Perry Tompkins, co-owner of The Owl Saloon, built this Eclectic style house in 1910. By wife Elia’s account, Perry soon turned violent; they moved out and divorced. Norwegian farmer Anton Johnson and family lived here two years before renting to Roy Uhl. Roy managed Valley Mercantile’s clothing store and the Lucas Opera House, where he introduced Hamiltonians to early forms of moving pictures with sound. In September 1918 he decided to focus on the film business full time, but weeks later he died of influenza at twenty-seven, a victim of the worldwide pandemic. Paul and Anna Scholz bought the home in 1919. Paul and his daughter Frances worked at the train depot until rheumatism confined Paul to bed the following winter. On his fifty-first birthday, he celebrated with family and died later that evening. Anna remained in residence for fourteen more years. In 1939, Frances sold the house to Albert and Lelia Nickel. Albert ran Nickel’s Plumbing, Heating, and Appliance and participated in the Lions Club. The Nickels raised Lelia’s brother’s children Roxie and Edwin Milburn after their mother moved to Spokane.
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Newspaper obituary. Date: 1918
