Montauk | |
Location | 1 mile northeast of Clermont on U.S. Route 18 |
---|---|
Coordinates | 43°0′30.1″N91°38′55.6″W / 43.008361°N 91.648778°W Coordinates: 43°0′30.1″N91°38′55.6″W / 43.008361°N 91.648778°W |
Built | 1874 |
Architect | E. Townsend Mix |
Architectural style | Italianate |
NRHP reference No. | 73000725 [1] |
Added to NRHP | February 21, 1973 |
Montauk, also known as Montauk State Preserve, is a historic building located northeast of Clermont, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. [1]
William Larrabee, who had the house built in 1874, was a Connecticut native who made his fortune as a banker, manufacturer and land owner. [2] As a Republican he served for 18 years in the Iowa Senate and then two terms as the Governor of Iowa. While he was one of Iowa's wealthiest landowners in his day, he helped to change Iowa politics and make government more responsive to the needs of its citizens. [3] During his political career he led a crusade against the uncontrolled rate abuses by the railroads, which in part, led to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission. [2] After his second term he retired here to Montauk. He held a couple minor roles in his later years as the chairman of the Iowa State Board of Control, and as the President of the Iowa Commission of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. He was a friend of Theodore Roosevelt, and helped to establish the Progressive Party. [2]
Initially the Larrabee's lived closer to the Turkey River, but fearing illnesses such as malaria his wife Anna desired a house on the hill. [4] The two-story, 14 room, Italianate mansion was designed by Milwaukee architect E. Townsend Mix. The bricks for its construction were kilned at Clermont, and the stone was quarried at the Williams Quarry from nearby Clermont. The porches and the widow's walk that caps the hip roof are composed of wood. The house was named after Montauk Point Light as an homage to Mrs. Larrabee's seafaring family. [3]
Montauk was a working farm with a caretaker's house, water tower, well house, laundry, creamery, workshop, barn, corncribs, sheds, vegetable garden, orchard. They raised peacocks, turkeys, chickens, and cattle.
The house contains many works of art from artists such as Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, William Bradford, and Pieter de Molijn. Iowa artist David John Cue painted the family's portraits. The yard has four bronze statues of Generals Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman and Grenville M. Dodge and Admiral David Farragut. They were commissioned by Larrabee and created by George Edwin Bissell and J. Massey Rhind. [4]
After Larrabee's death in 1912 the house remained in the family. His daughter Anna was the last member of the family to live here, and she maintained it until her death in 1965. The family opened the house to the public in 1967. They maintained ownership until 1976 when they deeded the house, its contents and 40 acres (16 ha) of land to the state of Iowa. The State Historical Society of Iowa preserves the property. It was dedicated as a state preserve in 1984. [3]
Clermont is a city in Fayette County, Iowa, United States. The population was 632 at the 2010 census. Clermont is home to Montauk, the mansion of former Iowa governor William Larrabee, along with much historic architecture. Scenes for the movie The Straight Story were filmed here.
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Pilot Grove State Preserve is a historic site located southwest of Williamsburg, Iowa, United States in rural Iowa County. The site is a wooded knoll surrounded by prairie between the North English River and Old Man's Creek. It consists of hickory, oak and walnut trees, along with patches of virgin prairie covered with bluestem, gramma, switch and Indian grasses, and a variety of native prairie wildflowers. There was no other timber in the area during the early years of Iowa's settlement, and it was a landmark for the pioneers traveling west across the state. It was given its name because it gave people who traveled to and from Marengo, Iowa a sense of direction. A 4-acre (1.6 ha) cemetery was established adjacent to the knoll in 1867. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The property had been owned by the Kelting family, who donated it to the Iowa Conservation Commission so that they could restore it and maintain its mid-19th-century condition at the time of Iowa's pioneer settlement. It was dedicated as a historical state preserve in 1980.
Turkey River Mounds State Preserve is a historic site located near the unincorporated community of Millville, Iowa, United States. The 62-acre (25 ha) preserve contains thirty-eight of forty-three Native American mounds located on a narrow Paleozoic Plateau at the confluence of the Mississippi and Turkey rivers. They vary in size and shape and are 1.3 feet (0.40 m) to 6 feet (1.8 m) in height. The conical mounds range from 20 feet (6.1 m) to over 100 feet (30 m) in diameter. The linear mounds vary from 80 feet (24 m) to 175 feet (53 m) in length. There is one effigy mound in the shape of a panther that is 98 feet (30 m) long and 40 feet (12 m) wide. There are also compound mounds in the preserve. The mounds were constructed during the Woodland period. They were used for burials and ceremonial places, and are now protected by law. The preserve is also home to a variety of trees, prairie grasses and flowers.
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The Old State Quarry State Preserve, also known as the North Bend Quarries, Capitol Quarry, Old Capitol Quarry, and the State Quarry, is a historic site located northeast of North Liberty, Iowa, United States. The quarry, originally known as North Bend Quarries, began operations in 1842. It provided limestone for numerous buildings and structures in Iowa City and elsewhere in the state. The list includes the Old Capital (1842), the foundations for Old Brick Church (1856) and the present Iowa State Capitol (1886) in Des Moines. The exact date that the quarry closed is not known, but because there is no evidence of mechanized techniques to remove stone, it is assumed it closed around the turn of the 20th century. There is, however, hand tool marks in the remaining stone. From 1874 to 1911 Samuel Calvin, professor of natural history at the State University of Iowa, used the quarry for both research and instruction in geology and paleontology.