Explore Winnebago County’s history in the Mansion Museum

BY CONRAD BASCOM
LAKE MILLS GRAPHIC
The Mansion Museum is a gleaming-white house with a portico, Corinthian pillars, and a wrap-around veranda, ensconced on the corner of N. Clark St. and West M St. in Forest City—just north of the US Post Office and Forest City Public Library.
The house was first home to Charles J. Thompson and family at the turn of the 19th century. Thompson bankrolled the building of his lavish neoclassical home and brought on the Chicago firm, Beauley and Peabody, to design it. Winnebago County Historical Society vice-president, Kevin Mason, explains “The house itself was built in the 1890s, right after the Chicago World’s Fair. If we go back up front to the portico, you’ll notice the neoclassical style—columns and the like—which became really popular after the World’s Columbian Exposition. The architectural firm Burnham and Root designed the Court of Honor to follow neoclassical principles; it was one of the main features of the fair. You can see how it (the growing popularity of neoclassical architecture) rippled out to Forest City. You can see reflections of the urban in small town life and small town life in the urban. In my mind, that’s one of the coolest aspects of the house: that it reflects the urban society of that period.”
Based on what Mason says, one can assume that the Thompson manse was an appropriately-cosmopolitan home for one of the preeminent movers and shakers of Forest City society at the end of the 19th century—at that time, Thompson was president of the Forest City National Bank and one of the initial investors in the historic Summit Hotel. Needless to say, Thompson was a looming figure in town. He even contributed to the creation of Waldorf College, in a sense—as it was the Summit Hotel’s victory over the Waldorf Hotel in “The Great Hotel War of Forest City” that led to the Waldorf laying vacant and abandoned after only four months. This provided the opportune moment for Rev. C.S. Salveson to manifest his dream of establishing a Lutheran college in Forest City—the recently-erected Waldorf Hotel would act as both campus and namesake for the fledgling college in the early days.
The Thompson house changed hands numerous times over the years, as palatial houses are wont to do. In 1945, Robert and Cora O’Donnell acquired the old Thompson home and set about transforming its very function. The Mansion Museum went from being the private home of a hotelier to one of the most storied hotels of Forest City’s past. The O’Donnells altered the house extensively in pursuit of its newfound purpose; they remodeled the interior, attached an annex to the south side of the building, and dropped some of the more decorative aspects of the exterior.
For the next few decades, the Mansion Hotel was a home for any weary travelers passing through Forest City: it’s not hard to imagine a Sears & Roebuck salesman falling into one of the Mansion Hotel’s beds or a visiting dignitary reciting the commencement speech he’d deliver at Waldorf College the next day in a dim Mansion Hotel room.
Finally, in 1977, the Thompson Mansion reached the most recent phase in its winding history. The Winnebago Historical Society purchased the Mansion with financial support from the City and repurposed the mammoth house yet again—this time into their HQ and a museum which could house their varied collections of ephemera and artifacts. Volunteers began a lengthy restoration process that has continued up to the present day; walls were knocked down, rugs brought in, a chandelier procured, displays built by hand. Most recently, the Iowa State Historical Society and John K. and Louise V. Hanson Foundation awarded the Winnebago Historical Society grants to restore the Mansion’s portico, Corinthian pillars, and wrap-around veranda porch of the original design, bringing the house full circle and back to its neoclassical-look of yore. The project began in the summer of 2016 and was completed by Dave Randall Construction Company.
This cursory summation of the history of the Mansion Museum highlights just how intertwined the Thompson Mansion has been with the very fabric of Forest City and Winnebago County life for the past 120 years. The south annex acts as the Historical Society’s HQ. Mason explains, “One of the things that might be really interesting to your readers is that we have family histories for basically everybody in the county.”
Mason pointed to a gargantuan shelf brimming with manila folders and binders on the wall. “If you look, these are all organized by family, and you can come in and just have a field day with the ladies; pulling out stuff and combing through the collection. Individual histories start in the sub-room with all the filing cabinets; once a family history gets big enough, they go in a binder and on the shelf; if they get too big for a binder, they go in the closet and end up in a filing box.”
It’s an impressive undertaking for a Historical Society from a county of just about 10,000 people to tackle. The Mansion Museum points to just how lucky a community Forest City is, for a town its size; many small towns don’t even have a Historical Society, much less a museum that has been endowed with the mementos of an Iowan Governor’s childhood or numerous items from the early days of a national motor home company. There’s plenty to be seen at the Mansion Museum in Forest City, whether it’s the accurate recreations of all of the Thompson home’s rooms a la 1899, the Terry Branstad exhibit, the Winnebago collection, or the assorted film and video cameras from throughout the past 100 years that live in the ballroom upstairs.
Visit the Mansion Museum at 145 N. Clark St., Forest City, to explore Winnebago County’s past or your own. Mansion Museum tours are available Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-3  p.m., Sundays from 1-4 p.m., or by appointment at 641-585-2308.

Lake Mills Graphic

204 N. Mill Street
Lake Mills, IA 50450

Office Number: (641) 592-4222
Fax Number: (641) 592-6397

Sign Up For Breaking News

Stay informed on our latest news!

Manage my subscriptions

Subscribe to Breaking News feed
Comment Here