Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-05-07
THE WIDOWS PALACE.
Mrs. Mark Hopkins and Her New House
at Great harrington, Mass.


at Great harrington, Mass.
A paragraph was published some
days ago in which it was said that Mrs.
Mark Hopkins, of California, had de-
termined to build a 5000. 600 resi-
dence at Great Darlington, Mass.
Previous to that the Boston papers had
published the report that the house was
to cost only one-fifth that sum. and the
third and last report is that the amount
to be expended is only $500, 600. 1t is
true, indeed, that Mrs. Hopkins is go
ing to build a residence at Great Bar
rington. 1t is furthermore true that it
is to be very expensive one-the most
expensive probably in Massachusetts,
or even New England. 1t will not cost
so much as $1,000, 900. but it will cost
more than $1,000, 600. The plans are
completed and have been accepted.
They now rest in the hands of New
York architects, and will not be made
public for some time Work on the
foundation of the building viii be
commenced the coming Spring, and
Mrs. Hopkins expects to see it ready
for occupancy three years hence.
There is some interesting history
woven in and about the life of Mrs.
Mark Hopkins. She is the widow of
Mark Hopkins, who was one of the
five men of California who built the
Central Pacific Railroad, and made
each princely fortune out of it. The
others were Leland Stanford, c. p.
Huntington and the two Crockers.
Hopkins was the treasurer of the COM
pany from its organization in 1861, or
Whereabouts, till his death, in 1878.
He left an estate that was inyentoried
at S21, 1000
He died without having made will
and without children. By the COM
mon law Mrs. Hopkins would have
been entitled to only one-third of the
immense estate. The courts made her
the executrix, and she took possession,
but the two brothers of her deceased
husband, Moses and Samuel, for the
latter had died, brought suit against
her. and secured her removal from the
executorsbip of the estate, and an ac-
counting of it. The matter was finally
compromised, Moses Hopkins, and the
sons of Samuel Hopkins being content
to receive together some 81, 600, 900 in
hard cash. Mrs. Hopkins got the re-
mainder, which, rs already stated, now
amounts to about $4,000, 600. Thus
do we come to know who Mrs. Mark
Hopkins is and now she became so rich.
Before Mark Hopkins died he built
the first of those palatial residences
that have since excited the wonder and
admiration of all who have in the past
"a, vic atf Af
cisco. 1t was constructed of wood,
like all the others of its class, but had
about it all the elaborateness and ex-
trayagance of some of the finest Eng
fish country houses. 1t was said to
have cost 81 600, 600, and at that time
the Stewart residence in New York
City was the only dwelling house in
America that had cost that sum. 1t
was the Hopkins mansion that made
Mob Hill the fashionable quarter of San
Francisco. All have heard of the
splendid residences that Governor
Stanford, James Flood and other Cali
fornia millionaires have since built
there. Since her husbands death Mrs.
Hopkins has purchased Menlo Park,
Ralston's famous country place, and
there she has settled her adopted son, a
young man of 26, who recently mar
ried Miss Crittenden of California, a
niece of Mrs. Hopkins.
Notwithstanding all these large pos
sessions, not to speak of others on the
Pacific coast, Mrs. Hopkins proposes to
make her home in her husbands native
town of Great Darlington. Mass. She
has always had an affection for the
place, and comes there because its peo-
pie and surroundings are congenial to
her taste. During recent years Mrs.
Hopkins has come here to spend her
Summers. 1t was there that she lived
when young girl, and there that she
was married. When she grew rich she
added the porticoes, put colored glass
in some of the windows, and furnished
it luxuriantly. The carpets in every
room are as soft as down, the chairs
are of antique mahogany upholstered
in yellow silk plush. Every bit of pot
terry, every bit of bronze, every foot
stool, every sofa, lounge, chair, stand,
vase or whatever it may be, bears evil
dence of having been selected with
cultivated taste.
The new building that is to supplant
the old will be 178 by 14S feet. and will
be built of blue dolomite 1t is a very
hard stone, of finer grain than granite,
and is obtained from a neighboring
quarry owned by Mrs. Hopkins herself
The exterior walls are to show the stone
in rough surface, with cut seams. The
stables and the coachman' cottage are
already built They are of the same
dolomite to be employed in the con-
struction of the residence, and look as
though they would endure through all
the ages to come. | can not give a
description of the residence for the ex-
cellent reason that have not seen the
drawings.
The ground upon which Mrs. Hop
kins is to build her castle extends a
hundred yards along the principal
streets, and back of it. to The south a
little, is a level meadow valley that
runs off along the shore OF the Housa-
tonic and to the foot OF picturesque
Berkshire hills on The o.l.cr side In
the midst OF this smooth meadow field
is an artificial BASIN in when is a foun-
tain from which in summer springs a
stream of water nearly Il hlulred feet
in the air and cones dowi IN mist
that is as soft rs a siikcn vel
Mrs. Hopkins is women o. great
strength OF character S q IS we'll fit
ted to care for the vast g lett her.
Both in appearance and ~ i''i charac-
teristics she is stronely ~ y inc. She
IS OF commanding appear i and one
is always made TO fae., vaen in her
presence, that she has i,r lanistakable
elements of superior IT, : IS thor
oughly acquainted with III tue ways of
business, has a broad ;.rd%pof financial
questions, looks after her 1 interests
with the closest minuteneSS and drives
bargain with tact anl ecu}smy Her
husband was passiona'riy s3il Of hors-
es; so is she. Her stab & s Gi III Bar
rington is one of the comp, t.st aud
most comfortable III the cOsiniry. Its
inmates are of the finest breeding and
movement, and are locked after by
their colored master with the greatest
care. During her visits 10 Great Bar
rington, Mrs. Hopkins may be seen on
the afternoon of c cry fair day driving
out behind a pair of the troitcrs. she
herself holding the reins. Sc makes
long excursions about the surrounding