The Wastfield Mansion

Popularly known around O'Fallon as "The Mansion," the two-story brick house with a central square cupola was built in 1857 by a local farmer, A.J. Wastfield, for himself and his parents. The house is nestled in the woods north of the parking lot at the end of Mansion Way, off of Lakepointe Centre Dr. In the antebellum era, the mansion was said to be a stop on the Underground Railroad. The City of O'Fallon Historic Preservation Commission has designated the Wastfield Mansion a local landmark. The mansion has been undergoing renovations to be reopened soon as a luxury wedding venue called The Wastfield.

Augustus ("A.J.") Wastfield was born in 1829 on his father Walter's farmstead northeast of O'Fallon. A.J. was the eighth of nine children and the youngest son. Walter was an English native and emigrated to America with his Irish wife. Mary Ann Shannon, in 1819. A.J. worked as a wheat dealer in O'Fallon when he built this mansion southeast of O'Fallon in 1857. The mansion was built along a stagecoach route from Vincennes, Indiana to St. Louis, Missouri, southeast of the new town of O'Fallon, just three years after O'Fallon became a town.

In June 1860, A.J. married Elsie Osborn, a native of Lebanon, Illinois. When the census was taken in August 1860, the head of the household was A.J.'s father, Walter (age 70). Walter's wife Mary A. (68) and his youngest child Isabella (24) also lived in the mansion, as did youngest son Augustus (28) and his new bride Elsa A. (18). Augustus owned $1,000 in real estate, so perhaps this was the value of the mansion or a separate tract of land. Walter owned $20,000 in real estate and $500 in personal property, so the farm and other property may have belonged to him. An 1863 map of the county shows Walter as the owner of the mansion. The 1860 federal agricultural census again lists Walter as farming 600 acres, 120 of which were improved land. The cash value of the farm in 1860 was $10,000. The Wastfields owned 3 horses, 5 milch cows, 10 other cattle, and 30 swine; they grew Indian corn, potatoes, and orchard fruit and produced butter and cheese.

A.J. and Elsie Wastfield had two children, Walter Daniel and Julia Emily. A space under a stairwell is said to be where fleeing enslaved African Americans were allowed to hide along their route northward to freedom. Many of the early settlers in southern and central Illinois came from Virginia and Kentucky, and some brought slaves with them. Some of these settlers, like Captain Joseph Ogle, set their enslaved people free after arriving in Illinois.

Tragically, A.J. died in a farm accident with a threshing machine in 1866 when he was only thirty-seven years old. Within two weeks of his death, his elderly parents also passed away, four days apart. A.J.'s widow and children continued to live at the mansion for decades. In 1880, the widowed Elsie (41) was a farmer and the head of the household. She lived with both children - Daniel (19) and Julia (16) - and a servant, Caroline Rend (23, a Missouri native of Prussian parents). Julia only lived to age 21, dying in 1885. Her mother, Elsie, passed away in 1897. Walter "Daniel" grew up to be an engineer and moved to Colorado by the 1890s. He (58) and his wife Addie B. (56) lived in Denver in 1920 with their son Walter B. (23), a Colorado native. Walter D. worked as a civil engineer for a street railway and rented his residence. In 1930, the 69-year-old widower worked as a field engineer for the Tramway Company and lived in Denver in the household of his widowed cousin, Flossie B. Powell (40), with her son Burns Powell (14). Walter D. died in 1931.

The Italianate style Wastfield Mansion's most striking feature is a central square cupola. The two-story, brick house is topped by a low-pitched hipped roof with overhanging eaves above wooden paired brackets. The narrow windows have ornate crowns, and a small iron balcony tops the central entrance in the five-bay-wide main facade.

Before "The Mansion" was renovated to become a wedding venue, it held The Mansion Restaurant. The owners, Kathy Cox and Jerry Conway, offered upscale dining in a fully restored, elegant home. Before 2015, previous owners opened another restaurant there in 2007, Paulo's at the Mansion, a steakhouse seating 100 diners.

Brink, McDonough & Co. History of St. Clair County, Illinois. With Illustrations Descriptive of its Scenery.... Edwardsville, IL. Brink, McDonough & Co, 1881.

Carcione, Dan. In Your Neighborhood - 1680 Mansion Way, Fox 2 Now St. Louis. February 12th, 2016. Accessed December 12th, 2022. https://fox2now.com/am-show/in-your-neighborhood-1600-mansion-way/.

City of O'Fallon. Landmark Designations - Photos & Descriptions, Historic Preservation Commission. Accessed December 12th, 2022. https://www.ofallon.org/historic-preservation-committee/pages/historical-landmark-designation-photos.

Jones, Norma Kudsk. Find A Grave Memorial for Augustus J. Wastfield (1829-1866), Find A Grave. November 21st, 2012. Accessed December 13th, 2022. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101052936/augustus-j-wastfield.

Kaye, Georgia. The Scoop: Paulo's at the Mansion sees new ownership, name change in O'Fallon, Illinois, Sauce Magazine. April 1st, 2015. Accessed December 12th, 2022. https://saucemagazine.com/a/46363/the-scoop-paulos-at-the-mansion-sees-new-ownership-name-chan.

O'Fallon Historical Society. "The Mansion" joins postcard set. O'Fallon Historical Society Quarterly 12(2). April 1st, 2008. 3 - 3.

U.S. Census Bureau. Household of Walter Wastfield, Township 2 Range 7, St. Clair County, Illinois, dwelling 3394, family 3429. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1860.

U.S. Census Bureau. Farm of Walter Wastfield, Township 2 Range 7, St. Clair County, Illinois, pg. 37, line 15. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1860.

U.S. Census Bureau. Household of Elsie Wastfield, Enumeration District 39, St. Clair County, Illinois, dwelling 166, family 169. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1880.

U.S. Census Bureau. Household of Walter Wastfield, 1887 Vine St., Enumeration District 219, Denver, Colorado, dwelling 63, family 67. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1920.

U.S. Census Bureau. Household of Flossie Powell, 1146 Steele St., Enumeration District 106, Denver, Colorado, dwelling 319, family 360. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1930.

YellowPlace. The Grille at The Mansion, YellowPlace. Accessed December 12th, 2022. https://yellow.place/en/the-mansion-o-fallon-usa.