Fortune began his career in Indianapolis in 1882 as a newspaper reporter and later published a paving industry trade magazine. From 1910 to 1924 he served as president of a group of independent telephone companies. From 1913 to 1927 Fortune served as a member of the board of directors of
Eli Lilly and Company. Fortune also took an active role in supporting and promoting the development of the city. Fortune was active as a member of the Indianapolis Commercial Club, led efforts to elevate railroad tracks in the city, founded a local chapter of the
American Red Cross, participated in community fundraising efforts, and became an advocate for paving Indianapolis streets and the
Good Roads Movement, among other business and civic interests.
Journalist, editor, and publisher Fortune began training for a career in newspaper publishing as a young teen when he apprenticed at the
Standard, a Boonville, Indiana, newspaper. He moved to Indianapolis in 1882 to become a news reporter for the
Indianapolis Journal. Fortune also worked as city editor at the
Journal before resigning in 1888 due to poor health. During Benjamin Harrison's presidential campaign in 1888, Fortune worked as a local political correspondent for the
New-York Tribune, the
Philadelphia Press, and the
Chicago Tribune. Through his work as a journalist, Fortune became friends with notable residents of Indianapolis that included writers such as
James Whitcomb Riley and
Meredith Nicholson and influential business leaders that included Colonel
Eli Lilly and
Josiah K. Lilly Sr. In 1888 Fortune continued a career in journalism during a brief stint as editor of the weekly
Sunday Press before joining the
Indianapolis News in 1889 as a reporter and editorial writer for the next two years. In 1890 Fortune and several other journalists founded the Indianapolis Press Club, which remained active for twenty-five years. Fortune also served as its first president. Fortune, a longtime advocate of civic improvement, became especially interested in paving city streets and municipal sanitation. From 1890 to 1911 he was publisher and manager of a paving industry trade magazine called
Paving and Municipal Engineering (renamed
Municipal Engineering in 1896). Fortune turned over the operations of the publication over to his son, Russell, in 1910; it was sold in 1918. Fortune also wrote an article on the subject of paving that appeared in the October 1892 issue of
Century Magazine.
Telephone company executive From 1910 to 1924 Fortune served as president of a group of independent telephone companies that included Indianapolis Telephone Company and the New Telephone Company. On March 18, 1917, Fortune made the first Indianapolis Telephone Company call using an automatic dialing system that did not have to be routed through a central exchange (telephone operator). Fortune's call to the
Indianapolis Star on a rotary-dial phone preceded the installation of the
Bell Telephone's dialing system by several years. The Indianapolis Telephone Company's system was installed over a period of nine months at a cost of more than $1 million. Fortune also received the first incoming phone call over the Indianapolis Telephone Company's new system. Fortune also served on the company's board of directors from 1913 to 1927 and chair of its finance committee from 1916 to 1921. ==Civic leader and philanthropist==