A one-story wooden residence built between 1888 and 1890 marked the earliest development of this lot. A brick-veneered Queen Anne style cottage stood in its place by 1916. Smaller than its high style counterparts, the one-story residence still managed to reflect turn-of-the-century fashions with its jumble of rooflines, asymmetrical façade, octagonal front bay, decorative shingles, and spindle-work porch supports. Frugal builders often preferred to incorporate existing structures into new buildings; the narrow window on the north side wall suggests that the original 1880s-era home may have provided the core of the new residence. From 1900 through 1913, Joseph and Sena Corby lived here with their daughter Edith. A hoisting engineer, Corby came to Butte in 1887 from Pennsylvania. In 1891, Corby served as president of the Butte chapter of the Patriotic Order Sons of America, an organization known for its anti-immigrant and, especially, anti-Catholic sentiments. Despite this early association, he managed to gain enough respect among Butte's heavily immigrant population to be elected mayor in 1907.
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