Every room of General Grenville Dodge's mansion is decked out with holiday cheer, each decorated by a different local group or person. The imposing mansion with brick walls that are two feet thick is on the National Register of Historic Places. Although the Second Empire mansion with its French Mansard roof was built by the same Chicago architect who designed the Governor's Mansion in Des Moines, the home is on the National Register for the importance of its original owner, Grenville Dodge. The General was born in Massachusetts, chose to study civil engineering at Norwich University in Vermont and later found his way to the western frontier surveying land for the rapidly expanding railroad lines before the Civil War. In Council Bluffs, he met the future president, Abraham Lincoln. They became friends and enthusiastic proponents of a transcontinental railroad which they thought should pass through Council Bluffs, IA. When the war came, Dodge fought on the Union side where he quickly showed his leadership skills at the battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas. He became one of America's youngest generals. He continued using his leadership skills in a variety of different businesses including banking and, most importantly, the railroad. He could afford the mansion's cost of $35,000, a staggering amount in 1869 when the home was built.
The rooms are bright and sunny, the ceilings high, the woodwork of butternut, cherry and walnut is gorgeous. There is a separate servants' stairway and a third-floor ballroom. They even had hot and cold running water in 1869. Oddly to us, there were no showers or tubs in the bathrooms. Servants carried metal tubs up the stairs to the bedrooms along with hot water on days when a bath would occur. Though Gilded Age opulence is present throughout the house, it also feels remarkably comfortable.
To the left is one of several servant call cranks within the home. Cranking the lever would cause a bell to ring on the servant call board, pictured on the right. Seen next to the call board is the servant staircase — a secondary, steep, and narrow staircase in large historic homes designed for household staff to move unseen between floors.
General Dodge's commanding officer was General U.S. Grant. The future president Grant helped Dodge overcome conflicts in completing the Transcontinental Railroad. They were friends. It is interesting that this Second Empire style of architecture is also referred to as the General Grant style of architecture in the United States since it was popular between 1869 and 1877.
The chief engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad shakes hands with General Grenville Dodge, the chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad.
After ownership of the mansion passed through and from the Dodge family, it was chopped into apartments and the neighborhood declined. Thankfully, the City of Council Bluffs recognized the cultural benefit of maintaining the home's history. Much of the original contents of the home have made their way back into the house. For instance, when Dodge did survey trips along the Platte River toward Promontory Point Utah, his travelling cook documented the trips with large oil paintings of buffalo and other iconic imagery of the West. Those paintings now back on the walls of the mansion help tell the story of Dodge's large life and times. The home is full of his personal books, furniture and railroad ephemera. The collection of Dodge's personal things gives you a sense of both the person and his times. Our tour guide was wonderful and pointed out that history is complicated. Dodge made Council Bluffs an important railroad hub, as well as a major player in the displacement and near destruction of Native Americans. It is important to be clear-eyed in our look back in our history.
Take a walk with Birkenstock.
