Community Corner

Historic Joliet Mansion in Bank's Hands, Listed For $159,900

The Hiram Scutt Mansion on North Broadway was once envisioned as a Victorian museum but is now owned by a bank.

The home of a Civil War veteran and Joliet barbed wire magnate was foreclosed on and is listed for sale.

The Hiram Scutt Mansion on North Broadway can be yours for a mere $159,900.

"We've had a couple of showings already," real estate agent Marcia C. Cronin said of the 132-year-old, 4,960-square-foot mansion.

Cronin hopes the building, which is a national historic landmark, can be transformed into a boys and girls club or a bed and breakfast.

The bed and breakfast plan isn't a new idea. Real estate broker Brian Kearney had planned to turn the mansion into one when he bought it in 2004. Two years later, football players from the nearby University of St. Francis were renting living space at the apartment and threw a huge party.

A Joliet man, 19-year-old Steven Jenkins, was shot to death at the party. One former St. Francis football player, Donald Motley, and one still on the team at the time, Jerod Milian, were charged with his murder. Both men are now locked up in Menard Correctional Center. Milian is serving a 35-year sentence and Motley is doing 45 years.

Local historian and John Wilkes Booth impersonator Seth Magosky bought the mansion within a year of Jenkins' murder.

Magosky planned to open the P. Seth Magosky Museum of Victorian Life & Joliet History in the mansion but died there suddenly in March 2007, less than six months into the endeavor. He was 39.

A Janaury 2013 post on the P. Seth Magosky Museum of Victorian Life Facebook page said, "It is with great sadness, I have to inform you the museum is closing. if anyone is interested in any of the furniture, books or dolls please let me know." A post three months later said the contents of the house were to be auctioned off.

Cronin said the mansion's chandeliers have been removed and a fireplace mantle is missing. She wasn't sure if they were stolen or lawfully taken.

Mansion namesake Hiram Scutt fought in the Civil War, according to Wikipedia. He became the first barbed wire manufacturer in the history of Joliet and had the house built in 1882. After Scutt's death, his son Frank W. Scutt owned the house, Wikipedia said.

But the Scutts—as well Magosky and Jenkins—may still live on in the mansion, sort of.

Spiritual observer, psychic reader and paranormal host Edward Shanahan wrote in a 2010 blog on Chicago Now that findings from various "investigation teams" looking into the mansion "all point to one thing, this location is very haunted."

"The years that have (passed have) seen many human tragedies within its four walls, from sudden deaths to a murder in the past that have left their emotional energy in the place," Shanahan wrote.

Shanahan also told of holding seances in a "doll room" and how "individuals have felt the presence of children spirits around them, as the room is one I consider a playground for a child's spirit."

Be that as it may, Cronin said she had an energy reader stop by the mansion and the psychic said it was ghost-free.

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