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Built c. 1818, probably by Charles Carrick, who purchased the property in that year. This building has a rather illustrious history. In its first years it was the property of James Douglas, a local shipbuilder of note. Between 1838 and 1861 it was owned by Alexander Grant, Collector of Customs of the port of St. Andrews. One of the earliest photographs in the Charlotte County Archives shows a whiskered gentleman on the front lawn of this house; internal evidence suggests that the man is Alexander Grant.
In 1871 the property became the possession of Sir Leonard Tilley. Tilley was New Brunswick's Father of Confederation; he also served as Minister of Finance in Sir John A. MacDonald's government, and was among his many public offices Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick for many years. Tilley came to St. Andrews at the same time as Sir Charles Tupper, later Prime Minister, who bought property outside of town but did not vacation here much. In the 1870's St. Andrews was beginning to be discovered as a vacation spot of some charm by New Brunswickers and New Englanders alike. Tilley added the mansard roof and generally beautified the house. He also gave it the name Linden Grange.
Recalled a visitor to St. Andrews in 1881: "Generally some time in the day one will see, either in the hotel or on the streets, a handsome, elderly man to whom everybody bows. Sometimes he is in a pony carriage driven by a dark eyed young man or by a sweet faced and Titian haired lady. This is Sir Leonard Tilley, the Governor, the young man is his son, the charming woman his wife. They are all greatly loved in St. Andrews. And any old inhabitant would like nothing better than to tell stories of Sir Leonard's eloquence when he was the member for Saint John. Lady Tilley entertains delightfully, and many a wanderer from the States carried back grateful memories of her home and her cook—and J—- wished me to add—her Jersey cows."
Sir Leonard was a man of particular importance to St. Andrews in that, as a person who loved the town and hoped to share its beauties with others, he was very important to the fortunes of the St. Andrews Land Company, a group of American businessmen out of New England who hoped to boom the town and who also built the Algonquin Hotel. Tilley as President of a Saint John Trust Company purchased the many properties of interest to the Land Company and held them until such time as the Company could be incorporated and passed to them.
In 1920 Linden Grange was owned by Olive Hosmer. Ms. Hosmer was the daughter of Charles Hosmer, the CPR's man in charge of telephone and telegraph communications and reportedly one of the richest men in Canada. The Hosmers and other CPR bigwigs had been coming to St. Andrews since the 1890's largely in connection with Sir William Van Horne, who built his Xanadu on Minister's Island in that decade. Ms. Hosmer would have been about 10 at the time. Ms. Hosmer added the tower. She is remembered as a kind and generous lady who loved children (though she never marred) and was a generous benefactor to the town and area. For a time a section of the Charlotte County Hospital was named in her honor, recognizing her support of that institution.