BROWN HOUSE HISTORY



1902-1927
Charles Brown (1867-1925) came to Stayton from Kansas in 1883. His father had purchased the Stayton sawmill and charles, from age 17, took and active role in improving and operating the mill. He was a skilled millwright and builder with inventive talents. In 1894, he obtained a patent for an improved hydraulic motor which was favorably reviewed in The Scientific American.

In 1902, when Charles E. Brown was thirty-six years old, and arguably one of Stayton's most skilled carpenters, he designed and built a grand Queen Anne house for his family on the corner of First and High Street next to the Salem Ditch in Stayton. He and his wife, Martha Staiger Brown, raised their three children there. It was an elegant residence, "one of the finest in the county" according to an article in the December 19, 1903 edition of theStayton Mail .

Charles had built other houses in Stayton, but none were as elaborate, or unusual, as this one. The house was one of the first in Stayton to have indoor plumbing and electrical wiring designed and built into the structure. Also, Mr. Brown built in a radiant heating system with hot water pipes on both floor levels and a large finely crafted "root cellar" in the basement. Although those unique amenities are defunct today, fine woodwork still adorns most of the rooms; the living room and parlor show exceptional craftsmanship in ornate moldings and architectural detail. He and his family moved into the house in December 1903, and his wife continued to live there after Charles' death in 1925.

In 1914, Charles sold his interest in the sawmill and built a machine shop nearby which eventually became a wool batt and bedding plant. After his death, the Brown family successfully operated the plant for over 20 years.


1928-1936
Alice Kendrick, R.N., Alice Kendrick and her husband rented the house from Martha, who had moved into a house on the neighboring block. Mrs. Kendrick was a Registered Nurse and they remodeled again, building additions to the house and operating Stayton's first hospital there. In 1930, the one story porch on the southwest corner of the house was enclosed and a concrete-floored operating room was added above, along with a section above the original kitchen and pantry. A laundry for the hospital was constructed around this time just west of the house. In August 1934, Mrs. Kendrick finally purchased the house and planned to "re-open" the hospital. Many local babies were born in the house.

1936-1946
The Kendrick Family used the home for their personal residence.


1946-1948
John and Leola Nightingale purchased the house from the Kendrick's, and purportedly ran a boarding house there. Their daughter, Beatrice, was paraplegic and so a wheelchair ramp was built to the north porch of the house under the "sleeping porch" for her and her husband, Fred Camp.


January 1949
Wendel and Kathryn Weddle, owner of Weddle Funeral Home, purchased the home. The Weddle's remodeled the house again, somewhat extensively, adding an apartment upstairs, an outside stairway on the front of the house and a modern kitchen. The Weddle children continued to live in the house, continuing its 20th Century improvements and taking good care of the house and yard.


1987
The house was sold to Larry and Denise Huntley who planned to restore the house. They removed the stairway from the front of the house and made some progress toward restoration, until their efforts waned and they moved out. The house stood empty for several years.


2000-2001
In June 2000, Stayton Cooperative Telephone Company bought it, and in December of 2001 it was sold to The Santiam Heritage Foundation, an all-volunteer group of Stayton citizens committed to the mission of "honoring our heritage, preserving our history and revitalizing our downtown."

~By Bob Pendleton