c-span3. follow us on twitter for information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. this year c-span is going through cities across the country exploring american history. next a look at our visit to laramie, wyoming. you are watching "american history tv", all weekend, every weekend on c-span three. that are in the mansion edward ivinson built in laramie, wyoming in 1892. it is the home of the laramie plains museum. it has been restored because for about 10 years, it was vacant. and people broke in, vandalized the building. it has been a long and fruitful effort to make it into this museum we have here that ivinsonts not only the family but historical issues from the past of laramie,

wyoming as well. edward ivinson of all strange places was born in the island of st. croix in the caribbean. he lived there for seven years. his father moved there from northwestern new england to manage his sugarcane plantation. he ended up in new york. while he was there, he met a young woman. he was 23, she was they ran away 16. to jersey city, new jersey to get married. and eventually they like a lot , of young folks, they moved west to make their fame and fortune and eventually ended up in laramie, wyoming. the family had been living in memphis, tennessee. he decided to move the family to california. and the way he got -- the way he thought he would get to california is, he had a dry goods store in memphis. he sold all of the stuff. got freight cars. put his stuff in these freight cars. and as the union pacific was built across the great plains, he followed right along and had a rolling dry goods store.

the railroad went up for construction in the winter of 1867, edward learns through some union pacific railroad, which is building, is going to have a facility in what would become laramie, wyoming. because there was nothing here at the time. he came over here before the railroad in february of 1868. built a log building in what is now downtown laramie. before people arriving the railroad. the railroad arrived in may. along with his wife and adopted daughter. as i said earlier, they ran the dry goods store for three years. and then he starts his banking career. and eventually, -- let me say this as well. ivinson was an astute merchant. and so his bank, he made a lot of money. and early on he was criticized for the way he made his money. he had really high interest rates out of the bank. foreclosed mortgages at the drop of a hat. but the good news for laramie is when he turned 80 years old, he

, decided to give all of his money away. all stalled it came right back here to our town. after his wife died in 1916, he gave $50,000 cash in four city lots, that paid for the first -- complete construction of our first real hospital. he gave property to the church, 1919, which funded an orphanage. 1920, a world war i memorial. 1925, he gave away in today's terms, a million and a half dollars cash to family, friends, and former employees. he structured his will that upon his death the remainder of his estate would be going into a trust fund. when he died, there was $500,000 in his estate. so you know, $8 million to $10 million today. it built a beautiful facility. 28 suites for single ladies. because of his trust fund, there

was no charge for room and board. and because he built the hospital, the ladies got free medical care. it is still there. it is still gorgeous. you know, things have changed a little bit, but it is a wonderful facility. despite being criticized early for his ostentatious lifestyle, you might say, it all came back to us here at laramie. we are still experiencing the benefits from edward ivinson's life as a merchant and a banker. we are proud of the fact that he decided at age to do what was 80 right for our community. if it was not for the union pacific railroad, laramie probably would not be here. the railroad gave all of this land to the union pacific, including the one square mile where we are. we open the front door and we have a little thing i like to do. we have the doorknob to the original front door, which is a really heavy brass, beautiful doorknob. it is really interesting because

it came to us in a box in the mail, what, maybe years ago with five a note from a guy who was a student at the university of laramie. i stole the doorknob through the -- from the mansion. that is a great icebreaker through the vestibule. then i take them immediately into the foyer. really our first important stop is into jane ivinson's drawing room. the intention was that is where she would do informal entertainment for her lady friends. and then i go into the smoking room. i draw the contrast between the very nice bright light drawing room and the darker, more somber smoking room. the dining room is nice because in the dining room, we have nice artifacts that belong to the ivinsons. so for example right now, we have oyster plates they had made on one of the troops they went to europe -- trips they went to europe. we have this beautiful stemware. we have a punch bowl that was

given to their son-in-law who ran his bank for a while in san diego. and then we change from the five formal rooms of the first floor of the mansion into the working part of the mansion. it is easy to draw the contrast. we have all of this beautiful hardwood in the formal rooms and their we have pine and linoleum. we go upstairs into the bedrooms which are quite large. not unusual for a house of this size in the 1890's. and then into the master bathroom where we have this cool 1892 shower. that cost her $340 in 1892. maybe $8,000 today. it is really cool. it is a walk in shower. it is built out of brass, nickel plated, it has got a showerhead

up above and on either side and it has got all of these little tubes. it looks kind of like a caged, but all of the tubes have little tiny holes in them. you don't even have to turn around to take a shower. one person came through the museum and said it is like going into a car wash. we are in now what we call the library. we believe these bookcases were put in by the boarding school. the girls were used -- used it as a study hall even though they did not take classes here. i like to point out that we have one piece of furniture in the house which belonged to edward ivinson. it is this boardroom table. there are several examples from what we learn from visitors who come through the mansion, because we get some really amazing people that come through. they talk about the elegant what in thed work -- woodwork house. there is all this different type of hardwood in the mansion that

he had installed. pocket doors in the mansion. i had a guy come through three years ago who had just closed up -- custom word working woodworking business in montana after 30 years and he said he could build one of those doors for us for $7,000. those are the kind of things that are fun to learn when you tours as a's -- give docent. his whole life is a fascinating story. he is born on a plantation on st. croix. he winds up in new york with no money. weknow he have no money, recently received a letter from his father that was sent to him. he ends up in laramie, wyoming. he amasses this fortune. builds this beautiful building. builds, a major builder downtown. i think it is fair to say he was a critical part of the evolution of laramie from 1868

all the way through 1928 when he finally passed away. for both jane and edward, what i want people to walk away from after they see this house that cost an awful lot of money to build, that maybe the money, at least early on, was made from the people of laramie and not -- in not the best way. that when they leave, they understand what they did for our community. whether it was jane;s early actions with the schools in the -- and the church and suffrage act, or especially edward's philanthropy that resulted in all of these great things for our community. that is what i would like to walk away from. you can see in a lot of places fancy homes. and this one is an elegant home. but it is really important that people understand that making his money from or off of the community, that money came back to us. so that is what i see. that is what i really hope they walk away with.

cities tour our staff recently traveled to laramie, wyoming to learn about its history. to learn more, visit c-span.org/citiestour. you are watching "american history tv", all weekend every weekend on c-span three. former the presidency, chief of staff johnson new new sununuinsight -- john offers insight into why cass responds to major events, such as the collapse of the soviet union and 9/11. he served under president george w. bush and mr. card served under president george w. bush. they compare the styles of father and son. >> i want to welcome you to knollwood farms.