Charles E. Davis, “expert watchmaker and jeweler,” arrived in Great Falls with his wife, Grace, in 1900. With Charles’ two brothers, the couple opened a store on bustling Central Avenue, selling jewelry, watches, cut glass, gifts, and eyeglasses. Their son, William, continued the family business, and Davis Jewelry remained a Central Avenue institution until 1983. The Davises built this two-story residence in 1902. The home’s architecture bridges the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The fish-scale shingles in the gable end evoke the Queen Anne style, but most of the home’s features reflect the cleaner lines of the Colonial Revival style, which became increasingly popular after the turn of the century. Charles and Grace raised four children, three of whom continued to live here into adulthood. In 1930, the residence, valued at $10,000, sheltered Charles and Grace, two grown sons, a teenage daughter, and a live-in servant. When Charles died at the age of seventy-seven in 1948, he was thought to be Central Avenue’s oldest active businessman. Grace remained in the family home until 1958.
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