The Hubbard Bungalow is a private, historic residence in Centralia, Washington that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2005. The home is located in the city's historic Edison District. Completed in 1908, the 4,000 foot (1,200 metres) bungalow was home to Francis Hubbard, a prominent Centralia businessman in the region's lumber and railroad industries. Hubbard was also known for his role that led to the Centralia Tragedy and the home is subsequently recognized by the National Register of Historic Places for the connection. The bungalow is mostly under the style of the Arts and Crafts movement, including built-ins, lead glass windows, and extensive woodwork. Several features stemming from the Victorian architectural era are present in the home, such as an octagonal turret and interior murals and stencils. Hubbard had the home built strictly using local materials, including special lumber stock from his mills, so the residence could boast that it was made entirely in Washington state.
History Built for Francis and Mina Hubbard, an entire block for the home was purchased by September 1905 and construction of the Hubbard Bungalow, estimated to cost $5,000, began on August 20, 1907. The home was completed in 1908. The home was designed in the Arts and Crafts movement, a popular architectural style of the time. The bungalow was designed by George Wesley Bullard of the newly formed architecture firm, Bullard & Hill, based in Tacoma. The house is considered likely to be one of the first projects undertaken by Bullard & Hill. The firm hired J.C. Dickson, a retired Tacoma builder then residing in Centralia, to oversee the construction. The landscape architect was Ebenezer R. Roberts, who was a prior superintendent of the Tacoma Park System. The interior decorator was Seattle-based Charles Weissenborn. Hubbard demanded that the home be built of local materials, such as clay and stone, so he could declare the house to be an "all Washington product". All timber, with the exception of some flooring, was chosen from stock at his timber mill. After the project was completed, the Hubbard Bungalow received acclaim in a 1908 issue of the Pacific Engineer and Builder. The Centralia News-Examiner printed the issue's review of the home in full, with the report providing drawings of the floor plan. His daughter and her husband, also a lumberman, lived in a house adjoining the bungalow property. The home had perhaps five or six owners over the course of its existence by the time it was nominated for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). An automobile dealer, H.D. Gingrich, purchased the bungalow in 1932, selling the residence just two years later to Fred Powell, a member of a regional distribution firm. At the time of the NRHP nomination, ownership of the residence was under the Veach family, who had undertaken restorations to remove extensions and replace parts of the home to its original 1908 style.
Francis B. Hubbard
Francis Hubbard was a prominent and powerful lumber and railroad baron in Centralia, heading the Eastern Railway and Lumber Company. He was born in New York on November 5, 1847, moving to Kalamazoo, Michigan to work for the Michigan Central Railroad when he was 20 years old. He worked in joint cooperation with Western Union Telegraph for roughly ten years. Hubbard married Mina Tuttle on October 1, 1873; the pair had two children and lived for three years in Michigan City, Indiana. After a near 10-year tenure in Brainerd, Minnesota beginning in 1891 where Hubbard worked as a superintendent, and eventually as chief lineman, for Northern Pacific Railroad's telegraph and telephone sector, the family moved to McCormick, Washington in 1900. He helped to establish the namesake of the town, the McCormick Lumber Company, with Harry McCormick. Hubbard organized the Rock Creek Lumber Company in nearby Walville in 1902. Both companies produced crossarms used in telegraph and telephone poles and Rock Creek was noted, for a time, as being the largest crossarm manufacturer in the state. Selling his interests, he began a new lumber company in Doty in 1905. Hubbard shifted his attention in 1908 to concentrate on the oversight of his business venture in Centralia, the Eastern Railway & Lumber Company (ER&LC). The ER&LC was first begun on May 9, 1903 in partnership with several influential businessmen in the county. Despite the name, the company was first and foremost a lumber mill. The 30-acre (12 ha) mill, at its peak having landholdings of 500,000,000 feet (152,400,000.0 m) of timber, was able to produce 125,000 board feet and 250,000 shingles per day. The company expanded with several logging camps and the purchasing of right of ways, eventually building rail lines from their woodland holdings to the mill. The combined peak number of employees exceeded 500 and the ER&LC was valued at $1.5 million, becoming recognized as one of the largest timber companies in Southwest Washington and a major economic force in Centralia. Hubbard's respect as a businessman led him to serve on a variety of associations and boards, particularly in finance and timber, and in several social clubs, such as the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and Knights Templar. He had ownership stakes in various other bank, railroad, and real estate companies. He was the founding president of the Southwest Washington Fair, elected unanimously despite declining the initial offer. He remained the only president of the fair until his death on August 18, 1927, caused by a long illness.
Connection to the Centralia Tragedy
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
