From 1889 to 1944, for 55 years, Šilutė Manor was owned by the Šojus (Scheu) family. Often, this estate is referred to as Šojus Manor after its last owners. During their tenure, Šilutė Manor became famous and well-known in the Klaipėda region and East Prussia. A significant part of its fame was due to the widely recognized Dr. Hugo Šojus, noted for his societal and cultural contributions. The manor was equally famed for its exemplary management of farm buildings and estate organization, initiatives also associated with Dr. H. Šojus. This period marked a fortunate epilogue to the centuries-old history of the manor, before the beginning of the Soviet era, which marked its decline.
The Šilutė Manor (then known as Šilokarčema Manor) was established in 1721 during the administrative reforms carried out in Prussia. At that time, the large Klaipėda district was divided into smaller districts (Sendvaris, Klemiškė, Priekulė, Rusnė, and Šilokarčema), for which state manors were established to manage them.
From 1724, the Šilutė state manor began to be leased out in the hopes that it would generate more revenue. The person who won the leasing tender, also referred to as the general lessee, simultaneously became the district administrator – the Amtmann. In addition to managing the manor's agricultural activities, the Amtmann was required to perform the functions of a district administrator: collecting and keeping records of taxes, tributes, and other revenues, and administering jurisdiction in civil cases involving subjects and free peasants, among other duties.
In 1724, the first Amtmann, Jakob Müller, was ousted and replaced by Gottfried Sperber as the first general lessee of the Šilutė state manor. In 1730, Friedrich Werner took over, who also leased the Priekulė state manor and did not reside in Šilutė, hence he appointed Christoph Bernhard Rabe as his deputy there. In 1752, Friedrich Werner's grandson, Christoph Friedrich Radcke, took over the manor and its duties. He was succeeded by his brother Ewald Radcke from 1761 to 1785. The Radcke family maintained control of the Šilutė Manor for nearly 150 years, during which they expanded the manor lands from a few dozen to several hundred hectares. The Radcke family's estates included Urbiškiai (Armalėnai), Barzdūnai, Likertiškiai, Kleiniškiai, Šlažai, among others.
From 1785, the manor was managed by the widow Charlotte Radcke (née Potschke) and her second husband Carl Heinrich Beyer, who transferred the lease to his stepson Franz Wilhelm Radcke in 1804. In 1819, Franz Wilhelm Radcke purchased the Šilutė state manor outright for nearly 37,000 thalers. Between 1808 and 1818, Prussia underwent a reorganization of state governance, affecting the Rusnė and Šilutė districts: they were merged into a single Šilutė district with its center in Šilutė. A state official was appointed to lead the district, known as the district chief (in German: 'Kreishauptmann'). Landrat), who replaced the Amtmann who had previously administered the districts. As state manors became unnecessary, it was decided to sell them off. Once a royal or state manor was transferred into private ownership, it was customary at the time to begin referring to it as a noble manor.
The new owner of the Šilutė Manor, in place of the manor house built of field stones (80 feet long and 40 feet wide) that had been burned down by the Russians during the Seven Years' War in 1757 and later rebuilt, constructed a new manor house in 1818. In terms of land area, Šilutė Manor was one of the largest in the region at that time (1,460 hectares). Only the Šilininkai Manor, belonging to the Tilžė district, was larger (about 2,500 hectares). The Priekulė Manor was about 1,200 hectares, Klemiškė – 750 hectares, Šernai – about 700 hectares, Gedminai – about 460 hectares, Lapynai and Kiškėnai – 400 hectares each, Macikai – about 150 hectares, Muižė – about 140 hectares, Lapynai – 100 hectares, and Broniškiai – only 30 hectares.
In 1835, the Šilutė Manor was taken over by F. W. Radke's son, Eduard Richard, who, in his will, left the manor to his wife, Frederike von Trentovius, after his death. Upon her death, the manor was inherited by their underage son, Eduard Radke, who lacked the experience, desire, and health to manage the large estate. The neglected manor fell into debt and became completely unprofitable. When E. Radke decided to sell the manor, it was acquired in 1889 by the Lebartai manor owner, H. Šojus, for nearly 540,000 marks.
The new owner of the Šilutė Manor immediately set about reorganizing the estate. He retained about 750 hectares for the manor's needs, divided the remaining land into plots, and sold or leased them. This approach reduced operating costs and generated income, which could be used to pay off debts and refurbish farm buildings. After a fire in 1896 destroyed nearly all the manor's farm buildings, new buildings were constructed in their place, and the manor yard was raised by about a meter and paved with stone to protect against river floods. In 1906-1907, H. Šojus initiated the renovation of the manor house, adding a risalite, a wooden veranda, and a second floor to the annex. A park was established next to the manor, with three ponds dug, and a promenade was created along the wooded Šyša River and in the adjacent forest, known as Varnamiškis. Thanks to H. Šojus, the manor acquired the image of an attractive and representative estate. The manor was visited several times by the German crown prince, Lithuanian presidents, and other members of the cultural and political elite. The manor's appeal was further enhanced by a private museum established by H. Šojus in the manor house.
The successful development of the manor also benefited the entire town of Šilutė. The strong economic position of the manor allowed the landowner, H. Šojus, to donate land plots for the construction of community buildings in the town. Important parts of Šilutė, such as the county hospital, the market square, the gymnasium, the primary school, the post office, the fire station, the port, the Evangelical Lutheran church, and others, were built on former manor lands. It is for good reason that H. Šojus is called the patron of the town of Šilutė.
After the death of the landowner in 1937, the manor was inherited by his grandson Werner Scheu, who, in the fall of 1944, left the manor with his family and retreated to Germany as the war front approached. In 1945, the manor, having suffered significant damage from the Red Army units stationed there for a time, was nationalized and turned into an auxiliary farm for the Šilutė District Executive Committee. In 1948, the auxiliary farm was taken over by the Ministry of Soviet Farms and assigned to the Kretinga Agricultural School, which opened a horticulture department there. From 1950 to 1952, the horticulture department was replaced by farm management courses, and from 1953 to 1959, a two-year Agricultural School operated, training directors, farm managers, and zootechnicians for Soviet farms. The longest period of use for the former Šilutė Manor was from 1959 to 1985, when it housed the Agricultural Technical School.
The manor buildings were reconstructed and adapted to meet the needs of the school: classrooms and offices were set up in the manor house and its annex, the granary was converted into a boys' dormitory, and the former pigsty into a girls' dormitory. The stables were transformed into a gymnasium and an auditorium, the cowshed was fitted with offices, a garage, and a small hall, and the servants' house became a library, among other uses.
The restoration of Dr. Hugo Šojus's manor began in 1990. The central manor house and part of the former manor's farm buildings were converted into a museum and restoration center. Thus, the valuable museum items that belonged to the landowner Dr. H. Šojus and were kept in the Šilutė Museum for over half a century were returned to the manor.