Dillon House Mansion

Rhonda had a few days off -- so last Friday -- we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and have one of our "in-between" lunches. (we choose a town halfway between her Illinois home, and my Iowa location).

Rhonda did some research and came up with the Dillon House Mansion in Sterling, Iowa.

The Dillon family made their fortune manufacturing barbed wire.

And the house is completely furnished with all their stuff...

Mrs Crete Dillon was very VERY fond of wallpaper.

In every room, the light switches were papered.

In this room, the lucite doorknobs matched the rose wallpaper.

The wallpaper in the dining room was handpainted.

This is the back of the mansion. Which pretty much sits a block away from the Rock River.

 

Hey -- WHAT A GREAT DAY. Nobody enjoys a good mansion tour as much as I do!! And you learn so many interesting things about the people who used to live in the house. 

And, most of the time -- if you can tour a home of the richest guy in town (circa 1900) -- you can pretty much figure out what that town was all about.

The Dillon family owned the mansion since 1882...They made their fortune via Northwestern Steel and Wire Company.  The Wikipedia entry about the company is very interesting.  At one time, they provided jobs for over 2000 people. 

P.K. Dillon lived in the house until he was 96 years old...and when he died (1980) the family set up a Foundation to pay for the upkeep of the property.  The home, its furnishings and all of its artifacts would be turned over to the Sterling Park District for future generations to enjoy.

Times change...and in 2001, Northwestern Steel declared bankruptcy.  But their Foundation still pays for the upkeep of the mansion.  The family foundation also does many good works throughout the region...

The bankruptcy couldn't have hurt them much...as the Foundation still looks over a tidy sum of $63 million...

Yikes.