LELAND BAXTER

signed

Real Name: Leland Baxter

Identity/Class: Human (active circa 1946-1949)

Occupation: Owner of the Leland Baxter Paper Company

Group membership: None

Affiliations: Jeff Mace (Captain America)

Enemies: None

Known Relatives: Noah Baxter (brother), Abigail "Abby" Baxter (sister-in-law), Alexandria Baxter (niece, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: New York City, New York, U.S.A.

First Mentioned: (Baxter Paper Company) The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#4 (April, 1983);
    (Noah Baxter's brother) Fantastic Four III#43 (July, 2001);
   (Leland Baxter Paper Company) Fantastic Four: First Family#3 (July, 2006);
    (Leland Baxter as a person) All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1 (October, 2009)

Powers/Abilities: Leland Baxter was wealthy and an experienced business owner

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Unrevealed

History: Little has been revealed about Leland Baxter's life before 1946.

(FF: Fifty Fantastic Years#1: Fantastic Four Headquarters entry (text)) - Leland and Noah Baxter were two wealthy brothers. Noah was an inventor and architect.

(All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1 (fb) - BTS) <1946> - Leland Baxter owned the Leland Baxter Paper Company and had made millions of dollars by selling paper that was used to make newspapers and comic books.

(All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1 (fb) - BTS) - Leland Baxter and Jeff Mace knew each other "a little bit" through Mace's work as a reporter.

(FF: Fifty Fantastic Years#1: Fantastic Four Headquarters entry (text)) - Leland decided that his expanding Baxter Paper Company needed a new pulp re-cycling facility to serve the mid-Manhattan area. Noah was one of the key designers of the 35-story building which had 24 foot high floors in order to accommodate the pulp recycling machinery. Although Leland and Noah were to be joint owners of the building, the fact that Noah preferred to keep a low profile led to the more self-promoting Leland becoming the public face of the project.

(All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1 (fb) - BTS / The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#4: Fantastic Four Headquarters entry (text)) <late 1946> - Construction had begun (or was about to begin) on a new building meant to serve the Leland Baxter Paper Company's operations in the mid-Manhattan area – a skyscraper that was to be called the Baxter Building.

(All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1) <late 1946> - The All-Winners Squad's headquarters in Times Square was destroyed by Madame Death in retaliation for the part they had played in causing the death of her lover, Future Man.
   The next day, as the team was discussing rebuilding their headquarters elsewhere in New York City, Captain America (Jeff Mace) mentioned that he might know of a place. He described it as "new construction" and said that the owner, who he knew a little bit, was a civic-minded "good guy" who, in a weird way, owed the AWS because he had made his millions selling paper to newspapers and comic books. The Human Torch thought that was an excellent idea and asked Mace to look into it.

(All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1 (fb) - BTS) - Jeff Mace sent a note (or a letter) to Leland Baxter in which he explained about how the All-Winners Squad needed a new headquarters.

(All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1 (fb) - BTS) - Leland Baxter responded by sending Mace a blueprint of THE BAXTER BUILDING with the following message written on it:

Jeff -
Would LOVE to help AWS! Can
modify to their needs!
Have Cap call me!
         Leland

(Captain America: Patriot#2) <April, 1948> - The upper floors of the Baxter Building were still under construction at this time. A newspaper article stated that it was at "the corner of Madison and 42nd" and also referred to it as the Leland Baxter Building.

(The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#4: Fantastic Four Headquarters entry (text)) - "The original Baxter Building was erected in 1949, built by the Baxter Paper Company..."
(FF: Fifty Fantastic Years#1: Fantastic Four Headquarters entry (text)) - Construction of the Baxter Building began in 1948 and was completed in 1949. The building was initially known as the Leland Baxter Building.

(The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#4: Fantastic Four Headquarters entry (text) / FF: Fifty Fantastic Years#1: Fantastic Four Headquarters entry (text)) - At some point, the Baxter brothers sold the Baxter Building which was then owned by a number of corporations over the years before eventually being bought by entrepreneur Walter Collins.

(Fantastic Four I#234 (fb) - BTS) - At some point years after the founding of the Fantastic Four, a tour guidebook was published which mistakenly stated that the Baxter Building had been built in 1961 by millionaire industrialist Jackson Leigh Baxter.

Although Leland Baxter is known to have lived at least until he and Noah sold the Baxter Building, nothing else about his life since the building was completed in 1949 has been revealed.

Comments: Leland Baxter created by Karl Kesel.
   The Baxter Paper Company created by the staff of the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (led by Head Writer Mark Gruenwald).
   Renamed the Leland Baxter Paper Company by Joe Casey.

   Although Joe Casey technically "created" Leland Baxter when he renamed the Baxter Paper Company, his story didn't treat the character as anything other than a name. In contrast, Karl Kesel's story, although not depicting him on-panel, did make Leland Baxter more of a character by providing some information about his life and making him, via that note, someone who had a BTS effect on the story, so that's why I listed Kesel as Leland's creator.

map

Baxter Building data
   Although I will definitely NOT be doing a profile on the Baxter Building itself, here are some interesting facts about its history, listed in the order in which they were revealed:

  1. The Fantastic Four's "secret headquarters" first appeared (without being named) in Fantastic Four I#3 (March, 1962). At that time, the FF stated that they "own(ed) the entire tower of this building."
  2. The name of the "great skyscraper" which housed the Fantastic Four's headquarters was first established as being the Baxter Building in Fantastic Four I#6 (September, 1962).
  3. In Fantastic Four I#9 (December, 1962), the FF were forced to "sell this skyscraper building of ours" in order to pay their bills. However, by the end of that issue they were back in the building (apparently as tenants).
  4. As of Fantastic Four I#111 (June, 1971), the Fantastic Four had a landlord (not identified as "Collins" until issue #114) who wanted to break their lease and evict them. Oddly, Mister Fantastic mentioned that it was this landlord who "first built this place."
  5. In Fantastic Four I#234 (September, 1981), a guidebook being read by sightseer L.R. "Skip" Collins stated that "The Baxter Building, renowned as the headquarters of the Fantastic Four, was built in 1961 by millionaire industrialist Jackson Leigh Baxter."
  6. Fantastic Four I#244 (July, 1982) confirmed that the FF had been "forced by bankruptcy to sell (their) headquarters to (Walter) Collins" and that that had occurred "Way back in issue #9!"
  7. The "Fantastic Four Headquarters" entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#4 (April, 1983) states that "The original Baxter Building was erected in 1949, built by the Baxter Paper Company and since owned by a number of other corporations, the last being Reed Richards." An image shows that the building was on "38th Street" (but I'm not aware of that address ever being used in any story).
  8. In Fantastic Four III#39 (March, 2001), a vacant lot in New York City at "42th [sic] Street and Madison Avenue" was suddenly filled when the new Baxter Building was lowered onto the site from space.
  9. In Fantastic Four III#43 (July, 2001), when talking about the first Baxter Building, Johnny Storm stated that Noah Baxter "and his brother originally owned this place."
  10. Fantastic Four: First Family#3 (July, 2006) established that the Baxter Building was at "42nd and Madison" and that it had been built in the Forties by the Leland Baxter Paper Company. A map clarified that "42nd" was "E. 42ND ST" but the map also placed the Baxter Building a block to the east of Grand Central Station even though Madison Avenue is actually to the west of that station. Ooops?
  11. The "Fantastic Four" entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z#4 TPB (September, 2008) stated that "the Baxter Building was originally built and owned by the Baxter brothers, most notably Reed's old college mentor Noah Baxter."
  12. All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1 (October, 2009) revealed that the All-Winners Squad headquarters in Times Square was destroyed in late 1946 by Madame Death. The next day, Captain America (Jeff Mace) mentioned that he might know a place that could be their headquarters in NYC. Mace stated that it was "new construction" and that he knew the owner who had "made his millions selling paper to newspapers and comic books." That owner was Leland Baxter, the project was THE BAXTER BUILDING and the client was The Leland Baxter Paper Company.
  13. Captain America: Patriot#2 (November, 2010) confirmed that in April of 1948 the Leland Baxter Building was in the process of being built on "the corner of Madison and 42nd" and that it was intended to be the "future home" for the All-Winners Squad.
  14. The "Fantastic Four Headquarters" entry in FF: Fifty Fantastic Years#1 (November, 2011) stated that the construction of the original Baxter Building began at the corner of Madison & 42nd in 1948, and was completed in 1949. Initially known as the Leland Baxter Building, it was jointly owned by wealthy brothers Leland and Noah Baxter. The brothers eventually sold the building which then passed through various corporate hands until it was bought by Walter Collins.
  15. Marvel Fact Files #1 (2013) - This issue's profile on the Baxter Building states that "The original Baxter Building was built in 1949 by Jackson Leigh Baxter of the Leland Baxter Paper Company."

   The Baxter Building's location is marked on the maps of Manhattan that were presented in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#7 and The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe II#8. Unfortunately, there are a number of inconsistencies between the two maps, with various structures being depicted as being at different locations. Furthermore, the one map that includes streets shows the Baxter Building as being on Lexington Avenue, about 2/3 of the way up from 42nd Street to 57th Street, which would place it on or near 52nd Street, right?

   Maps that have been published more recently may have presented the Baxter Building's location more accurately.

Leland Baxter's relationship to Noah Baxter
   Noah Baxter appeared in Fantastic Four III#36-44 where he was revealed to be a long-time friend and former teacher of Reed Richards who Noah described as being his "first real star pupil." According to Johnny Storm, Noah "and his brother originally owned" the Baxter Building. Is this plausible?

   Noah Baxter first appeared in Fantastic Four III#36 (December, 2000). The fact that he was one of Reed's mentors back in college suggests that he was maybe 20 years older than Reed who had already celebrated his "40th" birthday in Fantastic Four I#271 (October, 1984). So, if one assumes that Noah was at least 60 years old in 2000, that would give him a birth year of 1940 at the latest. This would be consistent with Noah being the younger brother of the Leland Baxter who was an adult in 1946.

   However, the fact that the Prime Marvel Universe (Reality-616) uses a Sliding Timescale while the construction of the original Baxter Building is firmly tied to the year 1949 could cause problems. So, perhaps Leland and Noah were actually separated by (at least) a generation? Maybe Noah's brother, with whom he "originally" co-owned the Baxter Building, was not Leland? And maybe Noah and his (unidentified) brother were the sons (or nephews) of Leland Baxter, or at least his heirs? In this context, Johnny's use of the term "originally" would simply mean that the Baxter brothers owned the Baxter Building before Reed bought it and not that they had owned it from the time it was first built.

   The Noah Baxter character has an Appendix entry in 2004 Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 1 Fantastic Four. Presumably this entry might clarify how he and Leland Baxter were related. However, since I've never read or even seen a copy of this book, I can only hope that someone who is familiar with it can fill in the blanks.
    Sorry, not much info there: "Longtime MF friend, works on space station, designed second Baxter Building."...abbreviations were used to maximize the content in the limited space we had...MF obviously refers to Mr. Fantastic...at least in this case...
    --Snood
   As explained below, I was recently alerted to the fact that Leland and Noah had been retroactively confirmed to be brothers in several handbook entries which I had not previously reviewed when researching this profile.

What about Jackson Leigh Baxter?
   I was recently contacted by Copeinator123 from the Marvel Database wiki who, while going through the Marvel Fact Files profiles, had discovered the "interesting statement" that the original Baxter Building had been built in 1949 by Jackson Leigh Baxter of the Leland Baxter Paper Company. He knew that Snood had previously noted that he counted the Fact Files as somewhat official and thought that I might have to rewrite my profile on Leland Baxter. He suggested that, unless I had another source for the name Leland Baxter, it might have been that the company was a combination of a guy named Leland and Jackson Leigh Baxter.
   My initial reaction was one of skepticism. Before reading his message, I had never heard of this Jackson Leigh Baxter (or so I thought). I stated that I had never read any of those Marvel Fact Files but the Leland Baxter name was first mentioned in 2006 and the fact that he was the person who built the Baxter Building had been established in 2009. Since I had no idea why the writer of that Fact File would have chosen to change the builder's name, I suggested that it was a continuity mistake by a quasi-official source that should be ignored.
   A few hours later, Copeinator123 responded and revealed that he had done some further digging and found that the name had actually first appeared in Fantastic Four I#234 as information that existed in-universe as part of a tour guide book. He suggested that that meant that either the tour guide book was wrong about who built the Baxter Building or Leland Baxter wasn't the builder.
   I was quite surprised by this information but when I looked up that issue myself, I realized that it was familiar to me. Even though I had forgotten what had been revealed, I did recall taking notice of the revelation that John Byrne had made when I read the story back in 1981. With this new information, a retcon had clearly been made by the writers of the first Official Handbook but there was no clue as to whether it was a deliberate choice or an accidental oversight. I felt that it was not "Robert Bruce Banner" type of situation and that the simpler solution (i.e., that the tour guide book had gotten some of its "facts" wrong) was better than more elaborate explanations (like maybe Leland Baxter later changed his name to Jackson Leigh Baxter, or vice versa, or maybe one of the Baxters was the son of the other and completed the building after his father died).

   A few hours later, Copeinator123 suggested the following six ways in which the different names could be explained:
1. Assuming everything is correct, including the 1961 date, we have the Leland Baxter Paper Company creating the building in 1949 with Leland Baxter being the sole creator and this was renovated in 1961 by Jackson Baxter (presumed relative).
2. Everything is correct but the 1961 date and the building was created by the Leland Baxter Paper Company with financial help from industrialist Jackson Baxter (presumed relative).
3. Leland was a separate person and actually the surname (something like a Stanley Leland) and the Leland Baxter Paper Company is the company which formed between the XX Leland and Jackson Baxter who built the building together.
4. Leland Baxter is a pseudonym of Jackson Baxter (albeit a terrible one).
5. The guide book was wrong and there is no Jackson.
6. Writer Karl Kesel was wrong and there is no Leland

   The following day, Copeinator123 contacted me again and sent me a scan of part of a profile from 2011's FF: Fifty Fantastic Years#1 which stated that Leland and Noah Baxter were wealthy brothers who jointly owned the Baxter Building. This one-shot was something that I had completely overlooked when researching Leland Baxter but the information it provided made two things very apparent. First, I would definitely have to rewrite my profile on Leland Baxter and second, the fact that "Jackson Leigh Baxter" was again NOT mentioned as the builder of the Baxter Building would seem to further discredit that reference in Fantastic Four #234. It seemed to me that we were back to the idea that that name was just an error in the tourist guidebook that "Skip" Collins was reading.

   Later, I came across a reference to how Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #4 confirmed (in 2008) that, in the modern age, the Baxter Building had been partially owned by Noah Baxter until he sold the top six floors to Reed. Since this contradicted what the FFFFY profile said about the Baxter brothers having sold long before Reed had bought the upper floors, I managed to find that TPB online and discovered that it actually only stated that the Baxter Building was originally built and owned by the Baxter brothers.

   So now, finally, the research is complete and the true facts have been revealed. At least, until the Sliding Timescale makes the idea that the Noah Baxter who was Reed's mentor in college could have been an adult back in 1948 unworkable.

Profile by Donald Campbell.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Leland Baxter is (or was) a close relative of

However, Leland Baxter has no known connections to:

Leland Baxter Paper Company

   The company that authorized and financed the construction of the mid-Manhattan skyscraper known as the Baxter Building. Although first mentioned in official texts from 1983, little additional information has been revealed about the company since then so much of the data presented in this sub-profile will necessarily be things that have been inferred instead of explicitly stated.

   The Leland Baxter Paper Company is known to have been operating in 1946 at which time the owner was Leland Baxter. It has not been revealed if Leland Baxter had founded the company that bore his name or if he acquired the company and then changed its name. The fact that Leland Baxter was said to have "made his millions" by selling paper indicates that the company had been in business for at least several years, suggesting that Baxter had founded (or acquired) the company in the early 1940s or even earlier, possibly in the 1930s or 1920s.

   The Leland Baxter Paper Company is known to have sold paper that was used in newspapers and comic books, indicating that it primarily sold low-cost newsprint. If the company actually manufactured the paper that it sold, as it presumably did, then it should be more properly classified as a "pulp and paper company."

   At some point before 1946, the management of the Leland Baxter Paper Company (which may have just been Leland) decided that they needed a new pulp re-cycling facility to serve the mid-Manhattan area. Accordingly, the lot at the corner of Madison Avenue and 42nd Street was purchased and an architectural firm was hired to design a building that could accommodate the pulp re-cycling machinery. Leland Baxter's brother Noah, an inventor and architect, was one of the key designers of the building of which the two brothers were to have joint ownership. The design was notable because it was the first application of steel beam "K bracing" that was meant to provide unprecedented strength that would make the building one of the strongest structures of its kind. Once the plans had been completed and approved, whatever structure existed on the lot was demolished and a construction company was contracted to build the new facility.

   By late 1946, construction on the new building had either begun or was about to begin when Leland Baxter was contacted by reporter Jeff Mace on behalf of Captain America who was looking for a structure that could house a new headquarters for the All-Winners Squad team. The civic-minded Leland enthusiastically agreed to help the AWS, sent Mace the blueprints for the Baxter Building and offered to modify the plans to fit the needs of the team. However, what modifications were ultimately made, if any, have never been revealed.

   By April of 1948 the lower floors of the Baxter Building were apparently completed but the upper floors were still being built. A newspaper article's headline referred to the Baxter Building as the future home of the All-Winners Squad but the article itself referred to it as the Leland Baxter Building. The building was completed in 1949 and the All-Winners Squad were tenants until the team disbanded in February of 1950.

   At some point, the name of the company was changed to the Baxter Paper Company. This change was presumably prompted by the retirement (or death) of Leland Baxter but the cause has never been confirmed.

   At some point, the Baxter brothers sold the Baxter Building to a corporation whose name has never been revealed. Presumably the Baxter Paper Company had relocated their operations elsewhere prior to the sale but this has not been confirmed. It's possible that the company simply ceased operating out of the building as a result of downsizing.

   The current status of the Baxter Paper Company is unrevealed. It may still be operating or it could have been acquired by another company or it could have just gone out of business.

--Data from: The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#4: Fantastic Four Headquarters entry (text)/Fantastic Four: First Family#3 (fb) - BTS/All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1 - BTS/FF: Fifty Fantastic Years#1: Fantastic Four Headquarters entry (text)

images: (without ads)
All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1, page 24, panel 5 (blueprint)
Fantastic Four: First Family#3, page 22, panel 1 (map)

Mentions:
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#4 (April, 1983)
Fantastic Four: First Family#3 (July, 2006) - Joe Casey (writer), Chris Weston (pencils), Gary Erskine (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1 (October, 2009) - Karl Kesel (writer), Steve Uy (artist), Jeanine Schaefer (associate editor), Tom Brevoort (executive editor)
Captain America: Patriot#2 (November, 2010) - Karl Kesel (writer), Mitch Breitweiser (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
FF: Fifty Fantastic Years#1 (November, 2011)

First Posted: 05/02/2020
Last updated: 10/15/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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