Glensheen & the Congdon Legacy - Full Documentary

MALE VOICE OVER: Citizens of Minnesota provide funding for Glensheen and Congdon's

legacy

through the Minnesota Cultural and Arts Heritage Fund. NARRATOR: A gentle slope leads to the water's edge. The vast expanse of Lake Superior reaches far beyond the eye. The nearby cliffs are a reminder of the power of the great lake, but on this stretch access to the coast is via a pebble beach. It is here that Chester and Clara Congdon decided to put down roots and build their home, 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 did not want to be a school principal, he became an expert lawyer. When he joined Oliver Mining, he became a mining expert. NARRATOR: Glensheen Mansion is more than a concrete and steel structure. It is a connection with the history and development of a city. Through each season and the passing of the years, Glensheen stands the test of time, a fitting tribute to a family that gave so much to the region. SPEAKER: So he provided the money to get the land.

He provided the landscape design, so in 1908, the city named the park after Mr. Congdon. That's why we now have Congdon Park. NARRATOR: Today, thousands of people visit the house and its grounds each year, making Glensheen the number one house museum in Minnesota. The understated grace and beauty of the estate impresses today as much as it did 100 years ago. Well, there are many great houses in Minnesota, but there are some that truly showcase our state's talents better than this grand mansion here. NARRATOR: More than a century after its construction, visitors continue to marvel at this true Minnesota original and want to learn more about the people who lived here, the staff who cared for them, and the continuing

legacy

of Glensheen and the Congdon family. .

In 1853, the Lake Superior region was the western frontier, and Duluth was 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: His father went west during the gold rush and was a minister, a Methodist minister. His job was to be a clergyman and he had a parish in San Francisco. NARRATOR: Chester Congdon's father was also a Methodist minister and preached in several New York parishes when scarlet fever struck the family.

TONY DIERCKINS: Two of his brothers and his father died when he was about 14 years old and he went to work at a local lumberyard where they lived in upstate New York. NARRATOR: Chester worked in the sawmill to support his widowed mother and his surviving siblings until 1871, when he enrolled at the newly founded Syracuse University. Although he would have preferred to go to Yale, tuition was too expensive. As the son of a minister, he could attend Syracuse for half the tuition, a sum of only $10 per term. The university's first class consisted of 41 students, four of them women, including Clara Bannister.

TONY DIERCKINS: They became sweethearts in school and both graduated together in the first class of Syracuse. She became a school teacher in Ontario and he tried his luck after taking a position at the New York bar as principal of a high school in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. NARRATOR: The job in Chippewa Falls paid $900 a year and allowed Chester the opportunity to see what opportunities existed in the Upper Midwest. He moves west as many Americans do in hopes of a better life. And at that time, Minnesota was kind of one of those westernmost territories. NARRATOR: Clara, meanwhile, followed her love of art to a teaching position in Ontario.

MARY VAN EVERA: She taught at a school in Canada, I think a girls' school, and also in Pennsylvania. And her grandfather wrote to her and met her then, but he didn't feel that he could marry her until he could afford to support her. NARRATOR: Looking to advance 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 at an established law firm. While he gained experience in his chosen profession, Chester was still frustrated by his inability to earn enough money to marry Clara.

He described his financial situation to her in a letter. MALE SPEAKER: "$9.67 in cash, $5 receivable from my law firm, between $8 prepaid rent, a food voucher worth $5.75, two pounds of crackers, two and a half pounds of canned meat pound of coffee." Chester's luck would soon change thanks to a professional friendship with William Billson, the federal prosecutor for the state of Minnesota. Billson was impressed with Congdon's work and offered him a job as an assistant U.S. attorney. With spirits buoyed by the new position and a slight raise, Chester texted 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 the best of their life in Minnesota's capital and raised 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 U.S. Attorney's Office and entered private practice in Duluth. TONY DIERCKINS: Much of Congdon's professional business took him to and from Duluth, and there he visited his former boss and mentor, William Billson. Meanwhile, Billson had developed a lucrative practice in Duluth. He was considered one of the best lawyers in Zenith City. NARRATOR: Congdon's practice prospered, buoyed by the experience he had gained in the U.S.

Attorney's Office. He also invested in Western mining stocks and made major land deals in the Pacific Northwest. Just when it seemed like he was building a long-term practice in Saint Paul, Congdon received a tempting offer. TONY DIERCKINS: In 1892, Billson offered Congdon a partnership. He said, why don't you come up? Take the family to Duluth. By then I was growing up. And move here and become Billson's partner. NARRATOR: It was a difficult decision, but Billson's offer was too good to pass up. Moving a family of seven was a daunting task, so Chester moved first to settle in Duluth, and Clara and the children followed a few months later.

The Congdons found a house to rent on East 1st Street in Duluth, and the couple had two more children: 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 the Endion neighborhood of Duluth and had a modest house that they rented at the time, and in 1895, Duluth's leading architect, Oliver Traphagen, announced that he was closing his shop in Duluth and move to Hawaii. And the Congdons bought the house that Traphagen had designed and built for himself.

NARRATOR: The brownstone was one of the most elegant and modern residences in Duluth, and it was the Congdons' home for the next 13 years. The biggest break in Chester Congdon's career came because his law partner was out of 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 witness firsthand the discovery of iron ore in the Iron Range. He was so impressed with the Mesabi properties of Merritt Brothers of Duluth that he struck a deal to mine the ore from it.

On his return trip from the field, Oliver stopped by Duluth in search of a local attorney to represent him in future business deals in Minnesota. He was told that William Billson had the sharpest legal mind in Duluth, and one day he went to visit Billson and Billson was away. And he wouldn't return before Oliver had to leave town, so his junior attorney, Chester Congdon, attended the meeting. The two Republicans hit it off almost immediately and are said to have become lifelong friends after that meeting. Before it was finished, they decided to form the Oliver Mining Company with Chester Congdon as their main legal advisor.

NARRATOR: The formation of the Oliver Mining Company in 1892 began a chain of events that would result in a financial windfall for Congdon. The following year there is financial panic and Oliver merges with Carnegie Steel. Carnegie takes care of 50% of that amount. 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 ore from him. Rockefeller quickly increased his railroad rates, forcing Oliver and Congdon to consider building their own railroad. Then Rockefeller raised rates on his fleet of Great Lakes ships.

High-stakes gambling endangered the American economy and caught the attention of another 19th-century business magnate. TONY DIERCKINS: So JP Morgan, owner and chairman of most of the country's banks, is feeling pretty uncomfortable. So he forms US Steel, buying out Rockefeller, Carnegie and Oliver, and this increases Congdon's stock by 550%. NARRATOR: Chester Congdon's association with Oliver continued as the two formed other mining companies, developed new mining techniques, and succeeded where others had failed. He was right in that frontier period of opening up the iron range, and that was very exciting for him, getting the business and development of the steel industry going.

NARRATOR: Chester traveled extensively over the years in search of attractive investment opportunities in Minnesota and beyond. TONY DIERCKINS: Basically, Chester Congdon was involved in mining properties for the rest of his life. Not only did they have iron mines in the Mesabi mountain range, but they also invested in copper mines in Arizona and elsewhere. NARRATOR: Chester's successful mining ventures made the Congdons one of the wealthiest families in Minnesota, and soon he and Clara turned their attention to building a family home. Although wealthier Duluthians had begun moving further east in the early 20th century, few were building near the shore of Lake Superior.

But the idea of ​​a lake house intrigued the Congdons. TONY DIERCKINS: Clara's journal as early as 1900 or 1901 mentions searching for a site and finding a site along Tischer Creek. She was very interested in the north shore of Lake Superior. NARRATOR: Chester began purchasing the land in 1903, and soon acquired just over 21 acres that bordered the lake and extended a quarter mile up the hillside. The Congdons hired prominent Minnesota architect Clarence Johnston to design his home. Clarence Johnston in 1901 had become Minnesota's state architect. He had done many buildings for the state, including many for the University of Minnesota over the years, considered Minnesota's leading architect, actually one of the nation's leading architects.

NARRATOR: The Congdons asked Johnston to design a mansion that resembled an English estate. They chose a name that reflected the location of the mansion. You can see it right here. It's called Glensheen because of this glen you see here, and then the shine of Lake Superior, or the shine, Glensheen. NARRATOR: In June 1905, excavation began for the house's foundation: 42 by 140 feet with the long side parallel to Lake Superior. Construction would continue that first year until winter arrived and then resume the following spring. The bricklayers returned to work in April 1906, and by that fall all three floors and the attic were finished.

At the same time as the manor house was being built, workers also built a carriage house, a gardener's cottage with four greenhouses, and a boathouse with an attached dock. All were built with the most resistant materials under the watchful eye of the Congdons. DAN HARTMAN: Not only was this mansion built almost entirely on a steel and concrete beam, so was the carriage house, and even the small gardener's cabin. Chester and Clara were intimately involved with the design of the building, its location, landscaping approval and implementation. NARRATOR: By 1907, work had begun on Glensheen's interior mechanical systems and pilasters, masons and interior wood finishes were busy completing the structure of the house.

In February 1908, the mansion was handed over to the company that would be in charge of the interior decoration. Glensheen's elegant and sober exterior design is a hallmark of the work ofClarence Johnston. Yet for all its classical beauty, the mansion's Jacobean-style façade only hints at the rich details found within. Chester awarded the interior design contract to the French firm William A of Minneapolis, a major commission that required the

full

attention of the French. DAN HARTMAN: The interior designer, William A French, was here constantly. In reality, he appears repeatedly inside Clara's diary, which is why they are having tea.

He is showing things. They are simply making decisions and that is continuous. William French was worried that he would not have enough financial resources to make all the furniture and store it to have it ready, because the order had to be placed a year and a half in advance. In fact, Chester became vice president and one of the largest investors in William French's company to alleviate William French's cash flow situation. The vast majority of the furniture seen in this home is custom made for Glensheen. In reality, much of it is drawn by hand. Actually, the sketches are brought to you, usually to Clara, and then Clara would say up or down.

NARRATOR: Clarence Johnston's interior design elements blend throughout the home with William French's ideas, creating a truly unique living space. DAN HARTMAN: You'll see a lot of oddities in the house, where normally the architect would have a little more leeway. But the designers clearly changed the design. And frankly, I think that's part of the reason why this house looks so good, and you can definitely make out the elements of Johnston and also the immediate elements of the interior designer. Johnston's classic element is our ladder with a climbing leather strap design. That's Clarence Johnston. DENNIS LAMKIN: It was not at all unusual that when a mansion of this caliber and scale was being built, different decorators would be employed to do different areas so that there would be some variety in the interior design.

William French did most of the work on the house. He decorated... this is Chester's room. He decorated this room, for example. But William French subcontracted other rooms in the house to John Bradstreet, and Bradstreet was probably in many ways a bigger name than William French as an interior designer. NARRATOR: Bradstreet designed the famous Green Room in Glensheen, a long-time favorite of visitors. It's where the Congdons had breakfast. Bradstreet was heavily influenced by his numerous visits to Japan, as evidenced by his craft house in Minneapolis. Here, his clients were able to see his latest designs inspired by him and here he developed a wood treatment process that gives Chester's smoking room a unique look.

DAN HARTMAN: I love John Bradstreet's jin-di-sugi process, where he actually physically burns the wood. It burns the grains lighter, so you can really see - the cypress with the red and the wood really pops. NARRATOR: The jin-di-sugi method, developed by Bradstreet, accelerated the Japanese technique, which required burying wood for years to allow rock and decay to dissolve the softer pulp. Also in the smoking room, hand-hammered copper lighting showcases Minnesota craftsmanship, a point of emphasis for Congdon. DAN HARTMAN: The overall purpose of Glensheen is to showcase the talents we have here in Minnesota. When Glensheen was being built, a lot of people back east didn't know what we had here.

They didn't know we had an outdoor element. They didn't know we had a craftsman who could make anything. NARRATOR: Of all the rooms at Glensheen, Walter Congdon's third-floor bedroom occupies a special place in the history of American design. DAN HARTMAN: And this room here is a John Bradstreet room. This is one of the few... I think it's the only completely arts and crafts set that John Bradstreet left behind. I love that you have the desk, the chair and notice that they all match. But also, even the trash can matches. And I love that this all fits together.

It is clearly a set. But I also love the inlays in the wood in this room, and it's a little hard to see, but right here, there's a little decorative design by Bradstreet that is so... that's one of his signature styles that we'll see in his pieces. , only their arts and crafts. This is one of the best things here: we can still show this time frame of American history, and I would say, really, that this is a moment in interior design in our country that is best displayed here at Glensheen. NARRATOR: Since his death in 1914, Bradstreet's name has been mentioned alongside 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: Typically when you have a home of this nature, you'll have an overall style that dominates the entire home. That's not the case here. You have this third floor, which has a lot of arts and crafts. On this side, Bradstreet does it. The other side is made by William A French. Well, the floor below us and the floor below us are in the Beaux-Arts style, which is a very different style, almost a little post-Gilded Age. You also have Helen's room, which is actually art nouveau, so you have these very different elements that make up Glensheen.

NARRATOR: Chester and Clara Congdon accentuated the design elements with fine rugs, objects collected from their many travels, and an extensive art collection. DAN HARTMAN: One of the things I love about Glensheen from an artistic perspective is that you visit a lot of these big country houses and they're

full

of really famous international artists. And what I love about Glensheen is that you have that, but immediately next door is a regional artist, because Chester and Clara weren't just buying art as an investment. They bought art because they really enjoyed it. DENNIS LAMKIN: They, together, looked at art catalogs and both commented in the Notes section of the artwork which pieces they liked.

DAN HARTMAN: Chester, in particular, took this voyage across the Pacific, and there are many pieces throughout the house that are from that voyage. You will see many pieces from Australia, Japan. It's fun to see them all over the house. NARRATOR: Even with its artwork, 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. NARRATOR: With the house as its centerpiece, Glensheen's landscape is styled like an English country estate. In one departure, the Congdons looked outside Minnesota for their landscape architect and hired Charles W.

Leavitt of New York City. We have Clarence Johnson, who is a great architect here in Minnesota. You have two fantastic interior designers from Minnesota. But for the landscaper he chose Charles Leavitt of New York. Definitely, this is a small character of national landscape fame. And that can really be seen on the farm. NARRATOR: Leavitt's plan for the estate's 22 acres included formal garden areas, a large paddock for the Congdons' livestock, and extensive use of the natural landscape. Sustainability was an important goal of the plan. But the formal garden is the focus of the land. DAN HARTMAN: I think this is something that visitors have enjoyed since the day we opened.

But really, it's just a beautiful place to showcase the beautiful gardens 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: In the center, a cool and beautiful marble fountain adorns the formal garden. The original Glensheen fountain featured four jets shooting an arched stream of water. That configuration was changed in 1913 when the current fountain was installed. DAN HARTMAN: And then finally they decided on what you see here, which is Italian marble. And it's made by George Thrana, actually carved here in Duluth.

He is one of Duluth's master stone carvers. And this isn't George Thrana's first design. In fact, he gave them a different design of a young woman riding an alligator. And the Congdon family said, oh, maybe not so much. And this is the second design they chose. NARRATOR: In the northeast part of the landscape plan, a clay-surfaced tennis court was built next to a bowling alley. Just below the tennis court there is a beautiful flower garden. And the orchards are torn down towards the seafront. The gardener's cabin is located in the lowest corner of the orchard. Next to the cabin, four adjoining greenhouses climbed the hillside, an important part of the estate's sustainable design.

Some of the greenhouses were used to grow flowers, including annuals and perennials, for the estate's formal gardens. And at the top of the hill, the Palm House contained a real treat for Congdon's grandchildren. We used to go down on my brother's birthday, this would be in the 30's and 20's, to pick a banana from the banana tree there, because it seemed like they ripened right in April. That's the part I remember most. NARRATOR: Unfortunately, greenhouses no longer exist. They were decommissioned in 1970 after their coal-fired heating plant failed. Just below the quaint gardener's cottage is a much larger building: the carriage house.

DAN HARTMAN: This is kind of an overlapping period where carriages were still used a lot here in the city of Duluth, while at the same time the automobile is really starting to come onto the scene. So here, in this carriage house, you will have the horses that transport your carriages, while immediately, in the same building, we will have a garage for your new automobiles. NARRATOR: In addition to space for cars and carriages, some of Congdon's male servants lived in the carriage house. DAN HARTMAN: They had their own kitchen here, their own bathrooms here. This is where they lived.

This is kind of his house. And you actually had a full-time staff member called a stable boy who would actually live in that neighborhood. You would have the driver... the coachman. NARRATOR: The carriage house had stables for the estate's award-winning Morgan horses along with space for some Guernsey cows that were kept for milk and butter. To the east of the gardens and carriage house, several acres of paddocks were reserved for the estate's livestock. It was a large boathouse with a protective dock and a breakwater that extended into Lake Superior. The structure provided shelter for Congdon's yacht, the Hesperia.

DAN HARTMAN: And on a lot of the trade maps for captains, you actually saw Glensheen Dock on the map because it was a very important structure. NARRATOR: The boathouse itself is made of rough stone similar to the stone bridge over Tischer Creek. More than 500 loads of black earth were brought in to sculpt the landscape of Glensheen. And more than 200 varieties of trees and vegetation were planted on the land. Today, the 22 acres of Congdon Estate are a living testament to Charles Leavitt's master plan and ongoing efforts to maintain its 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 it was fun to be able to go back in time and be able to point out if this is the heritage tree or if it's a new one. And it's funny that we still have a lot of that history available. So we can restore it to its original appearance. NARRATOR: On a beautiful summer day, Glensheen Principal Dan Hartman walks along an abandoned trail along the western edge of Tischer Creek.

Almost 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 view of Lake Superior. And note that the original stone staircase leading to the viewing platform is still here. Oral history says that this is where Chester came to have his morning cup of coffee. NARRATOR: From the rocky outcrop And the visitors to the place were impressed. DAN HARTMAN: And when this was completed in 1910, when the guests came here, they didn't necessarily leave talking about the house.

Most walked away talking about how beautiful this trail system was. And how it almost felt like a 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 the most iconic places in Glensheen. DAN HARTMAN: On the family postcards, the picture wasn't the house 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 what really connected you to that hiking trail. Many have referred to it as the bridge to nowhere in the past. But it is clearly a bridge to something and is one of the most beautiful parts of the estate. NARRATOR: The extensive trail system surrounds the property's grounds on both sides of Tischer Creek. Going up and down the steep banks of the creek required the construction of stone steps.stone artfully carved into the slopes. So this is one of the completely unknown staircases here at Glensheen that we hope to bring back that aren't actually even available to the public at present.

But it's the other side of the trail, that eastern part, that still has that great view of the stone bridge. And now you can actually see how the trail system circles both sides of Tischer Creek. NARRATOR: The steps that once crossed the stream have been washed away. But the trail continues through an impressive tunnel to the Congdon property located on London Road. DAN HARTMAN: You have this in Duluth's Congdon Parkteny on land that Chester had donated to the city. It was a seamless transition into a park that complemented Glensheen's location on Lake Superior. DAN HARTMAN: What I think is really unique about going to the other side of London Road is that you can really see that continuity of design. by amalgamating land and building he was ahead of his time.l Today, visitors to Glensheen once again see the mansion and grounds as they were first imagined more than 100 years ago.

We cleared Congdon's vision. NARRATOR: Chester's trail system along Tischer Creek did not end at the edge of his property. He had something else in mind that would benefit his adopted city. NANCY NELSON: He owned property from the lake shore to Graceland Road along Tischer Creek. He then proposed that the city acquire the land from Graceland Road to Vermilion Road along Tischer Creek and turn it into a city park. NARRATOR: The creek winds down and winds down the Duluth hillside, creating dramatic valleys and tranquil pools on its way to Lake Superior. A scenic canvas...seemed perfect for an extension of the trail work planned for Glensheen.

But it was also very contaminated. At that time, people living on top of the hill in the Woodland area were using Tischer Creek as a sewer. So it was quite contaminated. NARRATOR: Congdon made his donation of land and money contingent on the city redirecting wastewater to a holding tank. The park board accepted Congdon's offer in 1905 and completed the acquisition of another 30 acres of land for the park in late 1907. But Congdon's generosity did not end there. He offered the services of his landscaping team to come up with a plan for the park. He had hired Charles Leavitt of New York to help him design the landscaping of Glensheen.

And Anthony Morrell and Arthur Nichols worked with Leavitt. And so Congdon offered the services of Mr. Morrell and Mr. Leavitt to help develop a plan for the rest of the park once the city 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 in several places. Other elaborate plans for the park were never built. But the city honored Congdon for preserving the natural beauty of Tischer Creek. NANCY NELSON: He So he provided the money to get the land. He provided the landscape design.

And so, in 1908, the city named the park after Mr. Congdon. That's why we now have Congdon Park. NARRATOR: A 1909 article in the Duluth Herald newspaper called the new park, "the leading place of outdoor beauty in the city," and went on to exclaim that Tischer Creek provided a wild atmosphere such as is rarely found within a park. the city. "Today, the park still features its original stone steps and beautiful views of the creek, just as it did 100 years ago. The wooden bridges have been replaced by modern versions. And the park remains a showcase of wild nature in middle of the city. to Duluth by Leavitt to work on the Glensheen landscape, Morrell and Nichols left their mark on Zenith City NANCY NELSON: They laid out a plan for Lester Park.

Lester River on London Road where you see that pretty stone arch bridge is probably something designed by Morrell and Nichols NARRATOR: The automobile was beginning to change the way Americans traveled in the early 20th century. Chester. Congdon saw a need to improve the region's highway system and was once again willing to help foot the bill. MALE SPEAKER: In fact, he had a vision of the Lake Superior International Highway extending to the Pigeon River. And he purchased and donated all the land that is now scenic Highway 61 from 60th Avenue east to Two Harbors. NANCY NELSON: I think he did a lot of his things very quietly, like buying some of the land for Congdon Boulevard.

He tried to do everything he could on his behalf. And there's a newspaper article that says he was trying to do it discreetly. And the newspaper was cooperating and didn't publish anything about it until he finally came to the city hall and asked for help getting land. NARRATOR: According to them, Chester Congdon did not live to see the dream of his Lake Superior International Highway completed. But Congdon's name was forever linked to the development of the North Shore Highway. Later, after his death, Clara and the Congdon estate paid for the historic Lester River Bridge, which crosses the Lester River on this stretch.

NANCY NELSON: So Congdon Boulevard became part of Highway No. 1 that ran from Duluth to the coast. We now know it more or less as Scenic Highway 61. He really was a visionary in that sense, realizing that it was going to be a major transportation corridor to bring people to the coast. NARRATOR: The Congdons moved into their spacious new home in late November 1908, although a small amount of finishing work still remained. While the family settled in, workers completed the final details and the construction supervisor declared the completion of the house's construction on February 1, 1909. The final cost of building and equipping the farm was $854,000.

Most of that money was spent on the interior and furniture. DENNIS LAMKIN: And it took 33 train cars, boxcars, of furniture to furnish the house, and that took about a month to install the furniture in the house and place it correctly. NARRATOR: In those early years, the Congdons employed about 30 people in Glensheen in a variety of positions. DAN HARTMAN: Domestic service was the number one occupation in the country, so working in the number one household in the state at that time was a big deal. SPEAKER 1: There was a time when they had a chauffeur, then you had your housekeeper.

The driver lived upstairs and the servant lived downstairs. Well, they had a cook and I think they once had a kitchen helper. And then they have a housekeeper, she was in charge of the house and all the people who worked there. So they would have a girl on top and a girl on the bottom. NARRATOR: Permanent staff members had excellent living facilities and jobs at Glensheen were coveted. DAN HARTMAN: Imagine you've just come in from sea, you're coming from terrible working conditions, and now you're living on this beautiful property in a heated building, with generally very good food at every meal, and, frankly, you're paid pretty well.

NARRATOR: Even before it was finished, the Congdon locomotive attracted attention as one of the finest houses in Minnesota. DAN HARTMAN: Glensheen is a highly sought after home. The architect, the interior designers, people want this job because they know it will help them show what they do. NARRATOR: A year after the family moved, a national magazine came to Duluth to write an article about the residence. DAN HARTMAN: Western Digest comes and publishes photographs of almost every room in the house, the landscape, they write this great story and it publishes in this national newspaper. NARRATOR: The photographs taken for The Western Architect in 1910 are a remarkable document. , a curator's dream, illustrating how little furniture, artwork, and family memories have changed in more than 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 needed to be in that room. NARRATOR: Although most of the Congdon children were already at boarding school and university when the family moved 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 Congdon's house. Guests from near and far were welcomed at Glensheen, and the house bustled with activity in those early years. Summer was an especially busy time with children returning from school and friends and family visiting.

And the estate took full advantage of its location on Lake Superior with its excellent viewing deck 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, came to live with the Congdons in the 1890s, and in 1911, he and a friend piloted the Hesperia from Maine across the Great Lakes to Duluth. It was the longest voyage made by a motor ship of that size at its time. NARRATOR: Even with all the activity of a large family and estate staff, Glensheen still functioned as an oasis for Chester Congdon between his frequent business trips.

TONY DIERCKINS: Chester especially enjoyed the west porch, where we have photos of him relaxing and sitting. They say that he spent most of his time there while he was at Glensheen. Of course, during those years from 1909 to 1916, while Glensheen was his residence, he did not spend much time here. NARRATOR: Chester Congdon's foray into politics came relatively late in his life, although he had long supported Republican causes and candidates. DAN HARTMAN: Chester was an extremely influential Republican in this region. He was the leader of the Republicans in northeastern Minnesota. NARRATOR: Content to stand up for his beliefs at the party level, Congdon had never run for elected office, but that changed when he ran and won a seat in the House of Representatives in 1908.

TONY DIERCKINS: He represented Duluth in two different legislations. sessions. He actually entered politics over a tonnage tax issue, a tax that was going to be imposed on iron ore. DAN HARTMAN: He was only in two sessions, and in one of the sessions, he is the chairman of the committee that actually decides the state's districts for the next election. He doesn't normally get that as a freshman representative. Chester understood that. NARRATOR: Disillusioned by the legislative process, Chester left the statehouse when he finished his second term. In 1914, he embarked on a several-month voyage across the Pacific Rim and continued his orchard interests in Washington state, building there a large castle-like residence known as Westhome.

Republicans often sought Congdon's political advice, and in 1916 he was elected to the Republican National Committee for the state of Minnesota. The party's endorsement went to Charles Evans Hughes, and Congdon was confident that the nation would remove President Wilson from office. TONY DIERCKINS: Chester Congdon didn't like Woodrow Wilson. He thought his policies of staying out of what we now call World War I made the United States look weak. He was so sure that Wilson would lose the election that he had the estate cook prepare a special celebratory dinner on election night. NARRATOR: Much to Congdon's disappointment, Wilson won re-election.

Three days later, while on a business trip in St. Paul, he texted Clara to tell her that she wasn't feeling well. DAN HARTMAN: He was in St. Paul. He was at the St. Paul Hotel and sent a note saying he was feeling bad. People thought he was getting better and then he got worse, but it all happened so quickly. 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 be easy to fill. TONY DIERCKINS: According to all the newspapers, Chester Congdon was loved and appreciated by the community.

The Duluth News Tribune's obituary for him speaks, really, effusively about the wonderful things he did for this community, and they considered him pretty irreplaceable. DAN HARTMAN: And he was so involved in so many things in Duluth at that time that there comes this moment of what are we going to do? I mean, this is the guy who has been a major donor and vision for so many different ideas in Duluth. NARRATOR: The untimely death of Chester Adgate Congdon was a blow not only to his family, but to the entire region. At the time of his death, Chester Congdon was reportedly the richest man in Minnesota.

He was able to afford frequent trips in and out of the country and support the large staff who tended the Congdon estate. But changes were coming for Glensheen and his domestic staff. DAN HARTMAN: Now, after World War I, that number immediately drops by half, and then after World War II, it drops to about five, and frankly, that's very common nationally as well. NARRATOR: One by one, the Congdons' adult children married and moved out of Glensheen. Clara CongdonShe dedicated herself to her business, living in a very different style from that of her well-known husband. DAN HARTMAN: Here's Chester, who was a very proactive and very public person.

He runs for the state legislature and builds a mansion on London Road. Clara, not so much. Clara believes strongly in supporting her family and being more private, and that was her way of thinking. She was still a great advocate for the community, but she didn't want to do it so publicly. NARRATOR: Clara was a firm but loving mother, fostering the family's craft of generosity and lifelong commitment to the community. TONY DIERCKINS: The children were raised with what at the time was called a sense of nobility oblige. It is a French term and those of us who are lucky enough to have wealth are obliged to share it.

NARRATOR: Clara was 62 years old when Chester died and suffered from a difficult hearing loss. As seen in this old film of the Congdon family, she tried several uncomfortable headphones to keep up the conversation. Although she couldn't hear well, she was always there for her grandchildren, often gently encouraging them. MARY VAN EVERA: She had her own advice for us as if she were our mother, and we always went to see her before we left for school or university. NARRATOR: Clara's preference for privacy caused some subtle changes to the Congdon estate. It seemed like she asked the guard staff to plant pine and cedar trees throughout the property, to close some of these viewing lanes to make it more of a private home.

TONY DIERCKINS: She let the terrain get a little wild and things developed. And in 1930, the photograph shows this much more exuberant and complete view of the terrain. NARRATOR: Throughout her long life, Clara Congdon never lost her love of art, a passion she often practiced and supported in others. DAN HARTMAN: David Erickson, who I would say is easily one of the most popular painters of the turn of the century here in Duluth, she was the one who actually paid for him to go abroad and study the arts. VERA DUNBAR: The only oil painting she did was Rubén's David that is in the library, and I think she did it when she was teaching art before she got married.

NARRATOR: As the years passed, one constant with Clara at Glensheen was her youngest daughter, Elisabeth, who was 14 when the Congdons moved away. Elisabeth dropped out of college when her father died and she returned home to help her mother manage the property. while brothers Walter and Edward took charge of the various business interests. By 1930, all of Congdon's children except Elisabeth were married and had moved away, but for many years, returning to their native place for Christmas remained a cherished family tradition. MARY VAN EVERA: My earliest memories, I think, are around Christmas, riding in the sleigh, the Troika sleigh, on the London Road with a horse in front of us pulling us.

There was a lot 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 30s, adopted two daughters. She and the girls continued to live in Glensheen with her mother, who enjoyed good health for many more years. In July 1950, Clara Bannister Congdon died at the age of 96. In the years that followed, with her children grown, Elisabeth Congdon divided her time between Glensheen and other family homes. DAN HARTMAN: And after Clara dies, Elisabeth is really here sparingly throughout the year, not as much as her mother or Chester.

And that's why there are stories of this entire floor 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 manage her own affairs with the help of her personal manager, Vera Dunbar. VERA DUNBAR: Elisabeth had had a serious stroke and was partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair, and at times she had difficulty speaking. 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 ended tragically on the night of June 26, 1977 when Elisabeth and her night nurse, Velma Pietila, were murdered. The story of that dreadful night and its connection with Marjorie, Miss Congdon's adopted daughter, has been told many times, and it is a story that is not ignored in Glensheen, but neither is it emphasized. DAN HARTMAN: That murder has overshadowed this much larger legacy of what the Congdon family has done for northeastern Minnesota, so part of what I feel like my mission here is for everyone to hear that larger story so they know that there is more into what this family did than just this one day event.

Several months after Elizabeth's death, the University of Minnesota assumed full ownership of the Congdon property. 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 insight into a time and lifestyle that cannot be found anywhere else. TONY DIERCKINS: The Congdons weren't the only wealthy family to build a large estate at the turn of the last century, but because it remained in one family all these years, it's filled with almost all of the original furnishings, and they're on display the same photographs.

Hanged in the wall. NARRATOR: When Chester Congdon built Glensheen on the shores of Lake Superior, he sent a message to his business colleagues in cities across America. DAN HARTMAN: I think he did an extraordinary job of showing people in the eastern part of our country that Minnesota was more than just bitter cold. DENNIS LAMKIN: I think he also told the people of Duluth that he's here to stay. That wealth is not going to be fleeting and it is not going to disappear, that there is going to be a sustainable future for the city. NARRATOR: From the mansion to the formal garden and the impressive carriage house that houses Congdon's original sleighs and carriages, Glensheen offers the visitor a rich experience that cannot be duplicated.

DAN HARTMAN: The craftsmanship in this house is unbeatable, and the local element in it, especially, is just amazing. You'll go to some beautiful homes on the East Coast, but none of those homes will show off the identity of their state or region like Glensheen will.