Page 322 - BWA FEB 2013

322 | Business World Magazine | February 2013
dustrial ingenuity. After establishing an en-
ergy development corporation, he went on
to invent new techniques for extracting nat-
ural gas and oil from shale deposits. Those
innovations ultimately led to commanding
of respect, attention and imitation from the
best and brightest of his industry that today
recognize George Mitchell as “The Father of
Fracking.” Yet, in Galveston, Texas, Mitchell
commands esteem as a leading City Father,
and something of a savior, but to be sure,
such notoriety isn’t simply foisted on Mitch-
ell, for this affection extends to his late wife,
Cynthia, their children and an enterprise
known as Mitchell Historic Properties. Mrs.
Mitchell brought her own flair and style to
the restoration projects and was widely re-
garded for her keen attention to detail. To
share that story, it seems fitting to note par-
ticular irony that Mitchell’s ancient name-
sake, Phidias, was never able to spare his
greatest creations (the Parthenon or Statue
of Zeus) from the ravages of time and natu-
ral disaster. But when it comes to protect-
ing, preserving and promoting appreciation
for structures deemed architecturally and
historically significant, this may be George
Phydias Mitchell’s greatest legacy.
As one of the oldest cities in a state that
once existed as a nation unto itself, the histo-
ry of Galveston is as rich and diverse as that
of early guests of its famed Tremont Hotel,
which throughout the 1800s, catered not
only to the fabulously well-to-do, but to wild
men akin to Buffalo Bill. In the heyday of its
port operations, Galveston was the pivotal
point by which the vast majority of all goods
traveled to-and-fro the SouthwesternUnited
States, making it a focal point for other wild
men in the form of pirates whose dubious
exploits were so resistant to any constraint
from authority that for a time, the area be-