January 6, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, William Wrigley, Jr. was a brilliant businessman, but his ingenuity was outshined by his love for his wife. Here's the story of how he made his fortune and then spent it on the one he loved.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is our American stories and our next story, well,
it's about the Wriggly Mansion. It was built by William
Wriggley Junior, the man who invented, as you can probably guess,
Wriggly's chewing Gum. Judy Pearson is here to tell us
the story of the building, the man who built it.
Take it away, Judy.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
In eighteen ninety one, thirty year old William Wriggley arrived
in Chicago from Philadelphia with thirty two dollars the only
money he had to his name, about nine hundred dollars today.
He started the Wriggly Scouring Soap Company. To entice housewives
to try his soap, he included a box of baking
(00:52):
powder with every purchase. Wriggly was soon shocked to discover
that his baking powder was more popular than soap, so
he went into the baking soda business, adding two packages
of chewing gum to each can. Again, his gift with
purchase was more popular than his primary product, and Wriggly's
(01:13):
Chewing Gum was born, producing spearmint, juicy fruit, and doublemint.
The business grew, and so did Wriggly's fortune. In nineteen fifteen,
he spent two and a half million dollars telling people
that chewing gum aided the digestion and that chewing it
was a pleasurable experience. Remember double your pleasure, double your
(01:37):
fun with doublemint gum. Wriggly was a whirlwind of ideas.
He never stopped innovating and reinventing himself, always ready for
the next adventure. He bought a minority steak in the
Chicago Cubs in nineteen sixteen and became the majority owner
in nineteen twenty one. Six years later, he changed the
(02:02):
name of the Teams ballpark to Wrigley Field. Wondering about
the feasibility of shipping his chewing gum via the relatively
new airplanes, in nineteen nineteen, Wriggly got the idea to
drop packages connected to parachutes. Dealers across the Midwest would
then travel to the drop points, taking delivery of their merchandise.
(02:24):
That same year, Wriggly bought the Santa Catalina Island Company.
As had been the case with Wriggly's own ventures, the
company came with a gift with purchase the entire island,
located off the coast of Los Angeles. With the dream
of creating an enterprise that would help employ local residents.
(02:45):
Wriggly improved the island with public utilities, new steamships, a hotel,
a casino, and extensive plantings of trees, shrubs, and flowers.
By that time, Wriggly had ownership fuller partial in fifteen
different companies around the country. It was Arizona that next
(03:05):
captured his heart. He bought a few mines in the state,
but real estate held a special interest. Wrigglely created a
syndicate with three other men to purchase one hundred fifty
acres along famed Camelback Road. The purchase price was one
hundred thousand dollars a million and a half today, although
(03:26):
today it's worth many times more than that. The land
was adjacent to the newly opened Biltmore Hotel, in which
Wriggly was also heavily invested. The Tsar of Chewing Gum
owned four very palatial homes, but in nineteen thirty he
began building something special on the one hundred foot high
(03:48):
La Colina Solana, the Sunny Hill. It would be an
anniversary gift for Wriggley's wife, Ada, and oh what a
home it was to be. The Mission Revival mansion would
be nearly seventeen thousand square feet set on ten acres.
It would have a three hundred and sixty degree view
of the Valley of the Sun below. The thirty foot
(04:11):
high foyer rotunda would be adorned with gold leaf and
hand painted ceiling, and the floor below was laid with
tiles made in Wrigley's Catalina Island, a state kiln. The
rest of the home had pegged oak floors covered in
beautiful hand woven Spanish rugs. The oak Steinway Grand piano
(04:31):
to be placed in the living room was one of
only two in existence, doubling as a player piano, and
all of the chairs throughout the mansion were carefully crafted
lower than normal to accommodate Ada's petite frame. Every door knob, hinge,
window fixture, and switch plate in the mansion would be brass,
(04:52):
with the exception of those in the family bedrooms, they
were sterling silver. The mansion took three years to reach
its splendor. It was Wriggly's plan to spend the early
months of nineteen thirty two there, but a few weeks
after arriving in January, he was stricken with acute indigestion
and died at the age of seventy in his bedroom
(05:14):
atop the Sunny Hill. The Wriggly Mansion, as the locals
called the home, remained a much loved family destination. Adas
suffered a stroke there, dying in nineteen fifty seven, and
then in nineteen seventy three, the beautiful mansion was sold.
Like a stray dog, she passed from one ill fated
(05:36):
owner to another, a developer who died of a heart attack,
a savings and loan caught up in the nineteen eighties scandal,
another developer who filed for bankruptcy. But prior to each
failed ownership, her lovely rooms and grounds welcomed business conferences,
dozens of brides and grooms, and celebrity parties. And then
(05:58):
the end of the line arrived for the Wriggly Mansion.
In nineteen ninety two, rumors reported that this graceful landmark
would be demolished for condo construction. Enter another intriguing millionaire
capitalist with a love of beautiful things, Geordie Hormel's family
(06:20):
had founded Hormel Foods, based in Austin, Minnesota. The company's
most famous product was the canned meat spam. Geordie loved music,
owning a music studio in Los Angeles and playing multiple
instruments As a composer, he had written a number of
well known television theme songs and once recorded with his
(06:41):
buddy Frank Zappa. Like William Wrigley, Jeordie eventually found his
way to Phoenix, where he bought the largest home in
the state of Arizona, and not long after that purchase,
he heard about the proposed fate of the mansion on
the Sunny Hill. He called a room friend and requested
(07:01):
a showing. In the first few minutes of his Wriggly
Mansion tour, Geordie was transported back to his childhood and
the wrigglys home reminded him of his own childhood home.
Having turned that into a supper club where he entertained
guests with his accomplished piano playing, he knew he could
do the same thing with this mansion. The beautiful stray
(07:24):
Dog won Geordie Hormel's heart. He bought it immediately. Jeordie
and his wife Jamie began restoring the mansion and opened
it as a private club. Geordie entertained Sunday brunch guests
on the Steinway Grand still in the living room. He
played Happy Birthday every Sunday, because, as Geordie used to say,
(07:45):
every day is someone's birthday. The family enjoyed the mansion
as much as the public did. The Hormelle children would
sneak napkins out of the dining room and slide down
the hill on them, and the pastry chefs could always
be charmed into giving them treats. They celebrated birthdays and
holidays at the mansion, and the Hormelles even renewed their
(08:07):
wedding vows there. When Jordie died in two thousand and six,
Jamie became the mansion's proprietor. Continuing what her husband had begun,
she has made it a world class destination. She's brought
the kitchen into the twenty first century while lovingly updating
rooms to former grandeur. The spectacular wine cellar is well stalked,
(08:31):
and outstanding Phoenix chef is at the helm in the kitchen,
and the national awards keep rolling in The Wriggly Mansion,
and the Wriggleis in general hold a special place in
my heart. My mother was a die hard and life
long Chicago Cubs fan, the baseball team William Wrigglely bought
in nineteen twenty one. Living in Phoenix, I discovered the
(08:54):
magical charm of the Wriggly Mansion shortly after the Hormelles
reopened it as a private club and restaurant. I took
my father there for dinner when he came to Phoenix
on a business trip. He was so taken with the
history and the views that when he returned home, he
and my mother hatched the idea of a surprise fortieth
(09:15):
birthday party for me to be held in the mansion
on the Sunny Hill. Every time I walk into that
majestic foyer, I'm reminded of that magical night in nineteen
ninety three when Happy Birthday was played for me on
that famed steinway in the living room. My mother died
just a few weeks after my memorable Wrigley Birthday gala
(09:38):
and was never able to visit the Tsar of Chewing
Gum's beautiful Phoenix mansion. But I know she would chuckle
at one particular detail. Through all the owners and renovations,
one room remained just as William Wrigley created it. To
the left of the hand carved double front doors is
a tiny closet with a small table and a telephone
(10:02):
switchboard vintage, of course, Today it's assumed the butler use
the room to call family members when visitors arrived. It
has a unique silver sheen on the walls and the
faint odor of mint. It is the gum room. It
is wallpapered with foil from my favorite wriggly chewing gum doublementt.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
And what a beautiful story by a beautiful storyteller. And
we're talking about Judy Pearson, the Wrigley Mansions story. Here
on our American Stories
This is our American stories and our next story, well,
it's about the Wriggly Mansion. It was built by William
Wriggley Junior, the man who invented, as you can probably guess,
Wriggly's chewing Gum. Judy Pearson is here to tell us
the story of the building, the man who built it.
Take it away, Judy.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
In eighteen ninety one, thirty year old William Wriggley arrived
in Chicago from Philadelphia with thirty two dollars the only
money he had to his name, about nine hundred dollars today.
He started the Wriggly Scouring Soap Company. To entice housewives
to try his soap, he included a box of baking
(00:52):
powder with every purchase. Wriggly was soon shocked to discover
that his baking powder was more popular than soap, so
he went into the baking soda business, adding two packages
of chewing gum to each can. Again, his gift with
purchase was more popular than his primary product, and Wriggly's
(01:13):
Chewing Gum was born, producing spearmint, juicy fruit, and doublemint.
The business grew, and so did Wriggly's fortune. In nineteen fifteen,
he spent two and a half million dollars telling people
that chewing gum aided the digestion and that chewing it
was a pleasurable experience. Remember double your pleasure, double your
(01:37):
fun with doublemint gum. Wriggly was a whirlwind of ideas.
He never stopped innovating and reinventing himself, always ready for
the next adventure. He bought a minority steak in the
Chicago Cubs in nineteen sixteen and became the majority owner
in nineteen twenty one. Six years later, he changed the
(02:02):
name of the Teams ballpark to Wrigley Field. Wondering about
the feasibility of shipping his chewing gum via the relatively
new airplanes, in nineteen nineteen, Wriggly got the idea to
drop packages connected to parachutes. Dealers across the Midwest would
then travel to the drop points, taking delivery of their merchandise.
(02:24):
That same year, Wriggly bought the Santa Catalina Island Company.
As had been the case with Wriggly's own ventures, the
company came with a gift with purchase the entire island,
located off the coast of Los Angeles. With the dream
of creating an enterprise that would help employ local residents.
(02:45):
Wriggly improved the island with public utilities, new steamships, a hotel,
a casino, and extensive plantings of trees, shrubs, and flowers.
By that time, Wriggly had ownership fuller partial in fifteen
different companies around the country. It was Arizona that next
(03:05):
captured his heart. He bought a few mines in the state,
but real estate held a special interest. Wrigglely created a
syndicate with three other men to purchase one hundred fifty
acres along famed Camelback Road. The purchase price was one
hundred thousand dollars a million and a half today, although
(03:26):
today it's worth many times more than that. The land
was adjacent to the newly opened Biltmore Hotel, in which
Wriggly was also heavily invested. The Tsar of Chewing Gum
owned four very palatial homes, but in nineteen thirty he
began building something special on the one hundred foot high
(03:48):
La Colina Solana, the Sunny Hill. It would be an
anniversary gift for Wriggley's wife, Ada, and oh what a
home it was to be. The Mission Revival mansion would
be nearly seventeen thousand square feet set on ten acres.
It would have a three hundred and sixty degree view
of the Valley of the Sun below. The thirty foot
(04:11):
high foyer rotunda would be adorned with gold leaf and
hand painted ceiling, and the floor below was laid with
tiles made in Wrigley's Catalina Island, a state kiln. The
rest of the home had pegged oak floors covered in
beautiful hand woven Spanish rugs. The oak Steinway Grand piano
(04:31):
to be placed in the living room was one of
only two in existence, doubling as a player piano, and
all of the chairs throughout the mansion were carefully crafted
lower than normal to accommodate Ada's petite frame. Every door knob, hinge,
window fixture, and switch plate in the mansion would be brass,
(04:52):
with the exception of those in the family bedrooms, they
were sterling silver. The mansion took three years to reach
its splendor. It was Wriggly's plan to spend the early
months of nineteen thirty two there, but a few weeks
after arriving in January, he was stricken with acute indigestion
and died at the age of seventy in his bedroom
(05:14):
atop the Sunny Hill. The Wriggly Mansion, as the locals
called the home, remained a much loved family destination. Adas
suffered a stroke there, dying in nineteen fifty seven, and
then in nineteen seventy three, the beautiful mansion was sold.
Like a stray dog, she passed from one ill fated
(05:36):
owner to another, a developer who died of a heart attack,
a savings and loan caught up in the nineteen eighties scandal,
another developer who filed for bankruptcy. But prior to each
failed ownership, her lovely rooms and grounds welcomed business conferences,
dozens of brides and grooms, and celebrity parties. And then
(05:58):
the end of the line arrived for the Wriggly Mansion.
In nineteen ninety two, rumors reported that this graceful landmark
would be demolished for condo construction. Enter another intriguing millionaire
capitalist with a love of beautiful things, Geordie Hormel's family
(06:20):
had founded Hormel Foods, based in Austin, Minnesota. The company's
most famous product was the canned meat spam. Geordie loved music,
owning a music studio in Los Angeles and playing multiple
instruments As a composer, he had written a number of
well known television theme songs and once recorded with his
(06:41):
buddy Frank Zappa. Like William Wrigley, Jeordie eventually found his
way to Phoenix, where he bought the largest home in
the state of Arizona, and not long after that purchase,
he heard about the proposed fate of the mansion on
the Sunny Hill. He called a room friend and requested
(07:01):
a showing. In the first few minutes of his Wriggly
Mansion tour, Geordie was transported back to his childhood and
the wrigglys home reminded him of his own childhood home.
Having turned that into a supper club where he entertained
guests with his accomplished piano playing, he knew he could
do the same thing with this mansion. The beautiful stray
(07:24):
Dog won Geordie Hormel's heart. He bought it immediately. Jeordie
and his wife Jamie began restoring the mansion and opened
it as a private club. Geordie entertained Sunday brunch guests
on the Steinway Grand still in the living room. He
played Happy Birthday every Sunday, because, as Geordie used to say,
(07:45):
every day is someone's birthday. The family enjoyed the mansion
as much as the public did. The Hormelle children would
sneak napkins out of the dining room and slide down
the hill on them, and the pastry chefs could always
be charmed into giving them treats. They celebrated birthdays and
holidays at the mansion, and the Hormelles even renewed their
(08:07):
wedding vows there. When Jordie died in two thousand and six,
Jamie became the mansion's proprietor. Continuing what her husband had begun,
she has made it a world class destination. She's brought
the kitchen into the twenty first century while lovingly updating
rooms to former grandeur. The spectacular wine cellar is well stalked,
(08:31):
and outstanding Phoenix chef is at the helm in the kitchen,
and the national awards keep rolling in The Wriggly Mansion,
and the Wriggleis in general hold a special place in
my heart. My mother was a die hard and life
long Chicago Cubs fan, the baseball team William Wrigglely bought
in nineteen twenty one. Living in Phoenix, I discovered the
(08:54):
magical charm of the Wriggly Mansion shortly after the Hormelles
reopened it as a private club and restaurant. I took
my father there for dinner when he came to Phoenix
on a business trip. He was so taken with the
history and the views that when he returned home, he
and my mother hatched the idea of a surprise fortieth
(09:15):
birthday party for me to be held in the mansion
on the Sunny Hill. Every time I walk into that
majestic foyer, I'm reminded of that magical night in nineteen
ninety three when Happy Birthday was played for me on
that famed steinway in the living room. My mother died
just a few weeks after my memorable Wrigley Birthday gala
(09:38):
and was never able to visit the Tsar of Chewing
Gum's beautiful Phoenix mansion. But I know she would chuckle
at one particular detail. Through all the owners and renovations,
one room remained just as William Wrigley created it. To
the left of the hand carved double front doors is
a tiny closet with a small table and a telephone
(10:02):
switchboard vintage, of course, Today it's assumed the butler use
the room to call family members when visitors arrived. It
has a unique silver sheen on the walls and the
faint odor of mint. It is the gum room. It
is wallpapered with foil from my favorite wriggly chewing gum doublementt.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
And what a beautiful story by a beautiful storyteller. And
we're talking about Judy Pearson, the Wrigley Mansions story. Here
on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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