History

The Merryweather Inn was built in 1904 for William J Olcott and his family. The Olcotts earned their fortune through mining and railroad. They had their own personal train car which carried the family around the country. Olcott worked directly for John D Rockefeller. Rockefeller and his family even slept in the house in 1928! During his time at US Steel Olcott supervised 40,000 employees. He later became president of Missabe Northern Railroad. Mrs. Olcott was well respected in society, and many people would come to her for advice. Her daughters were modern, well-educated girls and often traveled with their father to the mines.

After the death of Mrs. and Mr. Olcott, in 1937, the daughters donated the building to the University, (Minnesota Teacher’s College) where it was used it as a music hall. All the rooms were converted to classrooms and practice rooms. The marching band and orchestra practiced in the ballroom. When the school outgrew the building in 1957, it became a Finnish seminary and radio station. It was also used as a boarding house until 1995. In 1997, it was turned into the Olcott House BNB. In 2019 Beth bought it and changed the name to Merryweather Inn.

The House is a Georgian Colonial and cost $140,000 to build in 1904, The immense amount of detail would be impossible to replicate today. It was turned into a Bed and Breakfast in 1997 and was formerly known as the Olcott House B&B. I purchased in 2019 right before the pandemic and am working to restore the property fully.

Come stay with us for more history and even a ghost story or two….