Local News

Hegeler-Carus Mansion – LaSalle

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The Then photograph shows the exterior of the seven-level, 16,000-square-foot residence, which is an example of Second Empire architectural design. The house was designated as a National Historic Landmark on March 29, 2007. Today, the Hegeler-Carus Mansion is open for tours. (Photo courtesy)

With the coming of the railroads in the mid-19th century, the town of LaSalle quickly developed as a transportation hub. The Illinois Central, Rock Island, LaSalle and Bureau County, and the Chicago Quincy and Burlington railroads all had trunk lines through the county.

The Illinois and Michigan Canal and the railroads soon would help spur the growth of the downtown business district. In addition to commercial storefronts, banks and hotels, there were other newly established industries that came into the region, including coal mining, textiles and glass and brick manufacturing. One unique industry that came to town was zinc production.

Frederick W. Matthiessen and Edward Hegeler had come west from Pennsylvania in the mid-1850s in search of a suitable site for their zinc-works and found the town of LaSalle a perfect location, as it offered a shipping point on the Illinois & Michigan Canal that connected Chicago with the Illinois River near the town.

In 1858, the Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc Company was established in LaSalle and would become one of the country’s largest producer of zinc, a material later used for production of armaments during the Civil War.

The zinc production and smelting facilities were located on high land located at Sterling and Eighth streets.

To keep watch of his growing company, Edward Hegeler soon commissioned a 57-room Second Empire mansion on a three-acre site near the factory that offered a beautiful landscaped environment.

Designed by architect William W. Boyington and constructed in 1874-75, the mansion would soon dominate the large lot on Seventh Street. Boyington, a prominent architect, was best known in Chicago for his design of the Water Tower.

The elaborate interior decoration of the Hegeler-Carus mansion is the work of August Fiedler, a talented German-American who had a reputation for interior design and furniture making. While Fiedler was hired to design many interiors in Chicago, most have been lost in time,

The Hegeler-Carus mansion was completed in 1876, and soon Edward and Camilla Hegeler moved in with their large family. Hegeler had made his fortune in the zinc smelting business, and by 1880 it was largest such business in the U.S.

In 1887, Hegeler launched The Open Court Publishing Company to provide a forum for the discussion of philosophy, science and religion. To assist in endeavor, Hegeler hired German scholar Dr. Paul Carus to serve as managing editor.

During his lifetime, Carus would write 75 books and about 1,500 articles and is credited with introducing Buddhism to the western world through his text “The Gospel of Buddha According to Old Records.” Carus married the Hegelers’ daughter, Mary, in 1888.