Silver Senator William Stewart's Castle (or "Stewart's Folly")

William Morris Stewart, often referred to as the “Silver Senator,” was born in 1827 in Wayne County, New York. When he was still a small child, the family moved to Trumbull County, Ohio. Stewart made his first fortune in silver mining in Nevada but abandoned mining in 1860 to become a mining attorney in Virginia City, participating in litigation for the Comstock Lode.  When Nevada became a state in 1864, Stewart assisted in developing its constitution and became the first U.S. senator from that state in 1864.

In spite of economic setbacks caused by the financial panic of 1873, development began slowly on and around Dupont Circle, led largely by the efforts of William Stewart, Curtis Hillyer, and Thomas Sunderland.  All three men were members of the "Pacific Syndicate," a somewhat secret real estate cartel that had inside information that Alexander Shepherd was planning to improve Connecticut Avenue from Farragut Square to Dupont Circle, so they secretly bought up as many lots around th…