Louis Francois Menage (August 3, 1850 – March 18, 1924) was a real estate speculator and prominent figure in early Minneapolis, Minnesota history. Born in Rhode Island, he settled in Minneapolis in 1874. Characterized as a "tycoon"[1] and "robber baron,"[2] 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.
- ^ Staples, Loring (1983). "The Decline and Fall of Louis Menage". Hennepin County History. 42 (1).
- ^ Korom, Jr., Joseph J. (2013). Skyscraper Facades of the Gilded Age: Fifty-One Extravagant Designs, 1875–1910. McFarland. ISBN 9780786470723.