Godfrey Mansion

Built by Captain Calvin Riley in an area then known as Scarritt's Prairie, the Godfrey Mansion was purchased by Benjamin Godfrey in 1834 and expanded from a two-room home into a mansion with 14 rooms, seven fireplaces, limestone sinks, and pillared porches. Its native limestone walls are 18 inches thick, and its structural timbers were made from native trees. After Benjamin Godfrey's death in 1862, his second wife Rebecca and children Julia and Benjamin lived in the house for a number of years. In 1895, Patrick Waters bought the home from the Godfrey family, and his son William farmed the property until his death in 1959. The Benjamin Godfrey Mansion was declared a national historic site by the Department of the Interior in 1934, and the Lewis & Clark Community College Foundation purchased the building in 1997.

Godfrey, Illinois · United States