History of the Manor
also two feature articles below
Linden Lodge was built in 1879 by wealthy Chicago businessman Levi Ziegler Leiter. The lodge, track are since long gone but what is there now is what we call the Lake Geneva Manor Association.
Levi Leiter made his fortune in dry goods first as partner of Field,Palmer, Leiter & Company and then Field , Leiter & Company. Leiter would sell his interest to Marshall Field in 1881 and devote his attention to real estate and corporate interest as well as philanthropic interests and travel.
Leiter married Mary Theresa Carver in 1866 and had four children, Mary Victoria, Nancy, Joseph and Margaret known as Daisy.
The Leiter's spent many summers in Lake Geneva at Linden Lodge in the 1870 and 1880's and 1890's. Linden Lodge remained in the Leiter family until the early 1920's. It was razed in 1939.
The Leiter's also had residences inChicago,
Washington D.C. and Beverly Massachusetts.
Levi Leiter would die of heart disease at the
Vanderbilt family cottage in Bar Harbor, Maine on
June 9, 1904. His estate became the
subject of eight years of litigation in the 1920's.
July 2017 the Association celebrated
the Leiter's with LEITER DAYS.
Thanks to a resident in the manor Andy Kerwin.
There was a walking tour, as finding out about those mysterious graves.(Suprise: they turned out to be two prized dogs shipped back to the lodge from Washington D.C. to be buried!)
He has helped surface the history of the area and
continues to do so.
article to link to:
https://atthelakemagazine.com/a-lake-geneva-princess/amp/
Also Featured in At The Lake in Winter 2022
page 32
