MALE VOICEOVER: Funding for
Glensheen and the Congdon Legacy is provided by
the Citizens of Minnesota through the Minnesota Arts
and Cultural Heritage Fund. NARRATOR: A gentle slope
leads to the water's edge. The broad expanse
of Lake Superior reaches far beyond the eye. The nearby cliffs are a reminder
of the big lake's power, yet on this stretch,
access to the shoreline is across a pebbly beach. It's here that Chester
and Clara Congdon decided to put down roots, to
build their home place, modeled after an English country estate. The Jacobean style
mansion, Glensheen, built more than a
century ago, stands today as a timeless tribute
to the American dream, a dream built on hard
work, fortunate timing, and a relentless
pursuit of knowledge. TONY DIERCKINS:
Basically, Chester Congdon spent his life becoming an
expert at what he wanted to do. When he didn't want to
be a school principal, he became an expert lawyer. When he got into Oliver Mining,
he became an expert in mines. NARRATOR: Glensheen Mansion
is more than a structure of concrete and steel. It's a connection to a city's
history and development. Through every season and
the passing of years, Glensheen stands
the test of time, a fitting tribute
to a family that gave so much to the region. FEMALE SPEAKER: So he provided
the money to get the land. He provided the
landscape design for it, and so in 1908, the city named
the park after Mr. Congdon. That's why we have
Congdon Park now. NARRATOR: Today thousands
visit the house and its grounds every year, making Glensheen
the number one house museum in Minnesota. The understated grace
and beauty of the estate impresses as much today
as it did 100 years ago. Well, you have a lot of
grand homes in Minnesota, but there are a few
that really showcase the talents of our state better
than this grand mansion here. NARRATOR: More than a
century after it was built, visitors continue to marvel at
this true Minnesota original, and they want to learn
more about the people who lived here, the staff
who served them, and the continuing legacy
of Glensheen and the Congdon family. In 1853, the Lake
Superior region was the Western frontier,
and Duluth, nothing more than a small settlement. That same year,
Chester Adgate Congdon was born in this house
in Rochester, New York. On the other side
of the continent, Clara Bannister, Chester
Congdon's future wife, was born and spent
her formative years in San Francisco, California. MARY VAN EVERA: Her
father went west at the time of the gold
rush, and he was a minister, a Methodist minister. His job out there was
to be a clergyman, and he had a parish
in San Francisco. NARRATOR: Chester
Congdon's father was also a Methodist minister,
preaching at various New York parishes when scarlet
fever struck the family. TONY DIERCKINS: Two of his
siblings and his father died when he was
about 14 years old, and he went to work
in a local lumber yard where they lived in
upstate New York. NARRATOR: Chester worked
at the lumber yard to support his widowed
mother and surviving siblings until 1871 when he enrolled
in newly founded Syracuse University. Although he would have
preferred going to Yale, tuition was too expensive. As the son of a minister,
he could attend Syracuse at half tuition, a sum
of just $10 per term. The first class
at the university consisted of 41
students, four of them women, including
Clara Bannister. TONY DIERCKINS: They became
sweethearts at school and both graduated in
Syracuse's first class together. She went on to become a
school teacher in Ontario, and he tried his luck after
sitting for the bar in New York as a principal, a high
school principal in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. NARRATOR: The job in Chippewa
Falls paid $900 a year, and it allowed
Chester the chance to see what opportunities
existed in the Upper Midwest. He moves out west
like a lot of Americans do in hope of a better life. And at the time,
Minnesota was kind of one of those further
west territories. NARRATOR: Clara, meanwhile,
followed her love of art to a teaching
position in Ontario. MARY VAN EVERA:
Taught in a school in Canada, a girls
school, I believe, and also in Pennsylvania. And Grandfather wrote to
her and knew her then, but didn't feel that he
could marry her until he could afford to support her. NARRATOR: Looking to
further his law career, Chester left his position
in Chippewa Falls for Saint Paul, Minnesota, where
he passed the Minnesota bar exam and landed a job with
an established law firm. While gaining experience
in his chosen profession, Chester was still frustrated
with his inability to earn enough money to
afford to marry Clara. He outlined his financial
position 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 fortunes
would soon change thanks to a
professional friendship with William Billson,
the US Attorney for the state of Minnesota. Billson was impressed
with Congdon's work and offered him a job as
assistant US attorney. His spirits buoyed by the new
position and a slight increase in pay, Chester sent word to
Clara to set a wedding date. Chester Adgate Congdon and
Clara Hesperia Bannister were married in Syracuse, New
York on September 29, 1881, and boarded a train back to
Saint Paul that same afternoon. The Congdons made to
the best of their life in Minnesota's capital city,
and they began a family. Between 1882 and 1891, Clara
gave birth to five children-- Walter, Edward, Marjorie,
Helen, and John. During this period,
Congdon's mentor, Billson, left the US Attorney's Office
and went into private practice in Duluth. TONY DIERCKINS: A lot of
Congdon's professional business took him to and from
Duluth, and there, he would visit with his old boss
and mentor, William Billson. Billson, in the meantime, had
developed a lucrative practice in Duluth. He was considered one of the
Zenith City's top attorneys. NARRATOR: Congdon's
practice prospered, buoyed by the experience he
had gained in the US Attorney's Office. He also invested in
Western mining stock and made some significant land
deals in the Pacific Northwest. Just as it seemed
he was building a practice for the long
term in Saint Paul, Congdon received
an enticing offer. TONY DIERCKINS: In 1892, Billson
offered Congdon a partnership. He said, why don't
you come on up? Bring the family to Duluth. It was growing by then. And relocate here, and
become Billson's partner. NARRATOR: It was a
difficult decision, but Billson's offer was
too good to let pass. Moving a family of seven
was a daunting task, so Chester moved first to
establish himself in Duluth, with Clara and the children
following a few months later. The Congdons found
a home to rent on East 1st Street in
Duluth, 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 care
for, the Congdons needed space. TONY DIERCKINS: When the
Congdons first moved to Duluth, they settled in Duluth's
Endion neighborhood, and they had a modest house
they were renting then, and in 1895, Duluth's premier
architect, Oliver Traphagen, announced that he was
closing up shop in Duluth and moving to Hawaii. And the Congdons bought
the home that Traphagen had designed and built for himself. NARRATOR: The
redstone building was one of Duluth's most elegant
and fashionable residences, and it was home to the
Congdons for the next 13 years. The biggest break of
Chester Congdon's career came because his law partner
was away from the office. Henry Oliver owned
a steel company in Pittsburgh, which was
second only to Carnegie Steel in its level of production. In 1892, Oliver came
to northern Minnesota to see firsthand the discovery
of iron ore on the Iron Range. He was so impressed with
the Mesabi properties of Duluth's Merritt
Brothers, he struck a deal to mine their ore. On his return trip
from the range, Oliver came through Duluth
seeking a local attorney to represent him in future
Minnesota business deals. He was told that William
Billson had the sharpest legal mind in Duluth, and he
went to visit Billson one day, and Billson was out. And he wouldn't return before
Oliver had to leave town, so his junior attorney, Chester
Congdon, took the meeting. The two Republicans hit
it off almost immediately, and it is said they
became lifelong friends after that meeting. Before it ended, they decided to
form the Oliver Mining Company with Chester Congdon as
its chief legal counsel. NARRATOR: The formation of the
Oliver Mining Company in 1892 started a chain of
events that would result in a financial
windfall for Congdon. There's a financial
panic the next year, and Oliver merges
with Carnegie Steel. Carnegie takes over 50% of that. Meanwhile, JD Rockefeller
takes over the Merritt Brothers holdings on the Iron Range. NARRATOR: The panic of
1893 put Rockefeller in control of the railroad
that Oliver Mining needed to transfer its ore. Rockefeller quickly
increased his rail rates, forcing Oliver and
Congdon to consider building their own railroad. Then Rockefeller
increased the rates on his fleet of
Great Lakes ships. The high stakes game put
America's very economy in peril, and got the attention
of another 19th century business tycoon. TONY DIERCKINS: Then JP
Morgan, who owns and runs most of the nation's banks,
it's fair uncomfortable. So he forms US Steel, buying
out Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Oliver, and this increases
Congdon's stock by 550%. NARRATOR: Chester Congdon's
partnership with Oliver continued as the two formed
other mining companies, developed new mining
techniques, and succeeded where others had failed. He was just in that frontier
period of opening up the iron range, and that was
very exciting to him, getting business going, and
the development of the steel industry. NARRATOR: Chester traveled
extensively through the years, looking for attractive
investment opportunities in Minnesota and beyond. TONY DIERCKINS:
Basically, Chester Congdon dealt in mining properties
for the rest of his life. They not only had the iron
mines in the Mesabi range, but they invested in copper
mines in Arizona and mines elsewhere. NARRATOR: Chester's
successful mining ventures made the Congdons one of
Minnesota's wealthiest families, and soon, he and
Clara turned their attention to building a family home. While wealthier
Duluthians had begun moving further east at the
turn of the 20th century, few were building near the
shore of Lake Superior. But the idea of a lake home
intrigued the Congdons. TONY DIERCKINS: Clara's diary
as early as 1900 or 1901 mentions looking for
a site and finding a site along Tischer Creek. He was very interested in the
north shore of Lake Superior. NARRATOR: Chester began to
purchase the land in 1903, soon acquiring just over
21 acres bordering the lake and reaching a quarter
mile up the hillside. The Congdons hired noted
Minnesota architect, Clarence Johnston, to design their home. Clarence Johnston in 1901
had become the Minnesota state architect. He had done many buildings
for the state, including many for the University of
Minnesota over the years, considered Minnesota's
premier architect, one of the premier architects
in the nation really. NARRATOR: The Congdons
asked Johnston to design a manor that resembles
an English country estate. They chose a name that reflected
the mansion's location. You can see it right here. It's called Glensheen
because of this glen that you see here, and then
the shine off of Lake Superior, or the sheen, Glensheen. NARRATOR: In June
of 1905, excavation began for the house
foundation-- 42 by 140 feet with the long side
paralleling Lake Superior. Construction would
continue that first year until winter closed in, then
resume the following spring. Bricklayers were back on
the job in April of 1906, and by that fall, all
three floors and the attic had been finished. At the same time the manor
house was being built, workmen also constructed
a carriage house, gardener's cottage with four
greenhouses, and a boat house with an attached pier. All were constructed from
the sturdiest materials under the Congdons'
watchful eyes. DAN HARTMAN: Not only is this
mansion built almost entirely on a steel beam and concrete,
so was the carriage house, and so was even the
little gardener's cottage. Chester and Clara
were both intimately involved with the
design of the building, with the siting of it, with
the landscape approval, with the implementation. NARRATOR: By 1907,
work had begun on Glensheen's interior
mechanical systems and the pilasters, bricklayers,
and interior wood finishers busied themselves completing
the structure of the home. By February of 1908, the
mansion was turned over to the company that
would be responsible for interior decoration. Glensheen's graceful
restrained exterior design is a hallmark of
Clarence Johnston's work. Yet for all its classic beauty,
the mansion's Jacobethan revival facade only hints of
the rich details found inside. Chester awarded the
interior design contract to the William A French
company of Minneapolis, a major commission that required
the full attention of French. DAN HARTMAN: The interior
designer, William A French, he was here constantly. He actually is repetitively
showing up inside of Clara's diary, and
so they're having tea. He's showing things. They're just making
decisions, and it's ongoing. William French was
concerned that he didn't have sufficient
financial resources in order to manufacture all
of the furniture in order to stockpile
it to get it ready, because the order had to
be placed a year and a half in advance. Chester actually became
the vice president and one of the largest investors
annoying in the William French company in order
to ease that cash flow situation for William French. The vast, vast majority
of the furniture you see throughout this
house is all actually custom made for Glensheen. A lot of it is
actually hand-sketched. The sketches are actually then
brought to you, usually Clara, and then Clara would
say up or down. NARRATOR: Elements of Clarence
Johnston's interior design mingle throughout the house
with ideas from William French, making for a truly
unique living space. DAN HARTMAN: You'll
see a lot of oddities through the house, where
typically, the architect would have a little bit more leeway. But the designers clearly
changed the design. And frankly, I
think that's partly why this house looks
as great as it does, and you can definitely
tell the Johnston elements, and then also the immediate
interior designer elements. The very kind of
classical Johnston element is our staircase with
the leather strapwork design going up. That is Clarence Johnston. DENNIS LAMKIN: It wasn't
at all uncommon for when a mansion of this
caliber and scale was being built to employ
different decorators to do different areas so that
you had some variety in your interior design. William French did the majority
of the work in the house. He decorated-- this
is Chester's room. He decorated this
room, for example. But other rooms in the
house were subcontracted by William French
to John Bradstreet, and Bradstreet was
probably in many regards a bigger name
than William French was as far as an interior designer. NARRATOR: Bradstreet design the
famous Green Room at Glensheen, a longtime favorite of visitors. It's where the Congdons
took their breakfast. Bradstreet was heavily
influenced by his many visits to Japan, as evidenced by his
craft house in Minneapolis. Here, his clients could see
his latest inspired designs, and here, he developed
a process of treating wood that gives Chester's
smoking room a unique look. DAN HARTMAN: I love
John Bradstreet's jin-di-sugi process, where he
actually physically torches the wood. He burns off the lighter
grains, so you can really see-- the cypress with the
red and the wood just really pops out. NARRATOR: The
jin-di-sugi method, developed by
Bradstreet, accelerated the Japanese technique, which
required the wood be buried for years to allow rock and
decay to dissolve the softer pulp. Also in the smoking room,
hand-hammered copper lighting shows off Minnesota
craftsmanship, a point of emphasis for Congdon. DAN HARTMAN: The overall
purpose of Glensheen is to show the talents that
we have here in Minnesota. When Glensheen was being
built, a lot of people out east didn't know
what we had over here. They didn't know we
had an outdoor element. They didn't know that
we had a craftsman who could to do anything. NARRATOR: Of all the
rooms in Glensheen, the third floor bedroom
of Walter Congdon holds a special place in
American design history. DAN HARTMAN: And this room
here is a John Bradstreet room. This is one of the
very few-- I think it's the only set completely
of arts and crafts that John Bradstreet left. I love that you have the
desk, the chair, and notice that they all match together. But also, even the
wastebasket matches. And I just love that all
this stuff fits in together. It's clearly a set. But I also love the inlay
in the wood in this room, and it's kind of hard to
see, but right over here, there's just this little
decorative design of Bradstreet that is just so-- that is
one of his signature styles that you'll see on his pieces,
only his arts and crafts. This is one of our
greatest things here is we can still show this
time frame of American history, and I'd say, really,
this is a moment in interior design
in our country that is best showcased
here at Glensheen. NARRATOR: Since
his death in 1914, Bradstreet's name
has been mentioned with Tiffany, Stickley,
and even Frank Lloyd Wright in the pantheon of
American designers. His work, along with that
of French and Johnston, make Glensheen a unique fusion
of American design history. DAN HARTMAN: Usually, when you
have a house of this nature, you'll have one
general 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's
done by Bradstreet. The other side is done
by William A French. Well, the floor below us
and the floor below that are Beaux-Arts style, which is
a very different style, almost a little post-Gilded Age. You also have Helen's
room, which is actually an art nouveau style, and so
you have these very differing elements that make up Glensheen. NARRATOR: Chester and Clara
Congdon accented the design elements with fine
carpets, objects collected on their many travels,
and an extensive collection of art. DAN HARTMAN: One of the
things I love about Glensheen from an art
perspective is you go into a lot of these grand
homes in the country, and it's just filled with really
famous international artists. And what I love
about Glensheen is you have that, but
immediately next to it is a regional artist, because
Chester and Clara weren't buying art just
as an investment. They were buying art because
they actually enjoyed it. DENNIS LAMKIN: They, together,
would look at catalogs of art, and both would have
comments in the Notes section of the artwork
which pieces they liked. DAN HARTMAN: Chester, in
particular, went on this trip through the Pacific,
and there's a lot of pieces throughout the
home that are from that trip. You'll see a lot of pieces
from Australia, Japan. It's kind of fun to see
them throughout the house. NARRATOR: Even with its art
work, fine craftsmanship, and highest quality
materials, Glensheen was meant to be a
respite, a place to get away from the
worries of the world and relax with
family and friends. [music playing] NARRATOR: With the house
as its centerpiece, the landscape at Glensheen
is patterned in the style of an English country estate. In a departure, the Congdon's
looked outside of Minnesota for their landscape architect,
hiring Charles W. Leavitt from New York City. So you have Clarence
Johnson, who's a great architect
here in Minnesota. You have the two interior
designers-- great Minnesotan. But for the landscape
designer, he chose Charles Leavitt
out of New York. Definitely, this is a little
guy of national landscape fame. And you can really see
that in the estate. NARRATOR: Leavitt's plan
for the estate's 22 acres included formal garden areas, a
large paddock for the Congdon's livestock, and extensive use
of the natural landscape. Sustainability was a
major goal of the plan. But the formal garden is
the focus of the grounds. DAN HARTMAN: This is
something that visitors have enjoyed I think since
the day we've opened. But really, it's
just a beautiful spot to showcase the beautiful
gardens that we can have here in northern Minnesota. And this has been that constant
photograph of Glensheen that we've seen in everyone's
photographs for 30 years. NARRATOR: At its center, a cool
and beautiful marble fountain grace the formal garden. Glensheen's original fountain
featured four jets that shot an arching spray of water. That configuration
was changed in 1913 when the current
fountain was installed. DAN HARTMAN: And
then, 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's
master stone carvers. And this is not George
Thrana's first design. He actually gave them
a different design of a young woman
riding an alligator. And the Congdon family
said, ah, maybe not so much. And this is the second
design which they did choose. NARRATOR: In the Northeastern
portion of the landscape plan, a clay surface tennis court was
built next to a bowling green. A beautiful flower garden is
just below the tennis court. And vegetable gardens tear
down toward the waterfront. The Gardener's cottage
stands in the lowest corner of the vegetable gardens. Adjacent to the cottage,
four adjoining greenhouses marched up the hillside, an
important part of the estate's sustainable design. Some of the greenhouses
were used to start flowers, including annuals and perennials
for the estates formal gardens. And at the top of the
hill, the Palm House contained a real treat for
the Congdon grandchildren. We used to come down on
my brother's birthday, this would be in
the '30s and '20s, to pick a banana
from the banana tree down there, because they
seemed to ripen right in April. So that's part I remember most. NARRATOR: Sadly, the
greenhouses no longer exist. They were dismantled in 1970
after their coal burning heating plant failed. Just below the quaint
gardener's cottage stands a much larger
building-- the carriage house. DAN HARTMAN: This is kind of
that overlapping period where carriages were still
very heavily used here in the city of Duluth,
while at the same time, the automobile is really
starting to come on the scene. So here in this
carriage house, you'll have the horses that are
carrying their carriages while immediately in
the same building, we'll have a garage for
their new automobiles. NARRATOR: Along with space
for the cars and carriages, some of the Congdon's
male servants lived in the carriage house. DAN HARTMAN: They
had their own kitchen here-- their own set
of bathrooms here. This is where they lived. This is kind of their house. And you actually had a
full-time staff member named a stableman
who actually would be living in that quarter. You'd have the
chauffeur-- the coachman. NARRATOR: The carriage
house had stalls for the estate's
award-winning Morgan horses along with space for
a few Guernsey cows kept for their milk and butter. To the east of the gardens
and carriage house, several acres of
paddocks were set aside for the estate's livestock. was a large boat house
with a protective pier and breakwater extending
well out into Lake Superior. The structure provided shelter
for the Congdon's yacht, the Hesperia. DAN HARTMAN: And a lot of the
commercial maps for captains, you'd actually see the
Glensheen pier on the map because it was just such
a significant structure. NARRATOR: The boat
house itself is made of rough cut stone
similar to the stone bridge over Tischer Creek. More than 500
loads of black soil were brought in to sculpt
Glensheen's landscape. And over 200 varieties
of trees and vegetation were planted on the grounds. Today, the Congdon
Estate's 22 acres is a living testament to
Charles Leavitt's master plan and ongoing efforts to
maintain his original intent from more than a century ago. DAN HARTMAN: We have
the original 1907 map of where things are
supposed to be planted. And it corresponds to a list
of the plant that was planted. And so it was just kind of fun
to be able to still go back in time and be able to point
out this is the heritage tree or this is a new one. And it's fun that we have
so much of that history still available. So we can restore it to what
it was meant to look like. [music playing] NARRATOR: On a
beautiful summer day, Glensheen director
Dan Hartman walks a neglected trail along the
western edge of Tischer Creek. All but forgotten
over the years, these trails are
an original part of landscape architect Charles
Leavitt's ambitious plan for the property. DAN HARTMAN: One of the unknown
parts of the trail system is this beautiful
outlook of Lake Superior. And notice that the original
stone staircase leading down to the outlook is still here. Oral history has it that
this is where Chester came for his morning cup of coffee. NARRATOR: From the
rock outcropping And visitors to the grounds
came away impressed. DAN HARTMAN: And when this was
completed in 1910 when guests came here, they didn't
walk away necessarily talking about the house. They mostly walked away talking
about how beautiful this trail system was. And how it almost felt
like mini North Shore here on the property. NARRATOR: The centerpiece
of the trail system is the beautiful stone arch
bridge over Tischer Creek. Its timeless design has made
it one of Glensheen's most iconic locations. DAN HARTMAN: On the
family's postcards, the picture wasn't
the house over here, it was actually the bridge and
then the side of the house. That's how important this
landscape was to the family. So you think Chester had
his own private hiking trail here on the property. And that beautiful stone bridge
is that it actually connected you to that hiking trail. So many have referred to
it as the bridge to nowhere in the past. But clearly, it is a
bridge to something and is one of the more
beautiful parts of the estate. NARRATOR: The
extensive trail system wraps around the estate grounds
on both sides of Tischer Creek. Getting up and down
this steep creek banks required the construction
of stone steps which were artfully
carved into the slopes. So this is one of the
completely unknown staircases here at Glensheen that
we hope to bring back and that are not actually
even available at all to the public today. But it's the other
side of the trail, kind of that eastern
portion, which still has that great view
of the stone bridge. And you can really
see now how the trail system wraps around both
sides of Tischer Creek. NARRATOR: Stepping stones
that once led across the creek have been washed away. But the trail continues
through an impressive tunnel to the Congdon property
located above London Road. DAN HARTMAN: You have this
beto Duluth's Congdon Parkteny on land that Chester
had donated to the city. It was a seamless
transition to a park that complemented Glensheen's
Lake Superior location. DAN HARTMAN: What I think
is really unique about going on the other side of London
Road is you can really see that continuity of design. in merging land and building
towas ahead of its time.l Visitors to Glensheen
today once again see the mansion and grounds much
as they were first imagined more than 100 years ago. We cleaCongdon's visionw shed.
NARRATOR: Chester for a trail system
along Tischer Creek didn't end at his property line. He had something
more in mind that would benefit his adopted city. NANCY NELSON: He
owned the property from the lake shore all
the up to Graceland Road along Tischer Creek. So he proposed that the city
acquire the land from Graceland Road all the way up to Vermilion
Road along Tischer Creek and make that a city park. NARRATOR: The creek plunges and
winds down the Duluth hillside, carving out impressive valleys
and peaceful pools on its way to Lake Superior. A scenic canvas--
it seemed perfect for an extension of the trail
work planned for Glensheen. But it was also badly polluted. At the time, the
people who lived up at the top of the hill
in the Woodland area were using Tischer
Creek as a sewer. So it was fairly contaminated. NARRATOR: Congdon made his
donation of land and money contingent on the city
redirecting the sewage into a holding tank. The park board accepted
Congdon's offer in 1905 and completed
acquisition of another 30 acres of land for the
park by the end of 1907. But Congdon's generosity
didn't end there. He offered the services
of his landscaping team to come up with a
plan for the park. He had hired Charles
Leavitt from New York to help design the
landscaping for Glensheen. And Anthony Morrell and Arthur
Nichols worked with Leavitt. And so then Congdon
offered the services of Mr. Morrell and Mr.
Leavitt to help develop a plan for the rest of the park once
the city to acquired the land. NARRATOR: Leavitt
and Morrell's work in the park included stone steps
and a series of wooden bridges that crossed Tischer Creek
at various locations. Other elaborate plans for
the park were never built. But the city honored Congdon for
preserving the natural beauty of Tischer Creek. NANCY NELSON: So he provided
the money to get the land. He provided the
landscape design for it. And so in 1908, the city named
the park after Mr. Congdon. That's why we have
Congdon Park now. NARRATOR: A 1909 article in
the Duluth Herald newspaper called the new park, "the
leading outdoor beauty spot of the city,"
and went on to exclaim that, Tischer Creek lends
an atmosphere of wildness such as is seldom met
within a city park." The park today still boasts
its original stone steps and beautiful
vistas of the creek much as it did 100 years ago. The wooden bridges have been
replaced by modern versions. And the park remains
a taste of wilderness in the midst of the city. Brought to Duluth by Leavitt to
work on Glensheen's landscape, Morrell and Nichols went on to
make their mark on the Zenith City. NANCY NELSON: They made
a plan for Lester Park. They designed all the stone
bridges on Seven Bridges Road. They designed the bridge
over the Lester River on London Road. Any place in Duluth you see that
kind of nice stone arch bridge probably is something
that was designed by a Morrell and Nichols. NARRATOR: The
automobile was beginning to change the way Americans
traveled in the early years of the 20th century. Chester Congdon saw the need
to improve the region's system of roads and once again was
willing to help foot the bill. MALE SPEAKER: He had a vision
in fact for the Lake Superior International Highway that
was stretched all the way up to the Pigeon River. And he purchased and
donated all the land that is now the scenic
Highway 61 from 60th Avenue east all the way
up to Two Harbors. NANCY NELSON: I think
he did a lot of his very quietly like purchasing some
of the land for the Congdon Boulevard. He tried to do as much of
that on his own as he could. And there's a
newspaper article that says that he was trying
to do it quietly. And the newspaper was
cooperating and not publishing anything
about it until he finally came to the
city council and asked for help getting land. NARRATOR: As they would
have it, Chester Congdon did not live to see the dream of
his Lake Superior International Highway completed. But the Congdon name was forever
linked with the North Shore highway development. Later after his death,
Clara and the Congdon estate paid for the Lester River
Bridge, the historic bridge, that crosses the Lester
River on this stretch. NANCY NELSON: So
Congdon Boulevard became part of
Highway Number 1 that went from Duluth up the shore. Now we know it pretty
much as Scenic Highway 61. He really was a
visionary in that sense, realizing that it was going to
be an important transportation corridor to get
people up the shore. [music playing] NARRATOR: The Congdons moved
into their spacious new home in late November of 1908,
though a small amount of finishing work remained. While the family
settled in, workers completed the final details
and the supervisor of the work declared end of
house construction on February 1st, 1909. The final cost of building
and equipping the estate was $854,000. The majority of that money
was spent on the interior and furnishings. DENNIS LAMKIN: And it took
33 train car loads, boxcars, of furniture to
furnish the house, and that took about a
month long period of time to install the
furniture in the house and to get it placed properly. NARRATOR: In those first
years, the Congdons employed about 30
people at Glensheen in a variety of positions. DAN HARTMAN: The domestic
service was the number one occupation in the
country, and so to work at the number one
house in the state at the time was kind of a big deal. SPEAKER 1: They did have
a chauffeur at one time, then you had your houseman. The chauffeur lived
upstairs and the houseman lived downstairs there. Well, they had a
cook and I think they had a cook helper at one time. And then they have
a housekeeper, she was in charge of the
house and all the people that worked there. Then they'd have an upstairs
girl, downstairs girl. NARRATOR: Permanent
staff members had excellent living facilities,
and the jobs at Glensheen were coveted. DAN HARTMAN: Imagine you've
just come over from the seas, you come from terrible
working conditions, and now you're living on
this beautiful property in a heated building with some
really good food generally every meal, and frankly,
you're paid pretty good. NARRATOR: Even before
it was completed, the Congdon engine
was drawing attention as one of the finest
homes in Minnesota. DAN HARTMAN: Glensheen
is a sought after house. The architect, the
interior designers, people want this job because
they know it's going to help show off what they do. NARRATOR: A year
after the family moved in, a national magazine
came to Duluth to do a feature story on the residence. DAN HARTMAN: Western
Digest comes and does photo spreads of
almost every room in the house, the
landscape, they write up this great story of it and
it goes into this national NARRATOR: The photos taken for
The Western Architect in 1910 are a remarkable document,
a curator's dream, that illustrates how little
the furnishings, artwork, and family mementos have
changed in over a century. DAN HARTMAN: We just redid
Robert's room last year and it was the
only reason we were able to identify
the furniture that was meant to be in that room. NARRATOR: Though most
of the Congdon children were already off to boarding
school and college when the family moved
in to Glensheen, each had their own
bedroom in the mansion. And there were another
half dozen guest bedrooms on the second and third
floors of the Congdon home. Guests from far and near
were welcomed at Glensheen, and the house hummed with
activity in those early years. Summer was an
especially busy time with the children
home from school and friends and family visiting. And the estate took full
advantage of its Lake Superior location with its fine
peer and boathouse. TONY DIERCKINS: When
they built the house, they imagined people arriving
by coach in the front and by yacht in the back. In fact, they had their
own yacht, the Hesperia. Alfred Bannister,
Clara's orphaned nephew, actually came to live with
the Congdons in the 1890s, and in 1911, he and a
friend piloted the Hesperia from Maine all the way through
the Great Lakes to Duluth. It was the longest such
journey by a motorized vessel of that size at its time. NARRATOR: Even with all the
activity of a large family and staff at the estate,
Glensheen still functioned as an oasis for Chester Congdon
between his frequent business trips. TONY DIERCKINS: Chester in
particularly enjoyed the west porch, where we have photos
of him relaxing and sitting. They say that's where he
spent most of his time while at Glensheen. Of course, during those
years from 1909 to 1916, while Glensheen
was his residence, he didn't spend much time here. NARRATOR: Chester Congdon's
foray into politics came relatively late in his
life although he had long supported Republican
candidates and causes. DAN HARTMAN: Chester was
an extremely influential Republican in this region. He was the leader
of the Republicans in northeast Minnesota. NARRATOR: Content to advocate
for his beliefs of the party level, Congdon had never
run for elected office, but that changed when
he ran for and won a seat in the House of
Representatives in 1908. TONY DIERCKINS: He
represented Duluth in two different legislative sessions. He really entered politics
because of a tonnage tax issue, a tax that was going
to be put on iron ore. DAN HARTMAN: He was
only in two sessions, and in one of the sessions, he's
the chair of the committee that actually decides the
districts of the state for the next election. You don't get that typically
as a freshman represent. Chester got that. NARRATOR: Disillusioned by
the legislative process, Chester left the state house
when his second term ended. In 1914, he embarked on
several month-long voyage through the Pacific
Rim and continued to pursue his orchard
interests in Washington State, building a large castle-like
residence there known as Westhome. Congdon's political advice was
often sought by Republicans, and in 1916, he was elected the
Republican National Committee man for the state of Minnesota. The party's endorsement went
to Charles Evans Hughes, and Congdon was confident
the nation would oust President Wilson from office. TONY DIERCKINS: Chester Congdon
did not like Woodrow Wilson. He thought his
policies of staying out of what we now call
the First World War made America look weak. He was so confident that
Wilson would lose the election that he had the estate's cook
prepare a special celebratory dinner the night
of the election. NARRATOR: To Congdon's
great disappointment, Wilson won reelection. 3 days later, while on
business in St. Paul, he messaged Clara to tell
her he wasn't feeling well. DAN HARTMAN: He was in St. Paul. He was at the St. Paul
Hotel, he sent a note that he was feeling sick. People thought he
was getting better, and then it had a
turn for the worse, but it all happened very quick. NARRATOR: The
sudden heart attack that killed Chester
Congdon at the age of 63 shocked the region and
left a void in Duluth that would not easily be filled. TONY DIERCKINS: By all
newspaper accounts, the community loved and
appreciated Chester Congdon. His Duluth News Tribune
obituary is gushing, really, over the wonderful things
he did for this community, and they considered him
fairly irreplaceable. DAN HARTMAN: And he
was so heavily involved in so many things of
Duluth at the time that there is this moment
of what are we going to do? I mean, this is the
guy who has been a major donor and the vision
for so many different ideas in Duluth. NARRATOR: The untimely death
of Chester Adgate Congdon was a blow not only
for his family, but for the region has a whole. At the time of his
death, Chester Congdon was reportedly the
richest man in Minnesota. He was well able to
afford frequent travels at home and abroad, and to
keep the large staff that tended to the Congdon estate. But change was coming to
Glensheen and its staff of domestic servants. DAN HARTMAN: Now,
after World War I, that number gets cut
in half immediately, and then after World
War II, it drops down to around five or so,
and frankly that's really common nationally, as well. NARRATOR: One by one, the
Congdons' adult children married and moved
out of Glensheen. Clara Congdon went about
her business living in a much different style
than her well-known husband. DAN HARTMAN: Here's Chester who
was this very proactive, very public person. He runs for state
legislature, he builds a mansion on London Road. Clara, not so much. Clara believes really intensely
in supporting her family and being more private, and
that was her way of thinking. She was still a huge
supporter of the community but she didn't want to do
it in such very public ways. NARRATOR: Clara was a firm
but caring mother, encouraging the family trade of generosity
and life-long commitment to the community. TONY DIERCKINS:
The children were raised with what at
the time was called a sense of noblesse oblige. It's a French term, and those of
us who are blessed with wealth are obliged to share it. NARRATOR: Clara was 62 years old
when Chester died and burdened with a difficult hearing loss. As seen in this vintage
Congdon family film, she tried a number of
cumbersome hearing aids to keep up with conversation. Even though she
didn't hear well, she was always there
for her grandchildren, often with gentle encouragement. MARY VAN EVERA: She had
her own advice for us as if she were our
mother, and we always came to see her before we went
away to school or college. NARRATOR: Clara's
preference for privacy led to some subtle changes
on the Congdon estate. It seemed like she
asked the guard staff to plant pine trees and cedar
trees throughout the property, kind of close up some
of these viewing lanes so that this would be
more of a private home. TONY DIERCKINS: She let the
grounds grow wild a bit, and let things develop. And by 1930, the photograph
shows this much more lush, full look to the grounds. NARRATOR: Throughout
her long life, Clara Congdon
never lost her love of art, a passion she practiced
often and supported in others. DAN HARTMAN: David
Erickson, who I'd say is easily one of the
more popular painters around the turn of the
century here in Duluth-- it was her who actually paid for
him to go overseas and actually study the arts. VERA DUNBAR: The
one oil that she did was Reuben's David
that is in the library, and that, I think she did
that when she was teaching art before she was married. NARRATOR: As the years
went by, one constant with Clara at Glensheen was her
youngest daughter Elisabeth, who was 14 years old when
the Congdons moved in. Elisabeth dropped out of
college when her father died and returned home
to help her mother manage the estate while brothers
Walter and Edward took over the varied
business interests. By 1930, all of the Congdon
children except Elisabeth were married and had moved
out, but for many years, returning to the home
place for Christmas remained a treasured
family tradition. MARY VAN EVERA: My
very earliest memories are I think around
Christmas, riding in the sleigh,
the Troika sleigh, on London Road with a horse in
front of us pulling us along. There was lots of snow, and I
was under a big buffalo robe, and there was a hot brick
to keep our feet warm, and I thought that
was very exciting. NARRATOR: In the 1930s,
Elisabeth Congdon, still unmarried and in her late
30s, adopted two daughters. She and the girls continued
to live at Glensheen with her mother, who enjoyed
good health for many more years. In July of 1950, Clara
Bannister Congdon passed away at the age of 96. In the ensuing years
with her children grown, Elisabeth Congdon split
her time between Glensheen and other family homes. DAN HARTMAN: And
after Clara dies, then Elisabeth really
is here sparingly throughout the year,
not nearly as much as her mother nor Chester. And so there's stories of
this entire floor just covered in sheets for weeks on end. And so it's a very
different era. NARRATOR: In 1964,
a massive stroke left Miss Congdon disabled
and in need of nursing care, but she continued to
handle her own affairs with the aid of her personal
manager, Vera Dunbar. VERA DUNBAR: Elisabeth
had had this bad stroke and was partially paralyzed
and in a wheelchair, and had difficulty
talking sometimes. NARRATOR: In 1968,
the family decided to donate Glensheen to the
University of Minnesota with the stipulation that
Elisabeth Congdon could stay until the end of her life. That life tragically ended
the night of June 26th, 1977 when Elisabeth and her
night nurse, Velma Pietila, were murdered. The story of that dreadful
night and its connection to Miss Congdon's adopted
daughter Marjorie has been told many
times, and it's a story that is not
ignored at Glensheen, but neither is it emphasized. DAN HARTMAN: That
murder has overshadowed this much greater legacy of
what the Congdon family has done for northeast
Minnesota, and so part of what I feel like
my mission here is to have everyone hear that
broader story so they know that there's more to
what this family did than just this one day event. Several months after
wayElizabeth's death, the University of Minnesota
took full ownership of the Congdon estate. In 1979, the mansion and
grounds were open to the public. And today, Glensheen is one of
the most visited house museums in the state of Minnesota. It provides a glimpse into
an era and a lifestyle that can't be found anywhere else. TONY DIERCKINS: The Congdons
weren't the only wealthy family to build a grand estate at the
early part of the last century, but because it stayed in
one family all these years, it's filled with almost
all original furnishings, and the same pictures
are hanging on the wall. NARRATOR: When Chester
Congdon built Glensheen on the shores of
Lake Superior, he sent a message to his
business colleagues in cities around America. DAN HARTMAN: I think he did
a remarkable job of showing people in the eastern
part of our country that there was more to
Minnesota than the bitter cold. DENNIS LAMKIN: It also said
the people of Duluth, I think, that it's here to stay. That the wealth is not
going to be a flash and it's not going to
disappear, that there's going to be a sustainable
future for the city. NARRATOR: From the mansion
to the formal garden, to the impressive carriage house
holding the Congdon's original sleighs and carriages, Glensheen
offers the visitor a rich experience that
cannot be duplicated. DAN HARTMAN: The craftsmanship
of this house you can't beat, and the local element
of it, especially, is just astonishing. You'll go to some beautiful
homes out in the east coast, but none of those
homes will show the identity of their state or
the region like Glensheen will.
