Welcome to the Rockefeller Suite. This is a special feature on the self-guided audio tour, just for those who are in the Rockefeller Suite and can’t get enough Duluth history.

Cotton’s rise was tied to the rise of the northern Minnesota iron-mining industry in the late 1800s.

The Iron Range was discovered by the seven Merritt brothers, a local family that lived in Duluth from its very infancy. Mr. Cotton moved here in the 1880s and represented the Merritt brothers in several affairs.

The brothers were of meager means, hardscrabble, and bet the farm building the DMIR, the first railroad from the range some 50 miles north to Lake Superior, to Duluth, so as to transport the newly found iron ore.

The Panic of 1893 hit the Merritt brothers hard, and Rockefeller entered the picture by buying up their debt. In 1895, there was a landmark case, Merritt versus Rockefeller, over a significant portion of the Mesabi Iron Range that the Merritts had originally discovered.

This time, Mr. Cotton switched sides and represented Rockefeller. Rockefeller won the case, and subsequently a good portion of the mining region.

Cotton would continue to work for Rockefeller for another 40 years.

Rockefeller, more commonly known for oil than iron mining, was in competition with Andrew Carnegie, but by gaining control of the iron supply, Rockefeller could squeeze profit from his archrival Carnegie in true robber-baron fashion.

He bought up the Merritt brothers’ debt and took advantage of the Panic of 1893 to foreclose and take control of their iron mines. Carnegie had recently purchased the adjacent large portion of the Iron Range from Henry Oliver, who was represented by another locally famous lawyer, Chester Congdon.

Joseph Cotton was exclusively Rockefeller’s attorney for his mining and railroad interests in the local region.

In 1911, the Cottons would have their third child, a son named John Mather Cotton. This became his bedroom and was his early childhood home.

If you’d like to learn more about the Cotton Mansion, the Cotton family, and early-1900s Duluth history, consider following the main self-guided audio tour. There are 12 stops that take you from top to bottom through all the common areas, starting with the QR code on the console in the foyer on the main level.