modern interior design yakima
male voiceover: funding forglensheen and the congdon legacy is provided bythe citizens of minnesota through the minnesota artsand cultural heritage fund. narrator: a gentle slopeleads to the water's edge. the broad expanseof lake superior reaches far beyond the eye. the nearby cliffs are a reminderof the big lake's power, yet on this stretch,access to the shoreline is across a pebbly beach.
it's here that chesterand clara congdon decided to put down roots, tobuild their home place, modeled after an english country estate. the jacobean stylemansion, glensheen, built more than acentury ago, stands today as a timeless tributeto the american dream, a dream built on hardwork, fortunate timing, and a relentlesspursuit of knowledge. tony dierckins:basically, chester congdon
spent his life becoming anexpert at what he wanted to do. when he didn't want tobe a school principal, he became an expert lawyer. when he got into oliver mining,he became an expert in mines. narrator: glensheen mansionis more than a structure of concrete and steel. it's a connection to a city'shistory and development. through every season andthe passing of years, glensheen standsthe test of time,
a fitting tributeto a family that gave so much to the region. female speaker: so he providedthe money to get the land. he provided thelandscape design for it, and so in 1908, the city namedthe park after mr. congdon. that's why we havecongdon park now. narrator: today thousandsvisit the house and its grounds every year, making glensheenthe number one house museum in minnesota.
the understated graceand beauty of the estate impresses as much todayas it did 100 years ago. well, you have a lot ofgrand homes in minnesota, but there are a fewthat really showcase the talents of our state betterthan this grand mansion here. narrator: more than acentury after it was built, visitors continue to marvel atthis true minnesota original, and they want to learnmore about the people who lived here, the staffwho served them,
and the continuing legacyof glensheen and the congdon family. in 1853, the lakesuperior region was the western frontier,and duluth, nothing more than a small settlement. that same year,chester adgate congdon was born in this housein rochester, new york. on the other sideof the continent, clara bannister, chestercongdon's future wife,
was born and spenther formative years in san francisco, california. mary van evera: herfather went west at the time of the goldrush, and he was a minister, a methodist minister. his job out there wasto be a clergyman, and he had a parishin san francisco. narrator: chestercongdon's father was also a methodist minister,preaching at various new york
parishes when scarletfever struck the family. tony dierckins: two of hissiblings and his father died when he wasabout 14 years old, and he went to workin a local lumber yard where they lived inupstate new york. narrator: chester workedat the lumber yard to support his widowedmother and surviving siblings until 1871 when he enrolledin newly founded syracuse university.
although he would havepreferred going to yale, tuition was too expensive. as the son of a minister,he could attend syracuse at half tuition, a sumof just $10 per term. the first classat the university consisted of 41students, four of them women, includingclara bannister. tony dierckins: they becamesweethearts at school and both graduated insyracuse's first class together.
she went on to become aschool teacher in ontario, and he tried his luck aftersitting for the bar in new york as a principal, a highschool principal in chippewa falls, wisconsin. narrator: the job in chippewafalls paid $900 a year, and it allowedchester the chance to see what opportunitiesexisted in the upper midwest. he moves out westlike a lot of americans do in hope of a better life.
and at the time,minnesota was kind of one of those furtherwest territories. narrator: clara, meanwhile,followed her love of art to a teachingposition in ontario. mary van evera:taught in a school in canada, a girlsschool, i believe, and also in pennsylvania. and grandfather wrote toher and knew her then, but didn't feel that hecould marry her until he
could afford to support her. narrator: looking tofurther his law career, chester left his positionin chippewa falls for saint paul, minnesota, wherehe passed the minnesota bar exam and landed a job withan established law firm. while gaining experiencein his chosen profession, chester was still frustratedwith his inability to earn enough money toafford to marry clara. he outlined his financialposition to her in a letter.
male speaker: "$9.67 in cash,$5 receivable from my law firm, amongst prepaid rent at $8,a meal ticket worth $5.75, two pounds of crackers,two pounds of canned meat, and one half pound of coffee." chester's fortuneswould soon change thanks to aprofessional friendship with william billson,the us attorney for the state of minnesota. billson was impressedwith congdon's work
and offered him a job asassistant us attorney. his spirits buoyed by the newposition and a slight increase in pay, chester sent word toclara to set a wedding date. chester adgate congdon andclara hesperia bannister were married in syracuse, newyork on september 29, 1881, and boarded a train back tosaint paul that same afternoon. the congdons made tothe best of their life in minnesota's capital city,and they began a family. between 1882 and 1891, claragave birth to five children--
walter, edward, marjorie,helen, and john. during this period,congdon's mentor, billson, left the us attorney's officeand went into private practice in duluth. tony dierckins: a lot ofcongdon's professional business took him to and fromduluth, and there, he would visit with his old bossand mentor, william billson. billson, in the meantime, haddeveloped a lucrative practice he was considered one of thezenith city's top attorneys.
narrator: congdon'spractice prospered, buoyed by the experience hehad gained in the us attorney's office. he also invested inwestern mining stock and made some significant landdeals in the pacific northwest. just as it seemedhe was building a practice for the longterm in saint paul, congdon receivedan enticing offer. tony dierckins: in 1892, billsonoffered congdon a partnership.
he said, why don'tyou come on up? bring the family to duluth. it was growing by then. and relocate here, andbecome billson's partner. narrator: it was adifficult decision, but billson's offer wastoo good to let pass. moving a family of sevenwas a daunting task, so chester moved first toestablish himself in duluth, with clara and the childrenfollowing a few months later.
the congdons founda home to rent on east 1st street induluth, and two more children were born to the couple--elizabeth and robert. tragedy struck when their son,john, died at the age of two from scarlet fever. with six other children to carefor, the congdons needed space. tony dierckins: when thecongdons first moved to duluth, they settled in duluth'sendion neighborhood, and they had a modest housethey were renting then,
and in 1895, duluth's premierarchitect, oliver traphagen, announced that he wasclosing up shop in duluth and moving to hawaii. and the congdons boughtthe home that traphagen had designed and built for himself. narrator: theredstone building was one of duluth's most elegantand fashionable residences, and it was home to thecongdons for the next 13 years. the biggest break ofchester congdon's career
came because his law partnerwas away from the office. henry oliver owneda steel company in pittsburgh, which wassecond only to carnegie steel in its level of production. in 1892, oliver cameto northern minnesota to see firsthand the discoveryof iron ore on the iron range. he was so impressed withthe mesabi properties of duluth's merrittbrothers, he struck a deal to mine their ore.
on his return tripfrom the range, oliver came through duluthseeking a local attorney to represent him in futureminnesota business deals. he was told that williambillson had the sharpest legal mind in duluth, and hewent to visit billson one day, and billson was out. and he wouldn't return beforeoliver had to leave town, so his junior attorney, chestercongdon, took the meeting. the two republicans hitit off almost immediately,
and it is said theybecame lifelong friends after that meeting. before it ended, they decided toform the oliver mining company with chester congdon asits chief legal counsel. narrator: the formation of theoliver mining company in 1892 started a chain ofevents that would result in a financialwindfall for congdon. there's a financialpanic the next year, and oliver mergeswith carnegie steel.
carnegie takes over 50% of that. meanwhile, jd rockefellertakes over the merritt brothers holdings on the iron range. narrator: the panic of1893 put rockefeller in control of the railroadthat oliver mining needed to transfer its ore. rockefeller quicklyincreased his rail rates, forcing oliver andcongdon to consider building their own railroad.
then rockefellerincreased the rates on his fleet ofgreat lakes ships. the high stakes game putamerica's very economy in peril, and got the attentionof another 19th century business tycoon. tony dierckins: then jpmorgan, who owns and runs most of the nation's banks,it's fair uncomfortable. so he forms us steel, buyingout rockefeller, carnegie, and oliver, and this increasescongdon's stock by 550%.
narrator: chester congdon'spartnership with oliver continued as the two formedother mining companies, developed new miningtechniques, and succeeded where others had failed. he was just in that frontierperiod of opening up the iron range, and that wasvery exciting to him, getting business going, andthe development of the steel industry. narrator: chester traveledextensively through the years,
looking for attractiveinvestment opportunities in minnesota and beyond. dealt in mining propertiesfor the rest of his life. they not only had the ironmines in the mesabi range, but they invested in coppermines in arizona and mines elsewhere. narrator: chester'ssuccessful mining ventures made the congdons one ofminnesota's wealthiest families, and soon, he andclara turned their attention
to building a family home. while wealthierduluthians had begun moving further east at theturn of the 20th century, few were building near theshore of lake superior. but the idea of a lake homeintrigued the congdons. tony dierckins: clara's diaryas early as 1900 or 1901 mentions looking fora site and finding a site along tischer creek. he was very interested in thenorth shore of lake superior.
narrator: chester began topurchase the land in 1903, soon acquiring just over21 acres bordering the lake and reaching a quartermile up the hillside. the congdons hired notedminnesota architect, clarence johnston, to design their home. clarence johnston in 1901had become the minnesota state architect. he had done many buildingsfor the state, including many for the university ofminnesota over the years,
considered minnesota'spremier architect, one of the premier architectsin the nation really. narrator: the congdonsasked johnston to design a manor that resemblesan english country estate. they chose a name that reflectedthe mansion's location. you can see it right here. it's called glensheenbecause of this glen that you see here, and thenthe shine off of lake superior, or the sheen, glensheen.
narrator: in juneof 1905, excavation began for the housefoundation-- 42 by 140 feet with the long sideparalleling lake superior. construction wouldcontinue that first year until winter closed in, thenresume the following spring. bricklayers were back onthe job in april of 1906, and by that fall, allthree floors and the attic had been finished. at the same time the manorhouse was being built,
workmen also constructeda carriage house, gardener's cottage with fourgreenhouses, and a boat house with an attached pier. all were constructed fromthe sturdiest materials under the congdons'watchful eyes. dan hartman: not only is thismansion built almost entirely on a steel beam and concrete,so was the carriage house, and so was even thelittle gardener's cottage. chester and clarawere both intimately
involved with thedesign of the building, with the siting of it, withthe landscape approval, with the implementation. narrator: by 1907,work had begun on glensheen's interiormechanical systems and the pilasters, bricklayers,and interior wood finishers busied themselves completingthe structure of the home. by february of 1908, themansion was turned over to the company thatwould be responsible
for interior decoration. glensheen's gracefulrestrained exterior design is a hallmark ofclarence johnston's work. yet for all its classic beauty,the mansion's jacobethan revival facade only hints ofthe rich details found inside. chester awarded theinterior design contract to the william a frenchcompany of minneapolis, a major commission that requiredthe full attention of french. dan hartman: the interiordesigner, william a french,
he was here constantly. he actually is repetitivelyshowing up inside of clara's diary, andso they're having tea. he's showing things. they're just makingdecisions, and it's ongoing. william french wasconcerned that he didn't have sufficientfinancial resources in order to manufacture allof the furniture in order to stockpileit to get it ready,
because the order had tobe placed a year and a half in advance. chester actually becamethe vice president and one of the largest investorsannoying in the william french company in orderto ease that cash flow situation for william french. the vast, vast majorityof the furniture you see throughout thishouse is all actually custom made for glensheen.
a lot of it isactually hand-sketched. the sketches are actually thenbrought to you, usually clara, and then clara wouldsay up or down. narrator: elements of clarencejohnston's interior design mingle throughout the housewith ideas from william french, making for a trulyunique living space. dan hartman: you'llsee a lot of oddities through the house, wheretypically, the architect would have a little bit more leeway.
but the designers clearlychanged the design. and frankly, ithink that's partly why this house looksas great as it does, and you can definitelytell the johnston elements, and then also the immediateinterior designer elements. the very kind ofclassical johnston element is our staircase withthe leather strapwork design going up. that is clarence johnston.
dennis lamkin: it wasn'tat all uncommon for when a mansion of thiscaliber and scale was being built to employdifferent decorators to do different areas so thatyou had some variety in your interior design. william french did the majorityof the work in the house. he decorated-- thisis chester's room. he decorated thisroom, for example. but other rooms in thehouse were subcontracted
by william frenchto john bradstreet, and bradstreet wasprobably in many regards a bigger namethan william french was as far as an interior designer. narrator: bradstreet design thefamous green room at glensheen, a longtime favorite of visitors. it's where the congdonstook their breakfast. bradstreet was heavilyinfluenced by his many visits to japan, as evidenced by hiscraft house in minneapolis.
here, his clients could seehis latest inspired designs, and here, he developeda process of treating wood that gives chester'ssmoking room a unique look. dan hartman: i lovejohn bradstreet's jin-di-sugi process, where heactually physically torches the wood. he burns off the lightergrains, so you can really see-- the cypress with thered and the wood just really pops out.
narrator: thejin-di-sugi method, developed bybradstreet, accelerated the japanese technique, whichrequired the wood be buried for years to allow rock anddecay to dissolve the softer pulp. also in the smoking room,hand-hammered copper lighting shows off minnesotacraftsmanship, a point of emphasis for congdon. dan hartman: the overallpurpose of glensheen
is to show the talents thatwe have here in minnesota. when glensheen was beingbuilt, a lot of people out east didn't knowwhat we had over here. they didn't know wehad an outdoor element. they didn't know thatwe had a craftsman who could to do anything. narrator: of all therooms in glensheen, the third floor bedroomof walter congdon holds a special place inamerican design history.
dan hartman: and this roomhere is a john bradstreet room. this is one of thevery few-- i think it's the only set completelyof arts and crafts that john bradstreet left. i love that you have thedesk, the chair, and notice that they all match together. but also, even thewastebasket matches. and i just love that allthis stuff fits in together. it's clearly a set.
but i also love the inlayin the wood in this room, and it's kind of hard tosee, but right over here, there's just this littledecorative design of bradstreet that is just so-- that isone of his signature styles that you'll see on his pieces,only his arts and crafts. this is one of ourgreatest things here is we can still show thistime frame of american history, and i'd say, really,this is a moment in interior designin our country
that is best showcasedhere at glensheen. narrator: sincehis death in 1914, bradstreet's namehas been mentioned with tiffany, stickley,and even frank lloyd wright in the pantheon ofamerican designers. his work, along with thatof french and johnston, make glensheen a unique fusionof american design history. dan hartman: usually, when youhave a house of this nature, you'll have onegeneral style that'll
dominate the whole house. that's not the case here. you have this third floor,which is very heavy on the arts and crafts. on this side, it'sdone by bradstreet. the other side is doneby william a french. well, the floor below usand the floor below that are beaux-arts style, which isa very different style, almost a little post-gilded age.
you also have helen'sroom, which is actually an art nouveau style, and soyou have these very differing elements that make up glensheen. narrator: chester and claracongdon accented the design elements with finecarpets, objects collected on their many travels,and an extensive collection of art. dan hartman: one of thethings i love about glensheen from an artperspective is you go
into a lot of these grandhomes in the country, and it's just filled with reallyfamous international artists. and what i loveabout glensheen is you have that, butimmediately next to it is a regional artist, becausechester and clara weren't buying art justas an investment. they were buying art becausethey actually enjoyed it. dennis lamkin: they, together,would look at catalogs of art, and both would havecomments in the notes
section of the artworkwhich pieces they liked. dan hartman: chester, inparticular, went on this trip through the pacific,and there's a lot of pieces throughout thehome that are from that trip. you'll see a lot of piecesfrom australia, japan. it's kind of fun to seethem throughout the house. narrator: even with its artwork, fine craftsmanship, and highest qualitymaterials, glensheen was meant to be arespite, a place
to get away from theworries of the world and relax withfamily and friends. [music playing] narrator: with the houseas its centerpiece, the landscape at glensheenis patterned in the style of an english country estate. in a departure, the congdon'slooked outside of minnesota for their landscape architect,hiring charles w. leavitt from new york city.
so you have clarencejohnson, who's a great architecthere in minnesota. you have the two interiordesigners-- great minnesotan. but for the landscapedesigner, he chose charles leavittout of new york. definitely, this is a littleguy of national landscape fame. and you can really seethat in the estate. narrator: leavitt's planfor the estate's 22 acres included formal garden areas, alarge paddock for the congdon's
livestock, and extensive useof the natural landscape. sustainability was amajor goal of the plan. but the formal garden isthe focus of the grounds. dan hartman: this issomething that visitors have enjoyed i think sincethe day we've opened. but really, it'sjust a beautiful spot to showcase the beautifulgardens that we can have here in northern minnesota. and this has been that constantphotograph of glensheen
that we've seen in everyone'sphotographs for 30 years. narrator: at its center, a cooland beautiful marble fountain grace the formal garden. glensheen's original fountainfeatured four jets that shot an arching spray of water. that configurationwas changed in 1913 when the currentfountain was installed. dan hartman: andthen, eventually, they decided with what see here,which is italian marble.
and it's made by george thrana,actually carved here in duluth. he's one of duluth'smaster stone carvers. and this is not georgethrana's first design. he actually gave thema different design of a young womanriding an alligator. and the congdon familysaid, ah, maybe not so much. and this is the seconddesign which they did choose. narrator: in the northeasternportion of the landscape plan, a clay surface tennis court wasbuilt next to a bowling green.
a beautiful flower garden isjust below the tennis court. and vegetable gardens teardown toward the waterfront. the gardener's cottagestands in the lowest corner of the vegetable gardens. adjacent to the cottage,four adjoining greenhouses marched up the hillside, animportant part of the estate's sustainable design. some of the greenhouseswere used to start flowers, including annuals and perennialsfor the estates formal gardens.
and at the top of thehill, the palm house contained a real treat forthe congdon grandchildren. we used to come down onmy brother's birthday, this would be inthe '30s and '20s, to pick a bananafrom the banana tree down there, because theyseemed to ripen right in april. so that's part i remember most. narrator: sadly, thegreenhouses no longer exist. they were dismantled in 1970after their coal burning
heating plant failed. just below the quaintgardener's cottage stands a much largerbuilding-- the carriage house. dan hartman: this is kind ofthat overlapping period where carriages were stillvery heavily used here in the city of duluth,while at the same time, the automobile is reallystarting to come on the scene. so here in thiscarriage house, you'll have the horses that arecarrying their carriages
while immediately inthe same building, we'll have a garage fortheir new automobiles. narrator: along with spacefor the cars and carriages, some of the congdon'smale servants lived in the carriage house. dan hartman: theyhad their own kitchen here-- their own setof bathrooms here. this is where they lived. this is kind of their house.
and you actually had afull-time staff member named a stablemanwho actually would be living in that quarter. you'd have thechauffeur-- the coachman. narrator: the carriagehouse had stalls for the estate'saward-winning morgan horses along with space fora few guernsey cows kept for their milk and butter. to the east of the gardensand carriage house,
several acres ofpaddocks were set aside for the estate's livestock. was a large boat housewith a protective pier and breakwater extendingwell out into lake superior. the structure provided shelterfor the congdon's yacht, the hesperia. dan hartman: and a lot of thecommercial maps for captains, you'd actually see theglensheen pier on the map because it was just sucha significant structure.
narrator: the boathouse itself is made of rough cut stonesimilar to the stone bridge over tischer creek. more than 500loads of black soil were brought in to sculptglensheen's landscape. and over 200 varietiesof trees and vegetation were planted on the grounds. today, the congdonestate's 22 acres is a living testament tocharles leavitt's master plan
and ongoing efforts tomaintain his original intent from more than a century ago. dan hartman: we havethe original 1907 map of where things aresupposed to be planted. and it corresponds to a listof the plant that was planted. and so it was just kind of funto be able to still go back in time and be able to pointout this is the heritage tree or this is a new one. and it's fun that we haveso much of that history
still available. so we can restore it to whatit was meant to look like. [music playing] narrator: on abeautiful summer day, glensheen directordan hartman walks a neglected trail along thewestern edge of tischer creek. all but forgottenover the years, these trails arean original part of landscape architect charlesleavitt's ambitious plan
for the property. dan hartman: one of the unknownparts of the trail system is this beautifuloutlook of lake superior. and notice that the originalstone staircase leading down to the outlook is still here. oral history has it thatthis is where chester came for his morning cup of coffee. narrator: from therock outcropping and visitors to the groundscame away impressed.
dan hartman: and when this wascompleted in 1910 when guests came here, they didn'twalk away necessarily talking about the house. they mostly walked away talkingabout how beautiful this trail system was. and how it almost feltlike mini north shore here on the property. narrator: the centerpieceof the trail system is the beautiful stone archbridge over tischer creek.
its timeless design has madeit one of glensheen's most iconic locations. dan hartman: on thefamily's postcards, the picture wasn'tthe house over here, it was actually the bridge andthen the side of the house. that's how important thislandscape was to the family. so you think chester hadhis own private hiking trail here on the property. and that beautiful stone bridgeis that it actually connected
you to that hiking trail. so many have referred toit as the bridge to nowhere in the past. but clearly, it is abridge to something and is one of the morebeautiful parts of the estate. narrator: theextensive trail system wraps around the estate groundson both sides of tischer creek. getting up and downthis steep creek banks required the constructionof stone steps
which were artfullycarved into the slopes. so this is one of thecompletely unknown staircases here at glensheen thatwe hope to bring back and that are not actuallyeven available at all to the public today. but it's the otherside of the trail, kind of that easternportion, which still has that great viewof the stone bridge. and you can reallysee now how the trail
system wraps around bothsides of tischer creek. narrator: stepping stonesthat once led across the creek have been washed away. but the trail continuesthrough an impressive tunnel to the congdon propertylocated above london road. dan hartman: you have thisbeto duluth's congdon parkteny on land that chesterhad donated to the city. it was a seamlesstransition to a park that complemented glensheen'slake superior location.
dan hartman: what i thinkis really unique about going on the other side of londonroad is you can really see that continuity of design. in merging land and buildingtowas ahead of its time.l visitors to glensheentoday once again see the mansion and grounds muchas they were first imagined more than 100 years ago. we cleacongdon's visionw shed.narrator: chester for a trail systemalong tischer creek
didn't end at his property line. he had somethingmore in mind that would benefit his adopted city. nancy nelson: heowned the property from the lake shore allthe up to graceland road along tischer creek. so he proposed that the cityacquire the land from graceland road all the way up to vermilionroad along tischer creek and make that a city park.
narrator: the creek plunges andwinds down the duluth hillside, carving out impressive valleysand peaceful pools on its way to lake superior. a scenic canvas--it seemed perfect for an extension of the trailwork planned for glensheen. but it was also badly polluted. at the time, thepeople who lived up at the top of the hillin the woodland area were using tischercreek as a sewer.
so it was fairly contaminated. narrator: congdon made hisdonation of land and money contingent on the cityredirecting the sewage into a holding tank. the park board acceptedcongdon's offer in 1905 and completedacquisition of another 30 acres of land for thepark by the end of 1907. but congdon's generositydidn't end there. he offered the servicesof his landscaping team
to come up with aplan for the park. he had hired charlesleavitt from new york to help design thelandscaping for glensheen. and anthony morrell and arthurnichols worked with leavitt. and so then congdonoffered the services of mr. morrell and mr.leavitt to help develop a plan for the rest of the park oncethe city to acquired the land. narrator: leavittand morrell's work in the park included stone stepsand a series of wooden bridges
that crossed tischer creekat various locations. other elaborate plans forthe park were never built. but the city honored congdon forpreserving the natural beauty of tischer creek. nancy nelson: so he providedthe money to get the land. he provided thelandscape design for it. and so in 1908, the city namedthe park after mr. congdon. narrator: a 1909 article inthe duluth herald newspaper called the new park, "theleading outdoor beauty
spot of the city,"and went on to exclaim that, tischer creek lendsan atmosphere of wildness such as is seldom metwithin a city park." the park today still boastsits original stone steps and beautifulvistas of the creek much as it did 100 years ago. the wooden bridges have beenreplaced by modern versions. and the park remainsa taste of wilderness in the midst of the city.
brought to duluth by leavitt towork on glensheen's landscape, morrell and nichols went on tomake their mark on the zenith city. nancy nelson: they madea plan for lester park. they designed all the stonebridges on seven bridges road. they designed the bridgeover the lester river on london road. any place in duluth you see thatkind of nice stone arch bridge probably is somethingthat was designed
by a morrell and nichols. narrator: theautomobile was beginning to change the way americanstraveled in the early years of the 20th century. chester congdon saw the needto improve the region's system of roads and once again waswilling to help foot the bill. male speaker: he had a visionin fact for the lake superior international highway thatwas stretched all the way up to the pigeon river.
and he purchased anddonated all the land that is now the scenichighway 61 from 60th avenue east all the wayup to two harbors. nancy nelson: i thinkhe did a lot of his very quietly like purchasing someof the land for the congdon boulevard. he tried to do as much ofthat on his own as he could. and there's anewspaper article that says that he was tryingto do it quietly.
and the newspaper wascooperating and not publishing anythingabout it until he finally came to thecity council and asked for help getting land. narrator: as they wouldhave it, chester congdon did not live to see the dream ofhis lake superior international highway completed. but the congdon name was foreverlinked with the north shore highway development.
later after his death,clara and the congdon estate paid for the lester riverbridge, the historic bridge, that crosses the lesterriver on this stretch. nancy nelson: socongdon boulevard became part ofhighway number 1 that went from duluth up the shore. now we know it prettymuch as scenic highway 61. he really was avisionary in that sense, realizing that it was going tobe an important transportation
corridor to getpeople up the shore. narrator: the congdons movedinto their spacious new home in late november of 1908,though a small amount of finishing work remained. while the familysettled in, workers completed the final detailsand the supervisor of the work declared end ofhouse construction on february 1st, 1909. the final cost of buildingand equipping the estate
was $854,000. the majority of that moneywas spent on the interior and furnishings. dennis lamkin: and it took33 train car loads, boxcars, of furniture tofurnish the house, and that took about amonth long period of time to install thefurniture in the house and to get it placed properly. narrator: in those firstyears, the congdons
employed about 30people at glensheen in a variety of positions. dan hartman: the domesticservice was the number one occupation in thecountry, and so to work at the number onehouse in the state at the time was kind of a big deal. speaker 1: they did havea chauffeur at one time, then you had your houseman. the chauffeur livedupstairs and the houseman
lived downstairs there. well, they had acook and i think they had a cook helper at one time. and then they havea housekeeper, she was in charge of thehouse and all the people that worked there. then they'd have an upstairsgirl, downstairs girl. narrator: permanentstaff members had excellent living facilities,and the jobs at glensheen
were coveted. dan hartman: imagine you'vejust come over from the seas, you come from terribleworking conditions, and now you're living onthis beautiful property in a heated building with somereally good food generally every meal, and frankly,you're paid pretty good. narrator: even beforeit was completed, the congdon enginewas drawing attention as one of the finesthomes in minnesota.
dan hartman: glensheenis a sought after house. the architect, theinterior designers, people want this job becausethey know it's going to help show off what they do. narrator: a yearafter the family moved in, a national magazinecame to duluth to do a feature story on the residence. dan hartman: westerndigest comes and does photo spreads ofalmost every room
in the house, thelandscape, they write up this great story of it andit goes into this national narrator: the photos taken forthe western architect in 1910 are a remarkable document,a curator's dream, that illustrates how littlethe furnishings, artwork, and family mementos havechanged in over a century. dan hartman: we just redidrobert's room last year and it was theonly reason we were able to identifythe furniture that
was meant to be in that room. narrator: though mostof the congdon children were already off to boardingschool and college when the family movedin to glensheen, each had their ownbedroom in the mansion. and there were anotherhalf dozen guest bedrooms on the second and thirdfloors of the congdon home. guests from far and nearwere welcomed at glensheen, and the house hummed withactivity in those early years.
summer was anespecially busy time with the childrenhome from school and friends and family visiting. and the estate took fulladvantage of its lake superior location with its finepeer and boathouse. tony dierckins: whenthey built the house, they imagined people arrivingby coach in the front and by yacht in the back. in fact, they had theirown yacht, the hesperia.
alfred bannister,clara's orphaned nephew, actually came to live withthe congdons in the 1890s, and in 1911, he and afriend piloted the hesperia from maine all the way throughthe great lakes to duluth. it was the longest suchjourney by a motorized vessel of that size at its time. narrator: even with all theactivity of a large family and staff at the estate,glensheen still functioned as an oasis for chester congdonbetween his frequent business
trips. tony dierckins: chester inparticularly enjoyed the west porch, where we have photosof him relaxing and sitting. they say that's where hespent most of his time while at glensheen. of course, during thoseyears from 1909 to 1916, while glensheenwas his residence, he didn't spend much time here. narrator: chester congdon'sforay into politics
came relatively late in hislife although he had long supported republicancandidates and causes. dan hartman: chester wasan extremely influential republican in this region. he was the leaderof the republicans in northeast minnesota. narrator: content to advocatefor his beliefs of the party level, congdon had neverrun for elected office, but that changed whenhe ran for and won
a seat in the house ofrepresentatives in 1908. tony dierckins: herepresented duluth in two different legislative sessions. he really entered politicsbecause of a tonnage tax issue, a tax that was goingto be put on iron ore. dan hartman: he wasonly in two sessions, and in one of the sessions, he'sthe chair of the committee that actually decides thedistricts of the state for the next election.
you don't get that typicallyas a freshman represent. chester got that. narrator: disillusioned bythe legislative process, chester left the state housewhen his second term ended. in 1914, he embarked onseveral month-long voyage through the pacificrim and continued to pursue his orchardinterests in washington state, building a large castle-likeresidence there known as westhome.
congdon's political advice wasoften sought by republicans, and in 1916, he was elected therepublican national committee man for the state of minnesota. the party's endorsement wentto charles evans hughes, and congdon was confidentthe nation would oust president wilson from office. tony dierckins: chester congdondid not like woodrow wilson. he thought hispolicies of staying out of what we now callthe first world
war made america look weak. he was so confident thatwilson would lose the election that he had the estate's cookprepare a special celebratory dinner the nightof the election. narrator: to congdon'sgreat disappointment, wilson won reelection. 3 days later, while onbusiness in st. paul, he messaged clara to tellher he wasn't feeling well. dan hartman: he was in st. paul.
he was at the st. paulhotel, he sent a note that he was feeling sick. people thought hewas getting better, and then it had aturn for the worse, but it all happened very quick. narrator: thesudden heart attack that killed chestercongdon at the age of 63 shocked the region andleft a void in duluth that would not easily be filled.
tony dierckins: by allnewspaper accounts, the community loved andappreciated chester congdon. his duluth news tribuneobituary is gushing, really, over the wonderful thingshe did for this community, and they considered himfairly irreplaceable. dan hartman: and hewas so heavily involved in so many things ofduluth at the time that there is this momentof what are we going to do? i mean, this is theguy who has been
a major donor and the visionfor so many different ideas narrator: the untimely deathof chester adgate congdon was a blow not onlyfor his family, but for the region has a whole. at the time of hisdeath, chester congdon was reportedly therichest man in minnesota. he was well able toafford frequent travels at home and abroad, and tokeep the large staff that tended to the congdon estate.
but change was coming toglensheen and its staff of domestic servants. dan hartman: now,after world war i, that number gets cutin half immediately, and then after worldwar ii, it drops down to around five or so,and frankly that's really common nationally, as well. narrator: one by one, thecongdons' adult children married and movedout of glensheen.
clara congdon went abouther business living in a much different stylethan her well-known husband. dan hartman: here's chester whowas this very proactive, very public person. he runs for statelegislature, he builds a mansion on london road. clara, not so much. clara believes really intenselyin supporting her family and being more private, andthat was her way of thinking.
she was still a hugesupporter of the community but she didn't want to doit in such very public ways. narrator: clara was a firmbut caring mother, encouraging the family trade of generosityand life-long commitment to the community. tony dierckins:the children were raised with what atthe time was called a sense of noblesse oblige. it's a french term, and those ofus who are blessed with wealth
are obliged to share it. narrator: clara was 62 years oldwhen chester died and burdened with a difficult hearing loss. as seen in this vintagecongdon family film, she tried a number ofcumbersome hearing aids to keep up with conversation. even though shedidn't hear well, she was always therefor her grandchildren, often with gentle encouragement.
mary van evera: she hadher own advice for us as if she were ourmother, and we always came to see her before we wentaway to school or college. narrator: clara'spreference for privacy led to some subtle changeson the congdon estate. it seemed like sheasked the guard staff to plant pine trees and cedartrees throughout the property, kind of close up someof these viewing lanes so that this would bemore of a private home.
tony dierckins: she let thegrounds grow wild a bit, and let things develop. and by 1930, the photographshows this much more lush, full look to the grounds. narrator: throughouther long life, clara congdonnever lost her love of art, a passion she practicedoften and supported in others. dan hartman: daviderickson, who i'd say is easily one of themore popular painters
around the turn of thecentury here in duluth-- it was her who actually paid forhim to go overseas and actually study the arts. vera dunbar: theone oil that she did was reuben's davidthat is in the library, and that, i think she didthat when she was teaching art before she was married. narrator: as the yearswent by, one constant with clara at glensheen was heryoungest daughter elisabeth,
who was 14 years old whenthe congdons moved in. elisabeth dropped out ofcollege when her father died and returned hometo help her mother manage the estate while brotherswalter and edward took over the variedbusiness interests. by 1930, all of the congdonchildren except elisabeth were married and had movedout, but for many years, returning to the homeplace for christmas remained a treasuredfamily tradition.
mary van evera: myvery earliest memories are i think aroundchristmas, riding in the sleigh,the troika sleigh, on london road with a horse infront of us pulling us along. there was lots of snow, and iwas under a big buffalo robe, and there was a hot brickto keep our feet warm, and i thought thatwas very exciting. narrator: in the 1930s,elisabeth congdon, still unmarried and in her late30s, adopted two daughters.
she and the girls continuedto live at glensheen with her mother, who enjoyedgood health for many more years. in july of 1950, clarabannister congdon passed away at the age of 96. in the ensuing yearswith her children grown, elisabeth congdon splither time between glensheen and other family homes. dan hartman: andafter clara dies,
then elisabeth reallyis here sparingly throughout the year,not nearly as much as her mother nor chester. and so there's stories ofthis entire floor just covered in sheets for weeks on end. and so it's a verydifferent era. narrator: in 1964,a massive stroke left miss congdon disabledand in need of nursing care, but she continued tohandle her own affairs
with the aid of her personalmanager, vera dunbar. vera dunbar: elisabethhad had this bad stroke and was partially paralyzedand in a wheelchair, and had difficultytalking sometimes. narrator: in 1968,the family decided to donate glensheen to theuniversity of minnesota with the stipulation thatelisabeth congdon could stay until the end of her life. that life tragically endedthe night of june 26th, 1977
when elisabeth and hernight nurse, velma pietila, were murdered. the story of that dreadfulnight and its connection to miss congdon's adopteddaughter marjorie has been told manytimes, and it's a story that is notignored at glensheen, but neither is it emphasized. dan hartman: thatmurder has overshadowed this much greater legacy ofwhat the congdon family has done
for northeastminnesota, and so part of what i feel likemy mission here is to have everyone hear thatbroader story so they know that there's more towhat this family did than just this one day event. several months afterwayelizabeth's death, the university of minnesotatook full ownership of the congdon estate. in 1979, the mansion andgrounds were open to the public.
and today, glensheen is one ofthe most visited house museums in the state of minnesota. it provides a glimpse intoan era and a lifestyle that can't be found anywhere else. tony dierckins: the congdonsweren't the only wealthy family to build a grand estate at theearly part of the last century, but because it stayed inone family all these years, it's filled with almostall original furnishings, and the same picturesare hanging on the wall.
narrator: when chestercongdon built glensheen on the shores oflake superior, he sent a message to hisbusiness colleagues in cities around america. dan hartman: i think he dida remarkable job of showing people in the easternpart of our country that there was more tominnesota than the bitter cold. dennis lamkin: it also saidthe people of duluth, i think, that it's here to stay.
that the wealth is notgoing to be a flash and it's not going todisappear, that there's going to be a sustainablefuture for the city. narrator: from the mansionto the formal garden, to the impressive carriage householding the congdon's original sleighs and carriages, glensheenoffers the visitor a rich experience thatcannot be duplicated. dan hartman: the craftsmanshipof this house you can't beat, and the local elementof it, especially,
is just astonishing. you'll go to some beautifulhomes out in the east coast, but none of thosehomes will show the identity of their state orthe region like glensheen will.