Rapidly increasing demand for copper ore in the 1890s brought an influx of more than 5,000 new residents to the Smelter City between 1890 and 1900. To house them all, a fleet of carpenters built hundreds of cottages and multi-family units. This brick boardinghouse, built in 1897, stands out from its Queen Anne cottage neighbors. The house’s hipped roof, wide fascia board, and segmental arch window frames reflect the Italianate style, popular in the West beginning in the 1870s. Advertisements for the rooms boasted electric lights and bathrooms, luxurious amenities at the time. Initially, working-class men and young families lived here. In 1900, smelterman J.C. Brennan and family and streetcar driver Michael Kilcoyne, his wife, children, and two brothers-in-law shared the house. By 1906, two women, fourteen smeltermen, and a policeman crowded into the residence. Grocer Marko Hotti, an immigrant from Albania, and his Czech wife, Louisa, lived here after 1924 and rented out rooms. Hotti’s Grocery was a fixture on Park Street until 1945. The house remained in the Hotti family through the 1990s.
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