Warner Castle
Orion, IL c.1895
Built by Wilder W. Warner, a wealthy farmer, politician, and businessman, he had a passion for castles and toured Europe to come up with this scaled down version for his personal residence.
In 1851, Warner purchased land for his farm interests and in 1870, the Rockford, Rock Island, and St. Louis Railroad came to Western Station (to be known as Warner). He had a freight house built for his farm shipments, and built a cheese factory and a factory that built corn elevators.
A post office was established in 1884 and town was renamed Warner and he was named postmaster.
In 1890, construction began on his beloved castle and the stone was carved from the Cleveland,IL quarry and transported to the site by horse and wagon. The same stone for this castle was also used on the Rock Island County Courthouse and the John Looney house in Rock Island,IL. The Warner family moved into the castle on December 25, 1895, with the final cost tallied at $80,000.
The castle features 17 rooms, seven bedrooms, two living rooms, a library, dining room, and kitchen. The fireplaces are carved from Italian marble.
Six carved busts were located in a hand carved hallway featuring men that Warner admired--Lincoln, Garfield, and Webster, to name a few.
Mr. Warner died four years later and left the house to his son, who lived here until 1947.
