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Kellogg Family Retreat Reflects Well on Michigan LegacyBy Marilyn Loeser
Approaching the mansion, a beautiful Tudor style house built between 1925 and 1926, it felt to me like I was visiting a relative or lifelong friend instead of the home of the man who made dry cereal the mainstay of America’s breakfast table. After all, we all grew up with Kellogg’s — the icons, commercials, and boxes of cereal and snack foods lining our pantry shelves. Will Keith Kellogg and his second wife, Dr. Carrie Staines, built the house on the highest point overlooking the lake. The site includes a carriage house with chauffeur’s residence, a greenhouse with potting shed, a caretaker’s cottage, a boathouse, an authentic Dutch windmill and a lakeside pagoda — all situated on 32-acres.
Volunteer guides begin their tours with a brief biography
of W.K. and his brother Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, Battle Creek, When they returned to the kitchen, the grain had become stale. They decided to use it anyways and forced the grain through a set of rollers. Surprisingly, the grain came out as a thin flake. The men baked the flakes and the beginning of the dry cereal industry was born. It was W.K. who realized the commercial potential of the cereal.
The Manor House was used by W. K. Kellogg, his second wife
and the Kellogg children and grandchildren as a summer home until 1942, when
Kellogg vacated the estate to allow the building and the property to be used by
the
As the war drew to a close, the site was used as a rehabilitation center for wounded servicemen and was managed by the Kellogg Foundation. When W.K. passed away in 1951, the estate was given to Michigan State University to create the Kellogg Biological Station.
Using photographs of the house when the Kellogg’s were in residence in addition to lists of original furnishings purchased from Marshall Fields, the house and its furnishings were restored as closely as possible to the time when the family enjoyed their summers here.
Book ended by the house and lake, during the summer the
colors are vibrant, fountains sparkle in the bright mid-day sun and the music of
If you go: The W.K. Kellogg Manor House is located at the MSU Kellogg Biological Station's Education Center near Hickory Corners at 3700 East Gull Lake Drive. Tours are offered February 1 thought Oct 31. For tour times, special open house event information and specific directions check the manor house website at http://www.kbs.msu.edu/Manor_House or the Kalamazoo County Convention and Visitors Bureau at www.kazoofun.com A nominal admission is charged. |
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Roads
leading to the W. K. Kellogg summer estate twist and turn with the lay of the
land around Gull Lake. Cottages line narrow streets, marinas hug the shoreline
and sailboats skim across the sapphire-blue water during the summer months as
visitors make their way to this Michigan landmark located between Kalamazoo and
Battle Creek.
Unlike
some historic homes I’ve visited, here I felt like a guest instead of a tourist
as I was invited to come in, look around and take in the beautiful views of the
lush summer-gardens and lake beyond.
and the famous hospital and health spa where corn flakes were invented when,
while the men were making an early version of granola for their patients, they
were called away.
Our
tour continued as our guide pointed out furnishings, and features of the home
including leaded glass windows, coffered ceilings and oak paneling.
To anyone interested in antique tile, Rookwood tile was
used for the entryway floor and all of the bathrooms plus the faces of two
fireplaces. The fireplace in the billiard room is an especially unusual example
of Rookwood tile showing two knights jousting with a castle in the background.
The
entry stairway is hand-carved oak and the ceilings in both the living room and
the dining room are molded plaster in a “Rose and Thistle” pattern.
Coast
Guard as an induction and training center during WW II.
It
wasn’t until 1998 that a grant from the Kellogg Foundation helped begin
restoration of the mansion.
I
was particularly taken with the gardens that surround the house.
songbirds
carry on the breeze as you let yourself imagine life here decades ago.