Owners Seek Photos and Stories As Enumclaw Home Turns 90 Years

If walls could talk, what stories could the unassuming colonial revival home on 1610 Griffin Avenue tell of its 90 years standing quietly near the center of Enumclaw as the city grew around it?

That's what current owners Michael and Tami Dunn hope local residents and even those who have moved away can share as they look to commemorate the building's centennial in 10 years.

The Dunns purchased the home in 2005 after running it as a bed and breakfast since 1998. Through the house's previous owner, various visitors over the years and their own research with the and other resources, the couple have pieced together the original story of the home:

Axel G. Hanson, whose family, along with partners, owned the White River Lumber Company, built the home for his wife Edna as a wedding gift. It appears to have been completed in 1922. Hanson was meticulous about its details and left pages and pages of instructions for builders while the couple traveled to Europe "to fill it up with treasures," according to Michael Dunn.

As a lumber baron, it could be inferred that Hanson also secured the best cuts of wood for the home, he said.

From there, Dunn said they know the second owners were the Osmonson family, and later on it was sold to the Coppin family. Descendents of the Coppin family currently own , he said.

And sometime in the 1970s, the house was sold to the Graham family.

"There is Only One Enumclaw," written by Louise Ross Poppleton in 1980 and updated in 1995, confirms that Hanson contracted with C. M. Berg of Enumclaw to build the home. He reportedly provided 147 pages of instructions for the specifications for the 22-room colonial home.

"Skilled workmen were brought from Europe to finish the interior which was complemented by Mrs. Hanson's excellent taste in interior decorating. Fine examples of European craftsmanship were brought from the Continent by the people on their wedding trip. The home provided a suitable environment for entertaining visiting dignatories and the executives of lumber companies."

The well-preserved home continued to host a wide variety of social events into its bed and breakfast days, especially weddings, Dunn said. Consequently, he hopes people can contribute to the written history of the home, even if its just anecdotal stories, as "a good part of the community has already been through the house."

While the home has in the past been a part of a historical-home tour of Enumclaw, Dunn said he hasn't found too much information about it from the Historical Society as that museum houses items and logs that are largely from the pre-1910 era.

Dunn said he hopes to collect stories, documents and photos from those willing to share and make color copies as best he can to compile a historical binder, especially as the house looks to its 100th year in 2022.

"Tami and I love historical buildings," he said. "The architecture wows us. We're very fortunate to be able to take care of it."

If you would like to share items with the Dunns about the home, contact Michael Dunn at idigot@lycos.com.