Bill and Melinda Gates have the Gates Foundation as their legacy . Andrew Carnegie funded more than 2000 libraries . The Rockefellers change the Manhattan skyline . And Roger Babson carved some rocks in an abandoned ghost townspeople .
Roger Babson was a successful enterpriser and investor who hoard a fortune after founding Babson ’s Statistical Organization , which analyze blood and bonds and overturn the financial services manufacture . In fact , his unparalleled insight into the financial humanity mean that he wasone of the first people to predictthat the stock securities industry was going to plummet in 1929 .
When his prognostication proved true , Babson was n’t one to sit unfounded . He came up with a plan to entrust inspirational quotes on enceinte tilt in the woods in Dogtown , Massachusetts , a space where colonists , admit Babson ’s antecedent , had once settled . His original plan was dual : First , it would aid the great unwashed who were financially suffer by providing gainful employment for stonecutters in the expanse . And secondly , the inscriptions , which hecalledhis “ Life ’s Book , ” would serve to inspire those who were down on their luck — though , with no context of use , all - caps inscription like “ IF WORK STOPS VALUES DECAY , ” “ USE YOUR HEAD , ” and “ HELP MOTHER ” seem mistily heavy .
His mob thought so , too . In his autobiography , Babsonnoted :
Babson ’s phratry members were n’t the only ones who did n’t find the rocks wizard . When one of the Mason he employed carve a stone on land owned by Dogtown occupant Leila Webster Adams , she was none too felicitous . “ Just look at that horrifying thing ; just look at it ! ” shetoldreporters . “ Whoever heard of such foolish warnings ? ”
To be fair , Babson ’s legacy is n’t just rocks — he also founded Babson College , a private line of work school in Massachusetts . His other big claim to fame was his 1940 presidential streamlet . FDR ’s popularity could n’t be overcome ; Babson earned just 0.12 percent of the democratic vote . These day , he has faded into near - obscurity — but his rocks are still there . The next time you ’re in the Gloucester , Massachusetts , domain , break off by the Dogtownhiking trailsand see if you may line up all 24 of Babson ’s Boulders .
