116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Time Machine: Brucemore’s quiet decade
After Howard Hall died in ’71, his widow secured mansion’s future
When the Cedar Rapids mansion we now know as Brucemore was being built in 1885, The Gazette described it as, “in all probability, the finest residence this side of Chicago.”
Caroline Soutter Sinclair, the widow of Thomas McElderry Sinclair, who started his giant meatpacking business in Cedar Rapids in 1871, built the home after her husband died in 1881, at age 39, after falling down an elevator shaft at his plant.
She hired St. Louis architect, M.T. Allard, to design the new house for her and her six children she needed to raise without her husband. Construction of the mansion, sometimes called Fairhome, began in 1884 on about 10 acres outside the city limits. It took a couple of years to finish.
The three-story home, with a high attic and a high basement, promised a scenic view of the countryside from its upper windows.
“The outer walls are composed of St. Louis pressed brick with trimmings of stone,” The Gazette reported in June 1885. “The plan of the house itself is of the Queen Anne period modified and has Oriole windows and little balconies in all parts of the house.”
One novel feature of the house was a carriage porch over the drive, eliminating the need for passengers to be exposed to bad weather. There was nothing like it in the city.
A house trade
In 1906, Caroline Sinclair agreed to trade the mansion for the residence of George and Irene Douglas at 800 Second Ave. SE — now The History Center — and $29,000, the equivalent of about a million dollars today.
The Douglases raised their three daughters — Margaret, Ellen and Barbara — in the home they renamed Brucemore. They also hosted dignitaries and presidents. President Herbert Hoover and former President Harry S Truman were guests, as were entertainers such as Art Linkletter and Phil Silvers, along with many industrial leaders. Even Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa was a guest.
The grounds grew to 27 acres and became a landmark on First Avenue East. Eventually, the property encompassed 45 acres.
The Hall era
George Douglas died in 1923, and Margaret Douglas Hall, the oldest of the three sisters, moved into the mansion’s garden house after she and industrialist Howard Hall married in 1924. After her mother’s death in 1937, the Halls moved into the mansion. The Hall era was one of philanthropy and community involvement.
Howard Hall died at age 76 on May 16, 1971.
More than 1,000 relatives, friends and dignitaries attended Hall’s funeral May 19 at Brucemore. Among them were Iowa Gov. Robert D. Ray, Thomas Phelps, president of Raytheon Corp., and Henry Harnischfeger, president of Harnischfeger.
Spotted in the crowd were University of Iowa President Willard Boyd and renowned UI physicist James Van Allen.
“Every room in the first floor of the house was filled with people and an extra 350 chairs were set up outside in a tent equipped with a public address system,” The Gazette reported. “In addition, many others stood behind the tent.”
The family car and the hearse proceeded to Oak Hill Cemetery, followed later by a 16-car funeral procession. The American Legion Hanford Post conducted a short service beside the Hall mausoleum.
Another service was held May 20 at Hallmar, attended by family, friends and members of the Margaret and Howard Hall Radiation Center, Hallmar staff and the hospital board.
Margaret Hall’s decade
Brucemore was much quieter after Howard’s death. Margaret hosted few public gatherings, most of them in the pool area. She employed five people to tend the 30-room house and the 45-acre grounds.
“After Howard’s death, Margaret and I were talking about what was being done to large family homes,” Margaret’s sister, Ellen Douglas Williamson, told a Gazette reporter.
The sisters visited the Butterworth home in Moline, Ill. They saw a Scout meeting in the basement, a Junior League meeting on the first floor and a symphony committee meeting upstairs.
Inspired, Margaret Hall began working with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to secure Brucemore’s future.
The Hall family custom of wintering in Florida also came to an end. In the last few years of her life, Margaret Hall suffered from arthritis and stayed home. Only close friends and relatives were guests at Brucemore.
When she died March 15, 1981, at age 84, she willed Brucemore to the National Trust.
The next chapter
On May 22, 1981, 120 guests attended a farewell cocktail party to celebrate the transition of Brucemore from a family home to a national treasure open for visitors to explore.
Barbara Douglas Dixon wrote a poem about the home in which she grew up.
“Brucemore, Brucemore, to you and to the fun
That folks have had within these walls since 1881.
And now you’re safe forever
From crumbling into dust
We drink to you, dear Brucemore, and to the National Trust.”
Dixon, along with her two children, Borden Stevens and Douglas Burck, all of Cedar Rapids, were at the party, as was her sister, Ellen Douglas Williamson, of Bal Harbour, Fla., and her daughter, Marto Litt of Haddonfield, N.J.
“This is not the last party at Brucemore,” Dixon said. “I sincerely believe it is the first in a new era.”
And it was.
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