One of Alliance's most enduring landmarks is Glamorgan Castle. This page offers an overview of the castle and information on tours. For further details on the history of the Castle, visit the Alliance City Schools Web Site. Pictures of the Castle through the years are available on the Alliance Memory web site.
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the structure was commissioned by Col. William Henry Morgan, the president and principal owner of the Morgan Engineering Co., who named it for his father's birthplace in Wales.
Morgan was a Renaissance man not known for doing things on a small scale.
After securing a 50-acre plot of land, Morgan enlisted the services of architect Willard Hirsh, whom he sent to Europe to study and draw up plans. Construction began in 1904.
Although the Morgan family moved into the three-floor structure a year later, work was not completed until 1909. The total cost was $400,000.
Built from 100 tons of structural steel and 96 train-car loads of Vermont marble, with walls above ground a minimum of 13 inches thick, Glamorgan boasted the strength and security of castle of old.
But unlike those structures, which were often cold and dark, Glamorgan featured many modern comforts, including bowling alleys, a billiard room and a large swimming pool in the basement.
Upstairs, the castle's rooms were decorated in a variety of styles, including Italian Renaissance, French Empire, Louis XV, Elizabethan and Japanese.
Behind the castle was a farm, which included a house, a barn and a carriage shed.
The garage, which is now an apartment building, was built in 1910.
The Morgan family's staff included a butler, upstairs and downstairs maids, a gardener and a chauffeur.
In 1939 - 11 years after Col. Morgan's death - the Elks Lodge purchased the home and approximately 50 acres of land for $25,000.
Twenty-five years later, the property changed hands again, when the Alliance Machine Co. purchased it and initiated an extensive restoration, transforming the castle into the company's international headquarters.
Armed with a $774,350 preservation grant, Alliance City Schools purchased the castle and 20 1/2 acres of land in 1973. Today, the building houses the school district's central administrative offices.
Glamorgan Castle is open for tours at 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Fridays throughout the year. Group tours are available by appointment. Call 330-821-2100 for details.