Glensheen

Today I toured the Glensheen Mansion in Duluth. It was owned by the Congdon family and was built in the early 1900s. After graduating from college, Chester Congdon passed the Minnesota bar without attending law school and then made a series of wise investments (many involving mining, but one included some land in the Yakima Valley in Washington, and that orchard now makes Tree Top apple juice). He had Glensheen built for his family--and the house is pretty incredible. It's ornate and somewhat lavishly decorated, but it is not overdone. I think there's something like 39 rooms in the house, and it was wired for electricity before electricity was common, and it also had a central vacuum. The house and the family were well known in the Duluth and Minneapolis/St. Paul areas, but they became nationally known after the 1977 murder of heiress Elisabeth Congdon and her nurse. Apparently Elisabeth's daughter is back on trial again now, but I do not know the reason for the current trial. I do not know too much about the murders, the trials, etc, but I am reading a book about the crime. I am only about 40 pages into the 400+ page book, but I am glad I had some of that background before touring the house. The crime is not the main focus of the tour; instead the tour highlights the elaborately designed home and the people who lived there. Only recently were the tour guides even allowed to discuss the murders. So some of the tile used in one room was $5 a square in about 1905, some of the wood was specially fumed with ammonia to retain its color, and various other wallpapers, woods, lamps, vases, etc. were imported from around the world. It was an expensive home to build in the early 1900s, and would have cost millions today. Unfortunately they do not allow pictures to be taken inside the house, but I was able to get some of the outside. The house is built on the shore of Lake Superior, just north and west of downtown Duluth, and right along London Road/Highway 61 which heads north to Two Harbors. I am including a picture of the view from the lakefront, the front of the house, and the back of the house. I did not take any pictures of the grounds, but the Congdons had extensive plant and vegetable gardens (including greenhouses that grew tropical fruit, but they have since been torn down), a tennis court, decks/patios, a fountain, a boat house, bridges over the creek, and a carriage house. I think all of that would have been more impressive during the summer when everything was in bloom. Anyway, the tour was interesting, and I am looking forward to reading more about the house, family, and crime in the book.