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Mapping the Millionaires

by MCHS Staff
September 29, 2026

At the turn of the century, estates of Gilded Age millionaires dotted the landscape from Florham Park to Washington Valley, dominating the page of the 1910 Mueller Atlas of Part of Morris County. Paired with postcards of the day, which provide perhaps the most dynamic view of these grand estates, the atlas allows us to take a stroll through the neighborhoods, particularly Normandy Heights and Normandy Park, as they were when Morristown was a millionaire capital of the world.

 

President of the Clear Spring Coal Company, Archibald McIntyre DeWitt, and his wife, Antoinette Beach (of Montville), moved from Pittston, Pennsylvania and purchased their estate on Morris Avenue from J. Frank Lindsley in 1897. The couple made extensive improvements to the property known as “The Anchorage,” which had a frontage of 125 feet and depth of 2,000 feet.

 

Originally constructed for the Turnbull family in 1877, Featherleigh Farms became the residence of Alice Low Turnbull and her husband, John Appleton Hoven Hopkins, by the turn of the century. Alice Turnbull Hopkins was a prominent figure in the Women’s Suffrage Movement who picketed at the White House gates.

 

Located directly across from Featherleigh Farms, the estate of Edgar Van Vleck was constructed just after the turn of the century. In 1914, it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. John W. Castles who renamed the home, “The Crossway.”

 

Amassing a fortune as a wholesale grocer, James Henry Coghill, Sr. erected two mansions on Normandy Parkway for his children in 1902. The so-termed “Red House” was built for his son, Howard Coghill, while the adjacent white brick house belonged to his daughter, Miss Sarah Coghill.

 

Constructed in 1890 for Thomas T. Pinckney, “Cherrycroft,” was purchased by Dudley Olcott, a New York banker and partner at Billings, Olcott & Company in 1904. Olcott undertook numerous improvements to the house and grounds, which included the addition of an expansive Italian garden designed by noted landscape architect Ferrucio Vitale.

 

Reverend Frank L. Humphreys, chairman of the board of Humphreys Homeopathic Medicine Company, purchased property in Normandy Parkway from John Dodd Canfield in 1891. The mansion, called “Llwynderry,” had the appearance of a “summer boardinghouse,” boasting verandas on three sides.

 

A New York banker, Otto Kahn owned the expansive estate, Cedar Court, which included two identical mansions built for his father-in-law by Frick mansion architects, Carrère & Hastings, between 1895 and 1898. Upon inheriting the property, Kahn added a golf course, private lake, and 40-acre deer park.

 

Acquiring his fortune from anthracite mining, Jesse Leeds Eddy constructed “Valley View” in 1896 for $60,000 (~ $2.4 million today). The distinct, crescent-shaped mansion included a great hall, reception room, and circular music room which featured a stained-glass dome.

 

In 1905, New York banker, Philip Kearny, and his wife, Emma Rutherford Kearny, purchased a 40-acre tract previously owned by Charles Ford. Humorously named “Onlya Farm,” they lived in the estate until 1926. The house was demolished in 1938 and the property became Wyndmoor Drive and Lohman Road.
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