Sinclair Lewis / John G. Williams House
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
Cade Imaging of Maplewood provides this short, sweeping aerial video of the Duluth mansion best known as the home of Nobel-prize winning writer Sinclair Lewis during the 1940s.
The stately brick home at 2601 E. Second St. in the Congdon Park neighborhood was built in 1913 as the John G. Williams House. Williams was a Duluth attorney who was also a pioneer in mining and agriculture. Dr. E. E. Webber owned the house in 1941, when it was sold to Lewis, who lived there until 1945.
St. Louis County property tax records show the structure has five-plus bedrooms, four bathrooms and three fireplaces. It has been the home of Dr. Dino Terzic since 2017.
Below is the Aug. 30, 1937 obituary for John Griffith Williams from the Duluth News Tribune:
John G. Williams, Civic Leader, Dies
Long Time University Regent Was Prominent Duluth Attorney.John G. Williams, prominent Duluth attorney and long time member of the University of Minnesota board of regents, died yesterday afternoon in his home, 2601 East Second Street. He was 82 years old and had been ill several months.
A resident of Duluth since 1884, Mr. Williams was born May 24, 1855, at Carnarvonshire, North Wales. He came to this country as a youth, settling in Neath, Pa., where he attended high school and later had private instruction.
After teaching school for a time, he studied law under the late Lieutenant Governor W. T. Davies at Towanda, Pa., and was admitted to the bar in that state in 1881. Since 1884 Mr. Williams has engaged in law practice in Duluth.
He was appointed to the University of Minnesota board of regents by Governor Adolph O. Eberhart in December, 1912. Reappointed for six-year terms in 1918, 1924 and 1930, he began his fifth term in 1935.
He was active in civic affairs. He was elected president of the Minnesota State Bar association in 1912, and was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Kitchi Gammi Club here. He at one time was a member of the city charter commission.
On Feb. 14, 1934, he was honored with a testimonial dinner given here by the Minnesota Alumni association of Duluth. On that occasion he was presented a scroll lauding him for unselfish service to the university as a regent, and paying tribute to his record as a member of the board.
In part, the citation said:
“For 22 years, his presence on the board has been most salutary. Always judicial, fair, and open-minded, he has upheld the hands of the administration through difficult situations as well as through untroubled periods. His counsel and advice have always been encouraging and stimulation to all who have had the best interests of the institution before them.”
Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Robert H. Tennant, and three grandchildren, all of Duluth.
Funeral services have been set for 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Crawford Mortuary. Arrangements will be completed today.
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