October 30, 1917 – General William Gates LeDuc died in his home in Hastings, Minn., on this
date. He was 94-years-old. LeDuc was a lawyer, the Commissioner of Agriculture
under President Rutherford B. Hayes from 1877 to 1881, a general and
quartermaster in the Civil War and an entrepreneur.
“’A Cottage in the Rhine Style’ is how Andrew Jackson Downing described his design for J. T. Headley’s Hudson highland rural home in his 1842 book, Cottage Residence, Rural Architecture & Landscape Gardening. Twenty-three years later, General William Gates LeDuc built a nearly identical home in Hastings. More a mansion than a cottage, LeDuc’s house portrays rural residential grandeur and symbolizes the man himself by its appearance of strength and refinement.
An attorney from Ohio, LeDuc settled in St. Paul in 1850, practicing law and running a bookshop. Soon after, LeDuc successfully represented a client involved in a land dispute at Vermillion Falls (now in Hastings). He was paid in land, and so began his lifelong attachment to the Hastings area. The construction of his house took many years, slowed by his absence in the Civil War and his ability to finance it from afar. By 1865, it was completed.
The house has ten fireplaces; its limestone walls are three feet thick and, except for the cherry staircase rail, all the woodwork is white pine finished at the site.”1
The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1970, and is now a museum available for tours and rentals for special occasions.
“’A Cottage in the Rhine Style’ is how Andrew Jackson Downing described his design for J. T. Headley’s Hudson highland rural home in his 1842 book, Cottage Residence, Rural Architecture & Landscape Gardening. Twenty-three years later, General William Gates LeDuc built a nearly identical home in Hastings. More a mansion than a cottage, LeDuc’s house portrays rural residential grandeur and symbolizes the man himself by its appearance of strength and refinement.
An attorney from Ohio, LeDuc settled in St. Paul in 1850, practicing law and running a bookshop. Soon after, LeDuc successfully represented a client involved in a land dispute at Vermillion Falls (now in Hastings). He was paid in land, and so began his lifelong attachment to the Hastings area. The construction of his house took many years, slowed by his absence in the Civil War and his ability to finance it from afar. By 1865, it was completed.
The house has ten fireplaces; its limestone walls are three feet thick and, except for the cherry staircase rail, all the woodwork is white pine finished at the site.”1
The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1970, and is now a museum available for tours and rentals for special occasions.
A “HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS:
The LeDuc family dabbled in
spiritualism, especially General William Gates LeDuc and his daughter, Alice,
who were heavily involved in its practices. Perhaps they opened a door
into the spiritual world.[Daughters] Florence and Alice never married because of a lack of suitable young men [in Hastings], probably because they lacked the sizable dowry needed to attract upper-class suitors when they were young. The family was really close in life and loved their home, and had many fond memories of living and growing in this special place in their lives.
Carroll Simmons [a family friend who bought the home from the remaining family in 1941], loved the mansion and property and set up his antique shop on the first floor. He made sure that the mansion and estate would pass into caring hands who would invest the money and time to keep the place up to snuff in its original glory and share it with the public in the form of a museum. After moving out in 1986, perhaps he missed the mansion so much that he decided to return!
MANIFESTATIONS:
In the 1950s,
the LeDuc Mansion was reported as being haunted by several entities. Mr.
Simmons added to that belief by keeping the mansion dark and spooky.
Staff today feel that they have friendly unseen hosts who keep the living
company, while going about their business as well.
It is strongly suspected that the entity of General LeDuc, a restless man
during life, is now a restless entity, puttering around his castle!
The entity of his devoted daughter, Alice, is thought to have stayed behind to
keep watch over him, keeping him company.
It is also thought that a third entity of Carroll Simmons, has joined this
pair.
Doors have been known to open and close by themselves, sometimes slamming.
Cold spots have been felt.
Objects sometimes are moved around a room.
STILL HAUNTED?
Probably.
Nothing has been done to drive them out as they are friendly entities who are benign and cordial, who still have the run of their beloved home when the museum closes. They are accepted as part of the museum.”2
1http://www.dakotahistory.org/leduc-historic-estate/
2http://www.hauntedhouses.com/states/mn/leduc_mansion.htm
Nothing has been done to drive them out as they are friendly entities who are benign and cordial, who still have the run of their beloved home when the museum closes. They are accepted as part of the museum.”2
1http://www.dakotahistory.org/leduc-historic-estate/
2http://www.hauntedhouses.com/states/mn/leduc_mansion.htm
Photos taken by Pamela J. Erickson.
Released into the public domain Oct. 30, 2013,
as long as acknowledgement included.
Other Haunted Places in Minnesota:
Thayer’s Hotel, Annandale, Minn.; see August 24,2012 blog
The Jackson Hotel, now Billy’s Bar & Grill, Anoka, Minn.; see December 8, 2012 blog
Forepaugh’s Restaurant in S.t Paul; see July 8, 2013 blog
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