Hilltop Lodge: Frances' Birthday Celebration

By Kay Taylor and Tara Taylor

In 1926, Frances Dodgeheiress to the Dodge Motor Company fortunereceived a very special gift for her twelfth birthday: a playhouse christened Hilltop Lodge. This was no ordinary playhouse. You will learn about its planning and constructionand celebrate her birthday in this extraordinary playhouse. For Frances, Hilltop Lodge was a safe havena hideaway of sorts. When riding horses on her familys estateshe used her playhouse as a stopover. (Frances Dodge would later become an internationally renowned horsewoman.) Hilltop Lodge did help Frances to gain the house management skills that her mother desired her to learnbut mostly it was special to Frances because it was here that she would first meet Patrick. Even today you can visit Frances playhouse. Some of her personal belongings (toys, books and dishes) are still there. Visitors to Meadow Brook Hall are invited to take the short stroll through the woods to visit her playhousebut most seem so in awe of the mansion (which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012)that they confine themselves to touring the Hall. It is indeed an exquisite home. But Hilltop Lodge, Frances enchanted hideaway, was magical . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514404782

Kay Taylor

She is an Artist of paintings. A mother filled with grief placed a pen in her hand, instead of a paint brush to share a most remarkable person. Her credentials are of a simple woman that loves, and expresses from her heart. Come closer to this portrait. You will be blessed beyond measure.

Book preview

Hilltop Lodge:

Frances’ Birthday Celebration

Book One

Frances’ Twelfth Birthday

Kay Taylor and Tara Taylor

Copyright © 2015 by Kay Taylor.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover Illustration by Joshua Brubaker

Rev. date: 09/09/2015

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

721907

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One: Design And Construction Of Hilltop Lodge

Chapter Two: Hilltop Lodge—Her Mother’s Vision And Hope For Frances

Chapter Three: The Enchancement Of Hilltop Lodge—From Frances’ Perspective

Chapter Four: Planning Her Birthday Celebration

Chapter Five: Visiting Detroit In Preparation

Chapter Six: The Birthday Celebration

Endnotes

PROLOGUE

It is nearly midnight. Mrs. Frances Dodge van Lennep—feeling very sad, very melancholic—has been sitting in the dark now for several hours in the living room of her mansion in Lexington, Kentucky. She and her husband, Frederik van Lennep, own Castleton Farm in Lexington, which is famous for horse breeding. Today is September 20, 1967. Frances was notified at six o’clock this evening that her mother, Matilda Dodge Wilson, had suffered a massive heart attack the previous day and had died. She was eighty-three years old; Frances was fifty-two years old. Her mother was in Brussels, Belgium, touring top horse-breeding farms. Frances and her mother shared a deep love of horses.

Her mother’s body will be returned home to Meadow Brook Hall in Rochester, Michigan. She will be buried in the family mausoleum in the Woodland Cemetery in Detroit. Frances’ mother and stepfather (Mr. Alfred G. Wilson, who passed away five years earlier) had the mausoleum constructed with beautiful pale granite designed by the famed New York architect William Henry Deacy. It features a sculpture by Corrado Parducci, a celebrated Italian American architectural sculptor. It is near the Dodge family mausoleum where Mrs. Dodge Wilson’s first husband—Frances’ father—John Dodge was buried in 1920. It is a beautiful mausoleum with intricate detailing. Mrs. Dodge Wilson was fond of detail. You can see her partiality for detail in every room, corner, and wall of Meadow Brook Hall.¹ It is striking. It is exquisite.

Frances has a truly fascinating family chronicle. Her father was, of course, one of the consummate auto barons in our country’s history. John Dodge, with his brother, Horace, created the Dodge Motor Company. Mrs. Dodge Wilson was a notable community activist figure and philanthropist in Detroit’s early history, and she was responsible for the conception or creation of Meadow Brook Hall. And Frances, a true pioneer in the harness and saddle horse world, became an internationally known horsewoman. Yes, Frances, who, as a young girl, was dubbed an American princess, had also made her mark. She had momentous accomplishments through the years. But right now, her thoughts have traveled back to 1926 and her impending twelfth birthday.

It was November. She feels that the events that transpired that year were crucial in forming her future path in life. You will learn about that very special time in Frances’ life. The reasons why 1926 was so significant will unfold, but first, it’s important to know a little more of her family background and history.

Her mother, born Matilda Rausch, married John Francis Dodge on December 10, 1907, in Detroit, Michigan. Matilda hailed from a working class family from Walkerton, Ontario, Canada. Her parents were German immigrant saloon keepers. After graduating from Gorsline Business College in Detroit, she was hired as a secretary for the Dodge brothers’ business in Hamtramck, Michigan. Frances’ father and his brother, Horace Dodge, who were born in the small town of Niles, Michigan, would later become great auto pioneer legends like Henry Ford. They established the Dodge Brothers Motor Car Company in 1913. Twenty-two thousand people applied for dealerships before their first car rolled off the assembly line on November 14, 1914.

John Francis Dodge quickly became a multimillionaire. Life looked so promising for the Dodge family. The next five years were filled with joy as three children were born to John and Matilda. And John’s business continued to prosper. But unfortunately, he became seriously ill with what was then called the Spanish flu followed by pneumonia while on a business trip in New York City. He had been attending an auto show there. He died on January 14, 1920, at his hotel, the Ritz-Carlton, at age fifty-five. His body was returned to Michigan, and he was buried in the family mausoleum in Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery. Frances was only five years old. For the first few years following her father’s death, she had endearing, vivid memories of him, but with the passage of time, these became increasingly vague and distant.

The same year (and month) that the first Dodge car rolled off the assembly line was also the year and month that Frances was born (November 1914). She was named Frances in honor of her father. Her brother, Daniel, was born three years later, and her sister, Anna Marie, arrived just six months before the death of their father. What Frances remembered most about her father were the wonderful weekend outings in the country that he planned regularly for the Dodge family. Her parents had purchased property—eventually amassing approximately 1,500 acres—in Rochester, Michigan (twenty miles north of Detroit, the auto capital), that they had christened Meadow Brook Farm. Frances so loved these trips to their country retreat.

The farmhouse was comfortable and relaxed. The farm itself was vast but tranquil. Her father also had a clubhouse built with a swimming pool and a nine-hole golf course. There were a multitude of deer, rabbits, and squirrels, and other beautiful creatures that were home to the fields and woods. Frances loved Meadow Brook Farm for so many reasons. But most importantly, here is where she would first learn to love and ride horses. Again, Frances Dodge would later become an internationally famous horsewoman. She bred and raced horses and set a record for time in the saddle at the Red Mile that stood for fifty-four years.²

With the continued growth of their car business, John and Matilda Dodge had begun plans to build a mansion in affluent Grosse Pointe, Michigan (where the governor once resided), but the project was abandoned when John Dodge died in 1920 from influenza. His brother, Frances’ uncle Horace, also died of influenza that same year, although some claimed that Horace died from a broken heart as he was so distraught at his brother’s death. John and Horace Dodge were not only brothers and business partners but the best of friends. Frances’ mother and her aunt became heirs to one of the largest fortunes in America. In 1925, her mother and Anna Thompson Dodge, the widow of her uncle Horace, sold the Dodge Brothers Motor Car Company for an astounding $146 million. Today this would equal in value to approximately $2 billion.

That same year, Frances’ mother married again. Her second husband, lumber broker Alfred G. Wilson, was also wealthy (although not at the same caliber of the Dodge family fortune). Her mother and stepfather extensively toured castles and manor houses while on their honeymoon in Europe. Upon their return to Michigan, her mother decided that Meadow Brook Farm would become the family’s permanent residence and that the renowned Detroit architectural firm of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls would design and build their home—Meadow Brook Hall. Frances was thrilled. Again, she so loved their country retreat.

The groundbreaking for Meadow Brook Hall was held on her mother’s birthday on October 19, 1926. Matilda Dodge Wilson was forty-three years old; Frances was eleven years old, although she would turn twelve on November 27. (And approximately three weeks before her actual birthday, she would receive a very special present that will be described for you in this first story!) Meadow Brook Hall was completed in 1929 at a cost of nearly $4 million. The housewarming party was held on November 19, 1929, just three weeks after the stock market crash that started the Great Depression. And yet the party, attended by 850 guests, was lavish. Frances still remembers the evening in striking detail. She was just one month from turning fifteen years old and in love, although no one knew her secret.

But you will learn the early details in the pages that follow.

The Tudor-revival-style mansion, Meadow Brook Hall, featured elaborately carved wood and stone, handmade hardware and ceramic art tiles, intricately molded and carved plaster ceilings, ornately carved beams, gargoyles, hidden stairways, stained glass window insets, crystal and art glass lighting fixtures, gold-plated bathroom fittings, twenty-six bedrooms (each with a built-in safe), and twenty-four individually designed fireplaces. Mrs. Dodge Wilson devoted countless hours—years, really—to furnishing and decorating Meadow Brook Hall. It was her passion. And indeed, it was—and is—a grand hall.

The Dodge-Wilson home would later be referred to as one of America’s castles, boasting 110 rooms covering 88,000 square feet. Before their deaths, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson had arranged to give their estate, mansion and property, to Michigan State University to be developed into a college. It is now Oakland University that maintains the hall and grounds. But Meadow Brook Hall is only the backdrop to this story. What you will learn about are the wonderful—and magical—events that took place in a 6-room, 750-square-foot residence—Knole Cottage. Originally named Hilltop Lodge, Knole Cottage was designed to be a playhouse for Frances, where she could learn the skills of managing a household, but it was so much, much more.

CHAPTER ONE

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF HILLTOP LODGE

The child-size, six-room playhouse was a very special gift to Frances from her mother and stepfather for her twelfth birthday. Other wealthy Detroit area families, including Edsel and Eleanor Ford, owners of Ford Motor Company, would later present their daughters with elegant playhouses! Actually, Josephine Ford received her magnificent playhouse in 1930 as a gift from her grandmother, Clara Ford. But Frances Dodge came first! At a cost of $23,000 in 1926, Frances’ playhouse was indeed an extraordinarily extravagant gift. It is estimated that today it would cost approximately $300,000 to replicate it.

Of course, her mother did not think of the playhouse as a toy but something much more practical, which shall be described for you in chapter two, as well as what Frances envisioned her Hilltop Lodge to be in the pages that follow…

THE ARCHITECTS

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson hired the well-known and highly respected Detroit architectural firm of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls to design the playhouse. Today it is one of the oldest operating architectural firms in the United States. The firm was started by a Mr. Sheldon Smith, who had never received formal training in architecture but had learned a great deal while working with his brother who was an East Coast architect. Sheldon Smith first opened an office in Western Ohio but moved to Detroit in 1855 because of the potential for his business to increase. Detroit was alive with people and business and culture. And as the city of Detroit grew and prospered, so did Sheldon Smith’s business. His son, Mortimer, became an architect like his father. He became a partner in the firm in 1861.

The Smith firm designed many buildings, including the famous Detroit Opera House