In 1886, the German playwright, Frank Wedekind lived in the castle which his father had bought. It was sold in 1892 to August Edward Jessup from Philadelphia who spent a lot of money restoring the castle. He sold it to a Chicago banker, James W. Ellsworth in 1911. Ellsworth's son, Lincoln Ellsworth and Roald Amundsen used the castle to plan their polar explorations in the 1920s.