Louis F. Menage

Louis Francois Menage (August 3, 1850 – March 18, 1924) was a real estate speculator and prominent figure in early Minneapolis, Minnesota history. Originally born in Rhode Island, he settled in Minneapolis in 1874. Characterized as a "tycoon" and "robber baron," Menage earned a fortune developing land on the city's borders into residential housing and financing the mortgages to enable people to buy his properties. During the 1870s and 1880s, he developed large areas of South Minneapolis including much of the area around Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet. He also developed a luxury resort on Lake Calhoun and built a corporate headquarters which was at the time the city's tallest skyscraper.

After a costly legal battle over a real estate deal with William S. King and the financial downturn of the Panic of 1893, Menage's real estate empire collapsed and he fled the country to avoid prosecution on charges of embezzlement. The charges against Menage were eventually dropped after several key witnesses had died or become hesitant to testify against him. He spent the later portion of his life working in real estate in the New York City area and never worked in Minnesota again.

Menage was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1850. His father, John Menage, was the descendant of French immigrants; his mother Mary was a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland. The family moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, when Menage was young. While in Menage was high school, his father died of tuberculosis, leaving Louis and his brother to take over the family's confectionery business. In 1871, a doctor diagnosed Menage with "weak lungs" and suggested he move west to avoid falling ill with tuberculosis himself. Menage moved to Minnesota shortly thereafter. After a brief time teaching classes in shorthand at a Minneapolis business school, he found work as a business clerk in Northern Minnesota at a logging camp near Pokegama Lake.

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