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By Jane Pieplow as featured in Volume 14 of  In Focus

The Robert Lee (R.L.) Douglass House Nomination
Once a likely historic site has been identified for listing on the National Register, the real detective work begins. Perhaps the information supplied as research for “The 1906 House” to Mella Harmon, Historic Preservation Specialist at SHPO,will serve as a useful example for those who are contemplating similar research on their own homes or other historic sites. Ms. Harmon was of great help to me in preparing the nomination and in the preparation of this article.

Using the resources available at the museum -- newspapers, photographs and an oral history, as well as an assessor’s map from the county -- museum staff members were able to piece together the information needed to complete the newly-named R.L. Douglass House/Cottage Hospital National Register nomination form.

Taken in 1906, two years after the house was completed. Douglass shows off his new Mercedes.
The garage with the turntable can be seen at left. Courtesy Churchill County Museum & Archives.

Past and Current Function
The past and current function of the property was the first question to be answered. The historic function and use of the Douglass House was listed as follows:

On April 23, 1904, The Churchill Standard newspaper announced that the plans for the R.L. Douglass mansion had been completed by a Reno architect (no name given). Construction on the home began two weeks later. The Churchill Standard kept up with all steps of the construction, as this home was a grand design for Fallon:

Because of his love of cars, R.L. was not slow in building a garage just south of his new home. This building included a turntable that allowed him to drive his car up onto this device. Once the car was inside the garage, the turntable was manually spun to turn the car around to face forward again, ready to be easily driven out.

In August of 1905, Eleanor’s 20 year old brother, Charles H. Ernst, died at their home from typhoid. This family death is one explanation for the Douglass’ early move to the Island Ranch. One story has it that Eleanor was so devastated by the death of her brother that she wanted to move from the unpleasant memories. Another version of the story says that Eleanor wanted to move from “the mansion” because it was so large she could not keep it clean and domestic help was hard to find. Whatever the case, the couple moved to their Island Ranch in Churchill County in November of 1906.

Between 1906 and 1913, the Churchill County Eagle noted that several organizations were interested in buying the Douglass residence to use as a clubhouse, but it was never sold for such use.

The September 13, 1913, issue of the Churchill County Eagle reported that Dr. F.E. Nichols had purchased the Douglass home. The first winter of his residence, the home was used for the doctor’s office and as a hospital. A year later, the garage to the south of the home was remodeled into a modern 10-bed hospital, called the Cottage Hospital, which included an operating room and fully-equipped laboratory.

On September 3, 1916, Dr. Nichols married Annie B. Coffrin, and the couple continued to live in the Douglass residence. The doctor leased out the Cottage Hospital in July of 1919, continuing to use his residence as his medical office. In 1923, the former Cottage Hospital building was converted into an apartment building, remaining under the Nichols’ ownership.

On Tuesday, April 5, 1931, the Douglass residence was seriously damaged by an attic fire. According to the newspaper, the roof was destroyed and water damage was evident in the upstairs portion. Repairs were quickly made to the roof and the second story.

Upon the death of Dr. Nichols in 1935, his widow managed both properties until this job may have become too much for her. In 1946, she sold the hospital/apartment building to Mr. and Mrs. M.B. Walker. The next year the structure was sold again, this time to Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Forsberg.

In May of 1951, Mrs. Nichols sold the last piece of the Douglass property, its residence, to the Forsbergs and once again the home and apartment building were under single ownership. From this date forward, the two properties have been sold as one. Other owners of the R.L. Douglass home include:

1. March 17, 1961: Forsberg sold to Samuel J. and Beryl Higginbotham

2. August 11, 1966: Higginbotham sold to Tom M. and Anna M. Hickman

3. August 1974: Hickman sold to Lauf Corporation

4. Nov. 14, 1975: Lauf Corporation sold to Richard C. and Betty P. Smith

5. December 3, 1976: Smith sold to Clifford G. and Lucille M. Kimbrell

6. 1991: Kimbrell sold to Bruce and Darby Homer — On October 18, 1991, a suspected arson fire broke out in the basement of the home. This damage was repaired.

7. 1996: Home sold to present owners, Jerry R. and Suzanne Noonkester.

For most of its existence, the R.L. Douglass House served as a single-family residence, however, just before the Noonkesters purchased it, it had served as a Realty office and antique shop and as a boarding house.

Today, the R.L. Douglass House serves as the residence of Jerry and Suzanne Noonkester. It is also known as The 1906 House and is run as a bed and breakfast with two of the upstairs bedrooms being used for this purpose. The Noonkesters have put hours of work and thousands of dollars into the restoration of the house to return it to its former glory.

(One word of explanation about the name of The 1906 House. When the Noonkesters applied for their business license, their historic facts were not exact and they set the date for the home’s construction in 1906. It was only after they had their business name, telephone number, the printing on their stationery, business cards and invoices completed that they realized their error. According to Suzanne, by this time it was just too to change the business name.)