21Country: Spectacular Peru mansions
PERU, Ind. (WPTA) - Her name was Marie Stuart Edwards, and our country owes her a great deal.
In the early 1900s, she campaigned, organized marches, and lobbied presidents to win women the right to vote. She was a founding member of the League of Women Voters and a tireless advocate for the poor. This fearless woman called Peru, Indiana, home, and her historic mansion, the center of her political activism, is about to hit the auction block.
The Shirk-Edwards mansion is a Greek revival masterpiece built during the Civil War. In these rooms, Marie Stuart Edwards wrote speeches, newspaper articles, and letters to America’s rich and powerful advocating for women’s suffrage.
The mansion was also the first headquarters of the League of Women Voters. The home has changed hands several times since Marie Edwards lived here, the latest iteration was a failed bed and breakfast. Even among the clutter, the home’s beauty shines, showcasing stenciled ceilings, marble walls, hardwood paneling, and beautiful tile floors.
There is one comparison, however. Right next door, a second spectacular home built in 1872 will also be auctioned off. A Chicago lawyer, now deceased, owned both homes as well as a downtown Peru commercial building, a church, and a building lot. everything is to be sold this month including the home’s furnishings, down to rolled-up Persian rugs in the one room.
The mansions will each be sold separately, and though any buyer will have to spend some bucks on repairs, auctioneers expect lots of bidders.
The sellers hope for at least six figures for the Shirk-Edwards mansion, but that seems to be reasonable for a cavernous beauty where a true American heroine made history under the chandeliers.
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