The Jesse J. and Mary F. Allee House, also known as the Allee Mansion, is a historic house located at 2020 640th Street in Newell, Iowa. The Queen Anne style Victorian house was built in 1891. The Newell Historical Society leased the house in 1988 and subsequently restored it to a Victorian appearance; the historical society now uses the mansion as a museum. The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Jesse James Allee was a civil war veteran who traveled back to the Newell area after the war and acquired several land vouchers from the government to establish land claims by making improvement on the land. He was a progressive farmer owning as many as twenty farms as well as introducing thoroughbred horse racing in to the area. Jesse also owned The Peoples Bank in Newell. He and his wife built the Allee Mansion at a cost of $4000.00.
Mary Kingman Allee’s family heritage includes three uncles who made their fortune in the railroad business. Her family had important political connections in the Illinois legislature and was involved in bringing President Lincoln home on the “death train”.
Mary Kingman Allee was a true Victorian lady, well educated and found it to be immoral to have a toilet in her new home. The three-room outhouse remained for a period of time after the Mansion was built in 1891. Mary Kingman Allee’s family heritage includes three uncles who made their fortune in the railroad business. Her family had important political connections in the Iowa and Illinois legislature and was involved in bringing President Lincoln home on the “death train.”
Kingman family also started building “yellow wagons” in the early 1900s evolving into a company now called “Caterpillar”.
