The younger brother of Walkerville merchants Joseph and George Broughton, James lived with George after arriving in the booming silver camp, sometime before 1885. Among his many jobs, James worked as a bartender, clerk, whisky distilling agent, traveling salesman, and for many years was Walkerville’s city treasurer. When he and his wife, Sarah, moved into this Queen Anne cottage, he was serving as vice president of the Musicians Mutual Protective Union. Sarah and James likely had this home built for them circa 1907, the same year the streetcar company completed its line up Excelsior and along Daly Street. Gingerbread and fish-scale shingles decorate the gable end of the residence's polygonal bay. Behind the decorative bay is a hipped roof house, whose practical form typifies the working-class homes that line Walkerville's streets. Living here with the Broughtons was their daughter, Martha, a teacher and then the principal of Sherman Elementary School. Later residents included miner Paul Richards and his wife Florence 1929-1931 and Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph employee John Griffiths and his wife Hazel 1932-1939.
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