Mary Van Evera, granddaughter of Chester and Clara Congdon, once said, “I think Glensheen has spirit because it was created by people who were loving their family, not just loving their home. It was a family center.”
Glensheen was built for the family of Chester and Clara Congdon between 1905 and 1908. Both Chester and Clara were born to ministers and met at Syracuse University in New York, graduating in 1875.
They waited six years after graduation to get married, until Chester felt he was financially secure enough to support a family. By 1892 the family had moved to Duluth. As an attorney and investor involved with Iron Range land speculation, Chester saw his financial outlook change dramatically when he was 50 years old.
It was around this time that Chester also became active in politics, serving as a legislator and as a Minnesota representative to the Republican National Convention in 1916.
Clara was a partner in the creation of Glensheen, using her artistic talents while working closely with the architects and supervising the interior design of the house. Despite the grand scale of Glensheen, Clara continued to model thriftiness, mending and darning the family’s clothing and insisting that her daughters learn the same skills.
Chester and Clara had seven children; Walter, Edward, Marjorie, Helen, John, who died in infancy, Elisabeth, and Robert, with a sixteen-year age difference between the oldest and youngest children. The family also raised Clara’s nephew, Alfred Bannister, starting in 1898.
Only the youngest children, Elisabeth and Robert, really grew up at Glensheen. They were 14 and 10 years old respectively when Glensheen was completed. But it truly was a family home for generations of Congdon children and grandchildren, where holiday traditions were honored and family memories were made.
After Chester died in 1916, Clara and Elisabeth continued to live at Glensheen. Elisabeth adopted two daughters, Marjorie and Jennifer, and raised them here. Elisabeth was the last family member to live at Glensheen. She died in 1977. So for 69 years, from 1908 to 1977, Glensheen was a family home.
The Congdon Family Tree
Chester Adgate Congdon
6/12/1853 – 11/21/1916
Clara Hesperia Bannister Congdon
4/29/1854 – 7/12/1950
Walter Bannister Congdon
11/5/1882 – 10/20/1949
Edward Chester Congdon
5/20/1885 – 11/27/1940
Marjorie Congdon [Dudley]
1/12/1887 – 10/11/1971
Helen Clara Congdon [d’Autremont]
2/16/1889 – 5/19/1966
Alfred Edward Bannister (Clara’s nephew)
4/16/1890 – 3/30/1952 (adopted in 1898)
John Congdon
1891 – 1893
Elisabeth Mannering Congdon
4/22/1894 – 6/27/1977
Robert Congdon
9/4/1898 – 6/12/1967
