Peabody's Place

We saw Blithe Spirit at the Peabody Estate. The play was well-done and quite funny.

Mr. Peabody made vast sums in coal, and his estate was voluminous:

Although Peabody always maintained various residences in Chicago, it was in the western suburbs that he chose to build his retirement home. Peabody purchased over 800 acres from several landowners in DuPage County, near Hinsdale. He selected the prominent Chicago architectural firm of Marshall & Fox to design a magnificent 39-room Tudor Revival mansion costing $750,000. It took two years to build and was completed in 1921.

When you visit, you see remnants of church stuff:

Following their acquisition of Mayslake, the Franciscans spent the next year converting the 39-room Tudor Revival mansion into a retreat house. The spacious living room was converted to a chapel, and its doors and eight windows were fitted with stained glass.

Preservationists intervened when the church people wanted to sell to developers:

A massive campaign to save the site resulted in passage of a referendum that enabled the DuPage County Forest Preserve District to acquire the site for $17.5 million in 1992.

Thus did the businessman's bounty
come into the hands of the county.