The Hegeler Mansion

One of the main reasons I picked LaSalle, Illinois for my annual get-together with Becky was because there was a mansion in this town. And, WE COULD TAKE A TOUR.

Three years ago, Becky and I met in DeKalb, Illinois and we toured a mansion owned by the barbed wire baron...and HOW CAN WE FORGET the Tinker Cottage in Rockford, Illinois?!

Ya'll know I LOVE ME A GOOD MANSION TOUR...John and I used to love going to Monticello, and, of course, there was Mt. Vernon, and the Curtis mansion.  I've been to the Vanderbilt mansion in N.C. (with Jackie) -- and Marion and I have toured our share (remember Franklin Roosevelt's Springbrook?)....Mary and I have toured mansions in different countries, even!  (The day we toured the Beehive house in Salt Lake City, Mary was worried I was gonna ask the young Mormon docent about the Red River Massacre... )...

Anyway -- back to LaSalle, Illinois.

On this day -- we are touring the Hegeler Mansion in LaSalle, Illinois.

And this is a HUGE mansion...57 rooms, people!!

Becky and I were the only ones on the Noon tour.

These external stairs are in terrible condition -- so you cannot enter the house like they did 100 years ago...

Initially, we were dismayed by the dilapidated condition. Holy Cow. Peeling wallpaper and chipped paint. Hummm...

The ground level rooms are in terrible condition...

Mr. Hegeler was quite a free thinker -- YEARS ahead of his time. His mansion was completed in 1876, and it had 8 indoor bathrooms!!  The problem was indoor plumbing was a brand-new-concept.  Unfortunately, nobody really knew how to install it properly.  So there were leaks.  Many, many leaks.  Those 8 bathrooms became the bane of this mansion's existence.

They've been fighting those water problems for 150 years... caved in ceilings, ruined floors, black mold, peeling paint, crumbling plaster...

We each paid the $15, and sat down to watch a brief film about the Hegeler family...

Then, our docent, Tricia, came to give us THE TOUR...

OMG...I mean -- this was, without a doubt, the most interesting mansion I have ever personally toured...

For one thing, every single thing in this mansion is original...

And still owned by the Hegeler family

Me and Becky -- in a mirror shot.

The grand piano

original tile work in every room

UNBELIEVABLE one-of-a-kind wood floors

But -- DON'T FORGET TO LOOK UP...Holy Cow!!

Every piece of furniture, EXACTLY as it was originally purchased or placed

This "toy" invented by Nicholas Tessla, actually produces electricity..

And -- GET THIS.  The Hegeler family gifted 248,000 books to the University of Illinois...(which pretty much BECAME the school library)

So -- WHO WAS THIS GUY??  And how did he get so rich?