John Munroe Longyear was a noted developer of timber and mineral lands in America and the central figure behind the Arctic Coal Company which surveyed and mined coal lands on Spitsbergen, now Svalbard, from 1905–1916. This company developed a settlement on Spitsbergen able to accommodate up to around 500 people which came to be known as Longyear City, now Longyearbyen

Longyearbyen

Longyearbyen is the largest settlement and the administrative centre of Svalbard, Norway. It is located on the western coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago, on the southern side on Adventfjorden , which continues inland with Adventdalen...

, adjacent Advent Bay

Adventfjorden

Adventfjorden is a 7 km long and 4 km wide bay on the southern side of Isfjorden, on the west coast of Spitsbergen. The name is a corruption of Adventure Bay, which was probably named after the Hull whaleship Adventure, which resorted to Isfjorden in 1656. The fjord was originally known as Klass...

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He was born in Lansing, Michigan

Lansing, Michigan

Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...

. Longyear was mayor of Marquette, Michigan

Marquette, Michigan

Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...

 in 1890–1891. He was one of the founders, ca. 1890, of the Huron Mountain Club

Huron Mountain Club

The Huron Mountain Club is a private club whose land holdings, located in Marquette County, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, constitute one of the largest tracts of primeval forest in the Great Lakes region. Formed circa 1890, the club consists of 50 dwellings clustered inside about of private...

 near Big Bay, MI. In 1906 he founded the Arctic Coal Company with long time associate Frederick Ayer

Frederick Ayer

Frederick Ayer was an American businessman and the younger brother of patent medicine tycoon Dr. James Cook Ayer. He graduated from The Hill School. In addition to his involvement in the patent medicine business, he is better known for his work in the textile industry...

 and several other small shareholders. John Munroe Longyear was the main owner of the Arctic Coal Company with headquarters in Boston, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Longyear came to Svalbard in 1901, and bought the Tronhjem Spitsbergen Kulkompani in 1904.

Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani

Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani

Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani , or simply Store Norske, is a Norwegian coal mining company based on the Svalbard archipelago. It was formed in 1916, after a Norwegian purchase of the American Arctic Coal Company ....

 started as a consortium of Norwegian investors in 1916, which purchased the Arctic Coal Company's and Ayer and Longyear's lands and operations on Spitsbergen in that year. They went on to develop major coal mining operations in the Advent Valley region and at Sveagruva, originally a Swedish coal mining operation. He died in Brookline, Massachusetts

Brookline, Massachusetts

Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...

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External links

• The Longyear Museum