Egbert H. Gold (1858-1928), a Chicago industrialist and inventor, acquired over one hundred patents during his lifetime. As president of the Chicago-based Vapor Car Company, he devised a heating system used by railroads. To build Marigold, he retained Thomas E. Tallmadge of the Chicago firm of Tallmadge & Watson, and in 1913 this elegant structure was begun. Plantings were imported from England and the Netherlands to landscape the grounds and turn the sandy, bramble-covered peninsula into a place of beauty.