Feb 7, 2025/midnight
Erie, PA. – From the haunting legacy of one of Erie’s wealthiest families to a U.S. President allegedly trapping himself in a bathtub, Strong Mansion might just be one of Erie’s most interesting buildings.
Gannon University has a long and rich history. Started by Archbishop John Mark Gannon in 1925, Gannon as an institution has a history intertwined with both Erie’s development and Catholic tradition. Yet, before Gannon’s Old Main became an academic building, it was a mansion that boasts just as interesting of a history on its own.
William Lawrence Scott financed the construction of Strong Mansion, which was completed in 1893 according to The Gannon Knight. Scott was a distinguished man, as he served for some time as a mayor of Erie, as well as a congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was vastly wealthy from his business in the railroad industry, and owned thousands of acres of land across several states.
Scott had the massive 46-room mansion built for his daughter, Annie Wainwright Scott Strong, and her husband, Charles Hamot Strong. Annie and Charles, who had an arranged marriage in September of 1881, had quickly become one of Erie’s most wealthy, powerful, and influential couples.
For many years, the couple both lived in the mansion, which took design influences from England, France, Italy, Greece, and Rome, in an architectural style now known as High Victorian. The mansion housed a library, grand parlor, bedrooms, servants’ quarters, balconies, and much more.
According to GoErie, Annie was one of Erie’s most important socialites. She often threw grand parties at Strong Mansion and was known to host many important guests. But Annie did far more than simply give life to Erie’s social scene. She had a deep desire to help nurses, and even started the first nursing school in Erie, The Hamot Hospital Training School for Nurses. Charles was a successful businessman who owned his own company, and was also a graduate of Yale University, in the study of law. Their marriage was the melding of two already important and massively wealthy families.
Yet, as powerful of a union as the couple made, love was not rumored to be one of their strengths. Annie had her living quarters on one side of the second floor, with Charles on the opposite. Their daughter, Thora, lived on the third floor with the servants.
In an interview with Thomas Edmonds, an adjunct professor at Gannon who teaches architectural history, he says, “She [Thora] actually lived with the servants. She didn’t want her bedroom next to her parents. Mr. Strong had built another house; he wasn’t even here. He would have shown up for parties, but from what I hear, they just hated each other.”
Despite their turbulent relationship, Annie and Charles boasted an impressive guest list during their time living in Strong Mansion. President Grover Cleveland and President William Howard Taft both stayed at the Strong Mansion.
An old Erie legend says when President Taft stayed at the mansion, he relaxed into the bathtub on the third floor. When he tried to get out, he found he was stuck. Taft was only freed after his secretary, a key witness to the story, pulled him out.
The legends of Strong Mansion don’t stop there. As one of Erie’s prominent buildings, belonging to such an important and influential family, it has created its fair share of lore.
According to The Gannon Knight, a footman for the Strong family fell in love with one of the maids, but when the Strong’s found out about the romance, the footman was fired. Upon losing his job and his love, the footman took his own life. Now, that footman is rumored to haunt Gannon as a spirit named George. Students have reported the lingering smell of cigars, flickering lights, and slamming doors, all attributed to the ghost of the Strong’s footman.
Of course, there is more than one ghost rumored to haunt Strong Mansion. Mark Gaeta, Mission Advancement Officer for Gannon, describes one of the times that he believes he saw a ghost on the third floor of Strong Mansion. He says that while he was talking to a coworker, they both saw a figure walking up the stairs.
Gaeta explains, “[my coworker] was calling security to let them know that we thought someone was upstairs, and I went up and looked at all the offices…I looked everywhere and there was nobody up there. And nobody came down the stairwell.”
Historically rich property was sold to Archbishop Gannon in 1941 and officially became Gannon University property only four years later. Since then, Strong Mansion has been referred to as Gannon’s Old Main, and has been used in a variety of ways, but eventually became the administrative office building we know today.
From presidential visits to haunting ghost stories, the legends of Strong Mansion cement the building as one of the most historical, and fascinating, in Erie.
