Historical Timeline

Ownership

The Little La Grange Estate was surveyed by the Danish West India-Guinea Company in 1750. This is called the “second wave”, since the best land on St. Croix were mapped out in 1733 after the after the purchase of the island from France. The estate was a full operating sugar estate when sugar was a lucrative business. The Little La Grange estate features an animal mill, a windmill and later a steam mill for crushing the sugar cane.

In 1770 Cornelius Hendriksen combined two 150 acres estates so that Little La Grange became a 300 acre estate. He was the owner of the estate until 1803, but lived on another plantation on St. Croix.

After 1831, two women, Hester Kortwright Stevens and Elizabeth Kortwright Yard were listed as the owner of the plantation, but not as living on the estate. The two women were daughters of Cornelius and Elisabeth Kortwright which were and American Merchant family from New York.

In 1831 an Irishmen named David Finlay acquired half of the 300 acres and a year later he was managing the whole 300 acres estate.

In 1835 Adam Logan and Charles O’Reilly, both Irish, bought the Little La Grange estate on an auction. From 1839 Logan became the sole owner of the estate. He was living and in the house that are now the Lawaetz Museum.

William Moore acquired Little La Grange in 1866. He did not reside on the estate, as he owned many estates in St. Croix. He was living in Frederiksted, but his house burned down in the Fireburn in 1878 and he died shortly afterwards. Moores heirs took over the management of the estate and were listed as owners untill 1880.
In a four years period, John Russel was listed as the owner until 1884.

Between 1884 and 1895 J.P. Jørgensen, a lawyer in St Thomas were listed as owner.

​In 1896 Carl Lawaetz bought Little La Grange estate.