The Hegeler-Carus Mansion in LaSalle, a national landmark (1876). Edward C. Hegeler was born in Oldenberg, Germany. After several visits to America, Hegeler's father decided that he wanted a child to be raised in the country. Hegeler was educated at the School of Mines at Freiberg, Saxony, where he met F. W. Matthiessen. Hegeler and Matthiessen immigrated to the United States in 1857 at the age of 22. Hegeler and Matthiessen first worked at a floundering zinc factory. They were able to turn it around, but the owners shut the factory down in the aftermath of the Panic of 1857. Hegeler & Matthiessen then travelled around, looking for a place to build their own factory. They settled in LaSalle, Illinois, because of a surplus of coal in the area and its proximity to the zinc mines in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. The Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Works grew to become one of the most productive smelters in the Midwest, employing over 1,000 people.

In 1887, Hegeler founded the Open Court Publishing Company in his house. He intended it for the purpose of discussing religious and psychological issues in the mindset of the scientific world. He rejected dualism (good versus evil) in favor of monism. To discuss these views, he founded The Monist in 1890, a periodical that is still in publication today.