From Castle Grove To Villa Sacred Heart, In Danville PA

The original mansion at at the convent grounds.  The enormous stone St Cyril's was built in 1929,  behind this mansion 

 “Castle Grove", or the Bennet the mansion was a  Tuscan villa

 built in 1867 by John Grove, Sr. for his two sons, Michael and John Grove, Jr..

  The Grove family owned the Grove Brothers Iron Furnace.

The estate consisted of a 44-room Italianate mansion, stables, barns, greenhouses, a farmhouse and a liveryman’s house on 187 acres of land.  Many of the octagon gazebos still stand on the grounds today.

 The brick wall that surrounds the mansion was built in 1900.  It contains 395,000 bricks.

The grounds were so beautiful that the cook did not set foot off of them for 11 years.  Miss Sophia Schenstein, a native of Sweden, arrived in Danville from New York to fill the position of cook at Castle Grove.  "She arrived on the 4:35 D.L.& W. passenger train, and proceeded direct to Castle Grove.  From that day, until  yesterday morning [May 1 1902], she never set foot of the grounds, although she was at liberty at almost any time to visit town."

Caroline Grove Bennet [shown in the photo above]  had ran a floral business from the grounds.  Fifteen greenhouses, employing 10 workers, were used to grow flower that were shipped by the Reading train, located right beside the grounds.    Caroline died in 1902, but the greenhouses continued to operate through at least 1916.  They were removed by a scrap dealer before the sale of the property in 1919.

On May 2, 1903, John Bennett married a second time,  to Ellen Coleman Nicoll. That same year he made improvements to the Castle Grove, including; the addition of a 12 acre nine hole golf course designed by William Dunn of New York, the addition of parquet floors, and electricity.

John  died just two years later, in a train accident in 1905.  His widow,  Ellen, moved to Paris.

The greenhouses continued to operate on the property.  In 1907, there were 4.500 Easter Lilies ready to be shipped from one greenhouse at Castle Grove.

Ice was being cut at Castle Grove in 1916

 After the end of World War I, Ellen listed the property for sale.

"Searching for a place for the growing number of Sisters, Mother Emmanuel learned of a property for sale in Danville, Pa., in November 1918. Reverend Thomas F.X. Dougherty was pastor of Saint Joseph Church in Danville and was able to help the Sisters with information about the property. " https://sscm.org/about-us/our-history/

On June 7, 1917, Ellen sold the estate to the sisters for $40,000 - approximately the equivalent of  $961,840.63 in 2023.

The sisters named the grounds Villa  Sacred  Heart

Mother Emmanuel and the council opened a school in the mansion.  The first students arrived in September of 1920.  A girls high school, named the Slovak Girls Academy, opened in 1922. 

Ground was broken for a new school in June of 1929,  and it opened in September of 1931.

 The gothic style stone academy  features a 170 foot stone tower, and was featured in the July 1932 issue of Architecture Magazine.

 Renamed St Cyrils Academy in 1955, it closed in 1999.

The Romanesque style chapel, with seating for 600, was added in 1939.    It was dedicated on October 17th, 1939.

The chapel became a Basilica in 1989. " a basilica is a church building that has been recognized and accorded special privileges by the pope."

"After months of restoration, on May 18,1989, Archbishop William H. Keeler brought new significance to the chapel when he consecrated it as the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius. A little more than a month later, on June 30, 1989, the Vatican notified the archbishop that the Church was declared the dignity of Minor Basilica." https://sscm.org/spirituality/basilica/

In 1957, a new 4 story L shaped addition was completed, "adjoining the chapel at one end and the Academy at the other end. Apartments in the building are to be occupied by pupils with this section name St Philomena Hall.  The Sister's quarters have been designated St Methodius Convent."

100 Years In Danville, 2019.

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"The mill was leased to a corporation that included John Grove and John Peter Grove, who owned the Columbia Furnaces, located on Market Street. Their involvement lasted from 1850 to 1857. It was in 1855 during their management that George Geisinger came to work as a bookkeeper for the company."

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From Find A Grave:

Caroline was born into a wealthy family. Her father was an owner of the Grove Brothers Furnace In Danville Pennsylvania. But her childhood must have been difficult as she was continually dealing with the death of family members. Her mother died when she was only three. She had two brothers. One brother died at age 4 when Caroline was 5. The other brother (Joshua) lived to adulthood. Her father John Peter Grove died when she was 10 and left her and her brother orphaned and wealthy.

After her father died, Caroline and her brother Joshua lived with their uncle John Grove and Aunt Elizabeth Grove. In the 1870 census, two Grove families were living next to each other. This was before the completion of the Castle Grove so it is is unknown if they were living in the partially completed Castle or somewhere else. One Grove family was an eclectic group including: John Grove, his sister Elizabeth Grove, his orphaned nephew Joshua Comly Grove, his orphaned niece Caroline Grove, and three servants. The home next door was housing Michael John Grove's more traditional family of his wife Catherine, and their three children (John Houtz Grove, Robert Michael Grove, and Peter Houtz Grove). In addition, there were two teenage children of Elias and Sabina Grove (Jacob and Emma), Elizabeth Beaver whom was the daughter of Michael's sister Anna Barbara Grove, and three servants.

Sometime in 1880 or a few years earlier, she married John Bennett (a lawyer from New York). John continued to work in New York so Caroline was often in New York rather than Danville.

In 1889, Carolines brother Joshua died and left her everything.

From when the Castle Grove was completed in 1876 to 1896, the Castle Grove was owned and inhabited by two of Caroline's first cousins; John Houtz Grove and Robert Michael Grove. Unfortunately, those two brothers entered into some bad business dealings involving copper mines in Colorado and they were forced to sell the castle. John Houtz Grove died in January of 1896. Later in 1896, Caroline purchased the castle and it became her personal residence. Within a year, Robert Michael Grove died.

In the 1990 census, Caroline was living in the mansion on her own except for five live-in servants. Her husband, John Bennett, was likely working in New York at the time the census was taken. In that same year, she had a wall constructed around the mansion at a cost of $10,000 (see attached article) and an elaborate copper roof was completed.

March 28, 1902 , Caroline died suddenly from a stroke and left everything to her husband John Bennett.

On May 2, 1903, John Bennett remarried to Ellen Coleman Nicoll. In that same year he made improvements to the Castle Grove, including; the addition of a 12 acre nine hole golf course designed by William Dunn of New York, the addition of parquet floors, and electricity.

On June 21, 1905 John Bennett died in a train crash in Ohio. John's new wife Ellen inherited everything. She had little interest in the Castle Grove and ended up moving to Paris France with her daughter. In October, of 1905, much of the Castle Grove farm equipment was auctioned off. Over the next decade the Castle Grove was only inhabited by caretakers and it fell into disrepair. On June 7, 1917, Ellen sold the Castle for $40,000 ($834,000 in 2021 dollars) to the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

1902

1913