Mr.Hegeler and his wife had ten children. The zinc business was very good to them...and they were hobnobbing with the Vanderbilts and the Carnegies.
At some point, Edward realized his daughter Mary would be the one to carry on, so he sent her to Mining College. She became the first woman to graduate. She married a guy named Carus -- who joined in the family publishing business (which is still going strong). Mary and her husband ran things and both businesses prospered.
(Of course, Mary's older brother thought HE should be the one to run things...so he was pissed off, so Edward built him a mansion of his own...)
The family still owns the mansion -- and they are in the process of restoring it -- room by room. But it is a painstakingly slow process....for example, paint is removed one inch at a time...
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| IT'S also very EXPENSIVE. Just refinishing the elaborate floors costs $100,000 per room. |
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| The wood floors are stunning -- but, like everything else in the mansion, they were devastated by a century of plumbing/water issues |
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| In the dining room -- one small area has been cleaned. UNBELIEVABLE... |
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| The stipulation of the family foundation is that they CANNOT SELL ANYTHING out of the house to fund the renovation. |
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| And just the annual maintenance is over $3 million a year. |
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| So -- how many servants did it take to run this thing...? |
Would you believe the answer is..."they had no servants"...??
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