A History of the
Charles and Martha Brown House

1902-1927

Charles Brown (1867-1925) came to Stayton with his family from Indiana in 1883. His father, Leander, purchased the Stayton sawmill, and son Charles, from age 17, took an 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 . After 1883, Lee Brown and Sons sawmill became the major industry in town, and 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. There, he and his wife, Martha Staiger Brown, raised their three children -- Lee, Giles and Ruth. It was an elegant residence, "one of the finest in the county" according to an article in the December 19, 1903 edition of the Stayton Mail .

Charles had built several 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 in during construction. Mr. Brown built in a radiant heating system with hot water pipes concealed behind the baseboards on both floor levels. In the cellar a finely crafted "fruit room" was filled each year with sustenance from the garden. 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. The previous year The Brown's sawmill sawed nearly two million board feet and produced mouldings, casings and boxes.

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 in September of 1925, Martha and her three children were partners in the reorganized Western Batt and Bedding, and the Brown family contributed successfully to operation of the "Batt Factory" for over 20 years. Martha and her eldest son, Lee, directed operations, and she became somewhat famous for supplying sleeping bags to the expeditions of the famous explorer, travel writer and radio broadcaster, Lowell Thomas.

Martha continued to live in the house for three years after Charles' death in September 1925, and she added a sleeping porch on the north side of the house above the dining room.

1928-1936

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 curved porch on the southwest corner of the house was replaced with a two story addition which included a concrete-floored operating room above; rooms were built 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 and expanded Martha's sleeping porch into a "living room" supported on three posts in the manner of a porte cochere.

1946-1948

John and Leola Nightingale purchased the house from the Kendrick family, 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 "living room" for her and her husband, Fred Camp.

January 1949

Wendel and Kathryn Weddle, owners of Weddle Funeral Home, purchased the home. The Weddle's continued to remodel the house , somewhat extensively, adding an apartment upstairs, an enclosed exterior 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 purchased by Larry and Denise Huntley who planned to restore it. They removed the stairway from the front of the house and made some progress toward restoration, but their efforts waned and they moved out. The house then stood empty for about ten 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."

2002-2003

Santiam Heritage Foundation received a generous grant from the Kinsman Foundation to fund our Business Plan and Feasibility Study. Public Affairs Research Consultants produced this important document, which is the foundation’s plan for the public use of the house.

2004

SHF received a matching grant from the “Preserving Oregon” program to replace the second story cedar roof, yankee gutter system and restore the ornate cornice millwork. Engineered drawings for the front wraparound porch were completed by Ken Rasmussen.

2005

Volunteers scraped, brushed and painted the north wall of the house to temporarily improve that aspect of the house. The rotten portions of the west wall and a section of the west foundation were also repaired and replaced. The Bridges Foundation’s matching grant was partially used for this phase. Elevation drawings were completed by Monica Felo.

2006

The State Historic Preservation Office awarded SHF another matching grant to complete the rebuilding of the first story roof, gutter and cornice. Some of the Kinsman Foundation grant will be used for this phase.

For more information send us e-mail.
You may also call Jacqulin Kirby at (503) 769-7817 or Bob Pendleton at (503) 769-5863.

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