The former King’s Daughters Home and the birthplace of Marjorie Merriweather Post, one of the country’s wealthiest women of the 20th century and the builder of Mar-a-Lago, the Florida estate that now belongs to President Donald Trump, was the scene of a fire March 15.
Springfield Fire Assistant Chief Julie Plunk told The State Journal-Register that a passerby at Sixth Street and Black Avenue saw flames coming from the residence in the 500 block of Black Avenue and called 911.
Crews encountered heavy fire on the front side of the building when they arrived on scene, Plunk said.
A Springfield business investor purchased the building last summer with the intention of creating living spaces for traveling nurses and nursing students.
The home had been used by the former Benedictine University Springfield as a dormitory.
Post, who only lived in Springfield as an infant, inherited the breakfast cereal fortune from her father, Charles W. “C.W.” Post after his death in 1914, according to SangamonLink. The owner of General Foods Corporation for much of her life, she was known as the wealthiest woman in the U.S.
Post died in 1973. The Post Foundation sold the Palm Beach mansion to Trump in 1986.
The building was boarded up and power had been cut to the building earlier, Plunk confirmed.
The extent of the damage was not immediately known. Springfield Fire investigators were trying to establish a cause, Plunk said.
Yolonda Rice was awarded a nearly $1 million TIF grant to purchase and renovate the property.
The Carrie Post King’s Daughters Home opened in 1895 and closed in 2006 before opening the next year as a dorm. Benedictine University ceased its operations in Springfield in 2018.
(This story has been updated with new information and add a video.)
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Former King’s Daughters Home, birthplace of socialite catches fire
Reporting by Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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