For decades, a grand Italianate mansion sat withering away in the countryside near the small town of Eureka, Wisconsin. Tales abound of ghosts, bootlegging, secret tunnels, the Underground Railroad, and Al Capone stopping by on his way to his Northwoods hideout. What began as a dream come true for two twin brothers quickly became a nightmare they had to leave behind.
The Mirrored Mansion
Identical twins Augustus and Argalus Foote brought their families to the wild frontier of Wisconsin from Massachusetts in 1849. They purchased an initial 80 acres of land, where they built the house, and eventually bought an additional 160 acres, making it the largest farm in the area.
They also bought the nearby Eureka sawmill, where business boomed as steamboats hauled lumber along the Fox River to the thriving city of Oshkosh.
The brothers were very close, and couldn’t bear to be separated. So, in 1852, they built the huge home where they both could live. It had 30 rooms comprising 6,000 square feet, divided into two symmetrical wings so that each family could live parallel lives. The house was split down the middle by a central hallway, a perfect mirror image from kitchen to parlor to decor, with a tall cupola in the center offering expansive views of the surrounding wilderness.
Argalus, his wife Adelia, and their three children lived in one wing, Augustus and his wife Ann on the other.
They lived this idyllic and prosperous life for a while, but it proved to be short-lived when it all began to unravel a few years later.
Tragedy and Abandonment
Christmas of 1855 brought joy to the Foote mansion as Augustus and Ann were expecting their first child. Ann went into labor on December 19th, and died during childbirth. Augustus was devastated.
Then, a few months later, his newborn daughter Mary died, as well.
Engulfed in grief, the home Augustus and his brother built—and his empty side—soon became a constant, painful reminder of his loss he could not bear and he left the house. Servants and farmhands filled his wing.
Augustus and Argalus were both widowers by 1877.
They sold the sawmill and abandoned the farm, relocating to Oshkosh where they tried their hand at running a flour mill. Financial ruin was waiting in the wings of that endeavor, and both the mill and the mansion were foreclosed upon.
The mansion became known locally as “Foote’s Folly.”
It changed hands several times, but eventually fell into disrepair.
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The brothers spent their final years living with Argalus’ son Andrew in New London. The house, built for Andrew in the late 1880s, still stands today on the corner of Wyman St. and W. Beacon Ave.
Augustus died in 1901, followed by Argalus in 1902. The inseparable brothers were buried side by side with their deceased wives and children in the nearby Eureka cemetery.
One of the brother’s obituaries stated “they were impossible to tell apart and shared everything throughout life. Their minds were but one thought it seems and their pleasures and sorrows were shared together. Their pocketbooks were combined, and neither knew what a quarrel was – that they trusted each other in ways that few brothers ever could. Living into their early ’80s, before the time of Augustus’ passing it was said they were the oldest surviving twins in the United States.”
As the years wore on, their once grand manor gained a reputation for more than its decay, drawing curious visitors who were eager to explore its shadowy halls. Some who entered claimed to hear footsteps in empty rooms or see fleeting figures in the corner of their eye—perhaps the lingering spirits of the Foote family.
Ghosts and Legends of the Foote Mansion
By the 1930s, the dilapidated mansion was already known as a haunted local curiosity. In 1935, a local women’s group offered Halloween tours of the house.
Myriad legends grew over the years to fill the black void inside the abandoned mansion. Stories that it had served as a safehouse for escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. That it had secret tunnels and stairways.
Some say the mansion was used for bootlegging moonshine during Prohibition, and that notorious gangster Al Capone would stop by on his way north to Hayward, where he’d lay low when things got too hot in Chicago.
Covered trucks were seen coming and going from the mansion at night. According to rumor, a machine gun was mounted on a turret in the cupola.
Visitors exploring the abandoned home would often hear footsteps overhead from the second floor, though no one was there. Passersby saw mysterious floating lights in the dark, vacant windows. And sometimes, the apparitions of two twin boys could be seen playing in the yard.
Police were frequently called out to investigate these reports, only to find the house empty.
Echoes from the Past
Local author Daniel Butkiewicz published a novel in 2020 inspired by the story of the Foote Brothers called Echoes from the Past:
Identical twins, Arlo and Alfred, did everything together throughout their unique lives. Everything from having a double wedding to building an Italianate mansion with two mirror image homes within it. As old men, they share their story of dreams, fate, and great sorrows with a beloved granddaughter. A story of what’s truly important in life – to make a difference. To help one another through this crazy thing called life. And by sheer chance, their life story as well as the ruins of their long forgotten dream house are discovered over a century later, revealing secrets no one ever knew.
Butkiewicz tried to get the house listed on the National Register of Historic Places in hopes of saving it. He’d hoped to see it returned to its former glory, but the current owners weren’t interested.
In spring of 2020, after decades of neglect, the Foote Mansion finally collapsed in on itself and was leveled. The land where it stood is a field now, every trace of its history vanished.
With the ruins of their shattered dreams finally gone, maybe the Foote brothers can finally find peace.
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