Llewellyn Staples House

1214 N. First St.

This vernacular house was built in 1889 for Llewellyn Staples, the son of Josiah and Lydia E. Staples and grand-nephew of Stillwater lumber baron Isaac Staples. Llewellyn was born in St. Paul on March 1, 1860. He married Ethel Goff about 1888, and had this house built the following year. The house was constructed for $500 by local contractor William Bieging (Donald Empson, The South Half of the Carli and Schulenburg Addition Residential Area, 2001:38). According to the 1894-1895 city directory, Llewellyn Staples was a clerk with the Schulenburg and Boeckeler Lumber Company. Later, he moved on to become the manager of the Staples-Atlee Saw Mill Company and the manager of the Campbell, Irvine Company general store, eventually moving to St. Paul.

Mr. Staples only lived in this house for ten years, moving to a larger home as his career blossomed. The one-and-a-half-story, frame house has a limestone foundation, masonite siding, one-over-one double-hung windows, and a cross gable roof. The house retains its metal roof, a type of roof that was popular in Stillwater at the turn of the twentieth century. The one-story, hipped-roof porch on the southeast corner of the house appears to have been enclosed circa 1920, based on its three-over-one double-hung windows. A one-story, gable-roofed rear addition was also added around this time. It also has a metal roof. An unusual, one-story, concrete block garage with a flat roof was constructed south of the house circa 1970.

— Research by The 106 Group for the City of Stillwater's Heirlooms Home and Landmark Sites Program