In 1890, the Flathead River town of Demersville was the valley’s trading center. However, after the Great Northern founded Kalispell in 1891, residents—including longtime owner of this home, Ira Sanborn—abandoned Demersville for the new railroad town. Many took their houses with them, and local sources believe that this one-story wooden home was one of the many Demersville buildings loaded onto log rollers so horses could haul them three miles north to Kalispell. When Walter and Ethel Craven purchased the property in 1910, the residence was advertised as a “modern 6 room house” with a “bath, hot and cold water, electric lights, chicken and wood house; some fruit. All first class.” The chicken and wood houses are long gone; by 1927, a two-story garage had taken their place. The primary residence was also remodeled, but it still sports many features that characterized early Kalispell homes: wooden siding; decorative shingles in the front gable; a native rock foundation; the original glass windowpanes, with all their subtle irregularities; and a full-length, hipped-roof front porch.
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