SAUGATUCK AREA FELT ESTATE

Beautifully situated ten miles south of Holland (Michigan) and six miles north of Saugatuck, the Felt Estate was once the luxurious summer home and hobby of self-made millionaire and inventor Dorr E. Felt. The mansion, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Michigan State Register of Historic Sites, retains the architectural beauty of a bygone era and offers a glimpse into the wealth and lifestyle of the Roaring 20s – a time cut short by The Great Depression.
The Man & His Invention

Born in Wisconsin on March 18, 1862, Dorr Eugene Felt left his home at age 14 to work in a machine shop where he honed his mechanical skills. In 1882 he moved to Chicago to secure employment and advance his keen interest in machine design. He had 50 cents in his pocket.

In 1886, Felt invented the first office processing machine, the Comptometer, which was able to perform quickly and accurately four math functions. Dramatically increasing bookkeeping skills and speed, the Comptometer was an instant success and made Dorr Felt a millionaire.

Dorr was attracted to the pristine beauty of the West Michigan coastline and in 1919 purchased several hundred acres on Lake Michigan in the rolling dunes between Holland and Saugatuck, which the family referred to as ‘Shore Acres’. Felt began construction of the “Big House” in 1925 for his wife, Agnes. This summer home would be large enough to accommodate his married daughters and their families. Completed in 1928, the 17,000 square foot mansion consists of 25 rooms, including a third-floor ballroom.

Unfortunately, Agnes died in August of 1928, six weeks after the family moved in, and

Dorr died a year and a half later in 1930. The family kept the home until 1949, but after WWII and the advent of more sophisticated calculators, the family business declined. The Felt descendants decided to sell ‘Shore Acres’. In 1949, they held a large auction, selling off many of the items original to the mansion and grounds.

The Seminary Years

The St. Augustine Seminary, a Catholic prep school for young men, bought the mansion and grounds in 1949. Outgrowing the carriage house, which they used for classrooms, and the mansion which they used for housing, the Seminary built a school on the ridge west of the mansion. After moving into the school, in the mid 1960s, a group of cloistered nuns lived in the mansion.

The Prison Years

In the late 1970s, the State of Michigan purchased the property to use as a prison. The mansion became offices for the State Police, and for WEMET, a drug enforcement agency. The State owned the grounds until the early 1990s when Laketown Township bought the land for one dollar, with the stipulation that the mansion be used for the public, not sold or razed.

The Restoration Project

Today, Laketown Township and surrounding communities are restoring the mansion and grounds to their 1920’s splendor. It is the vision of the Township and volunteers to return the structure and grounds to their original splendor so the public can appreciate its beauty, while learning more about our local history, and the era when great effort was put to the task of building fine homes. The restoration is a unique community project, in some ways as impressive as the mansion itself, involving many individual, student, group, and corporate volunteers.