023) (unknown)
Lucas Richland County · source

Places in Ohio to see

Malabar Farm State Park (park)
4050 Bromfield Rd, Lucas, Richland County Lucas · Richland County · official page

Ohio places

Where Louis Bromfield was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Born: Mansfield, Richland County ZIP 44902 · Mansfield · Richland County
Lived: Lucas, Richland County (4050 Bromfield Road (Malabar Farm, Monroe Township)) ZIP 44843 · Lucas · Richland County

Myths and corrections

Things often said about Louis Bromfield, and what the record shows.

Often said Bromfield won the Croix de Guerre in the First World War.

The record He later claimed it, but French and American records contain no evidence of the award. source

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

Photo of the wedding of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in 1945. Caption reads as follows:Bogart–Bacall Wedd...
Public domain
Magazine illustration.
Public domain
w:en:Louis Bromfield photographed by w:en:Carl Van Vechten
Public domain
Photograph of Louis Bromfield
Public domain
Title: Portrait of Louis Bromfield Abstract: 1 photographic print : gelatin silver.
Public domain
Photograph taken on the set of The Rains Came. Pictured from left: director Clarence Brown; journalist Dorothy...
Public domain
Poster - Brigham Young - Directed by Henry Hathaway (1940), with Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell and Dean Jagger
Public domain
The front cover of Early Autumn (1926), first found on page 1 of scan. No caption provided.
Public domain
1927 Pulitzer Prize winner
Public domain
The front cover of A Good Woman (1927), first found on page 1 of scan. No caption provided.
Public domain
The front cover of Possession (1926), first found on page 1 of scan. No caption provided.
Public domain