The nationwide financial panic of 1893 hit Kalispell hard as agricultural prices plummeted. However, its designation as the county seat in 1894 and rising demand for lumber in 1895 revived the local economy. Kalispell’s population nearly quadrupled between 1891 and 1900, increasing demand for middle-class housing. Norwegian immigrants Anton E. and Raghnild Thorson purchased this lot for $300 in 1902, and builders constructed this cross-gabled vernacular (builder-designed) home by 1903. An open-air front porch originally extended across the front and to the rear of the south elevation. The Thorsons sold the home to carpenter Joseph A. Miller and his wife Allis in 1905. They lived here with their son Rexwell until 1917. In 1920, early Flathead Valley farmer Clarence Proctor and his wife Elizabeth rented the home briefly. Clarence founded the town of Proctor (west of Dayton) in 1883. He and Elizabeth ran the Farmer’s Cash Store and Cliffmere Hotel in Proctor from 1899 to 1920. Car salesman Charles O’Connell and his wife Josephine bought the home in 1922. In 1930, they valued the home at $4,000. The O’Connells remained in residence until 1934.
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