Edward Leedskalnin () (January 12, 1887 – December 7, 1951) was a Latvian immigrant to the United States and self-taught engineer who single-handedly built the Coral Castle in Florida, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Leedskalnin was also known for developing theories of magnetism.
Life
Edward Leedskalnin was born on January 12, 1887, in Stāmeriena Parish, Latvia. He was the fifth son of Mina and Andrejs Liedskalniņš, who were farmers on rented land. It's during his time in Latvia that it's believed under the tutelage of his father that Leedskalnin learned stonemasonry. Little is known of his childhood, aside from the fact that his parents were not wealthy and he received only a fourth-grade formal education. Edward was a sickly boy who often spent time reading books, helping him to develop an inquisitive mind and life-long yearning for knowledge. It was suggested that he learned stonemasonry from his father and practiced this craft in Latvia after coming of age.
At the age of 26 he was engaged to marry Agnes Skuvst who was ten years younger. However, the girl who Leedskalnin later referred to as his "Sweet Sixteen" broke their engagement. He then decided to emigrate to North America.
On April 7, 1912, Leedskalnin arrived in New York City. After looking for suitable work around the East Coast until August, he relocated to the Pacific Northwest, which was experiencing a logging boom. On June 5, 1917, while in Oregon he filled in his draft registration stating that he was self-employed and engaged in ax-handle manufacturing. The 1920 census data reveal that he resided in Reedsport, Oregon.
In the winter of 1922–1923, after allegedly contracting tuberculosis, Leedskalnin moved to the warmer climate of Florida, where he purchased an undeveloped parcel of land in Florida City, which at the time was lightly inhabited. On February 27, 1923 The Homestead Enterprise newspaper published a notice that "E. Leedskalnin a Californian has purchased an acre of the R. L. Moser homestead and is planning to erect a home soon."
Over the next 20 years, Leedskalnin constructed a massive structure that he called "Rock Gate" and dedicated, in his own words, to the girl who had left him years before. Working alone and mostly at night, Leedskalnin eventually quarried and sculpted more than 1,100 short tons (997,903 kg) of oolite limestone into an architectural and engineering landmark that would later be known as the Coral Castle. He used various basic tools available under his modest means including salvaged timber and old automobile parts. First, he built a house out of limestone blocks and wood, then he gradually constructed the stone structure for which he is now famous. With a reserved personality, he eventually opened the Coral Castle to the public, offering tours for 10 cents.
When people were asking Leedskalnin how he had moved all of the heavy stone on his own, he usually replied, "I understand the laws of weight and leverage and I know the secrets of the people who built the pyramids", referring to the Great Pyramid of Giza. Some local residents later remembered that as school children they had field trips to the construction site of the future Coral Castle, and Leedskalnin personally explained manual methods of his work.
In the 1920s, the structure with an assortment of sculpted stones was located in Florida City; then, in the mid-1930s, Leedskalnin hired a truck with a driver to move it to its present location on a site in the adjacent Homestead, Florida. Leedskalnin was an eccentric and lived on an exclusive diet of only crackers and sardines. In his later years, he starved himself. On November 9, 1951, he checked himself into Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Apparently, Leedskalnin suffered a stroke either before he left for the hospital or at the hospital. He died twenty-eight days later of pyelonephritis (kidney infection) at the age of 64. His death certificate noted that his death was a result of "uremia; failure of kidneys, as a result of the infection and abscess."
Publications
Leedskalnin published five pamphlets on various subjects, advertising them in local newspapers.
Magnetic Current was first published in 1988 and the only source for any of these pamphlets is the Coral Castle gift shop.
Moral education
His first and longest booklet, a treatise on moral education, is printed on only the left-hand pages, and begins with the following preface:
In the first section, Leedskalnin argues that girls should be kept pure, and that boys are primarily a soiling influence upon them. On page 4 of A Book in Every Home, Leedskalnin writes: