Rogers House
Planned and constructed by Robert A. Rogers and his wife Hannah Elizabeth, this distinctive home is an unusual example of an owner-designed residence of mixed styles. Built between 1901 and 1903, the Queen Anne style dwelling features a two-story hexagonal turret, scrollwork, and turned spindles. Dormers with steeply pitched roofs and lancet windows in the Gothic Revival style uniquely complement the traditional Queen Anne elements. Subsequent owners added two bathrooms and enclosed the rear porch. The kitchen features five doors leading into the room, which was typical of Kalispell homes of the era. Rogers moved his family to Kalispell from North Dakota via the Great Northern Railway in 1899. Almost immediately he began construction on this home. Employed as a carpenter, Rogers, Hannah, and the two eldest children worked on the house in the mornings and evenings. The family set up living quarters in tents and a barn where Hannah gave birth to a third child in 1901. The family moved into the house in 1903 and the couple’s fourth child was born upstairs. Relocation of the Great Northern Railway’s mainline to Whitefish slowed construction projects in Kalispell, prompting Rogers to move his family to Kennewick, Washington. Rogers worked as a contractor and continued to make payments on his Kalispell property until 1905 when a financial crisis forced him to sell. Kalispell Lumber Company drayman John Fishel purchased the property and later sold it to Maurice and Anna Hansen. Anna rented the home to various tenants until 1946.
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