Charles (went by Charlie) Afton Moore and Minnie Stem were married in 1890 in Ohio. They had five children there before moving to Washington in 1903. (Children are shown in the photo above, in center, L-R: Harry, Ralph, Paul, Leatha and Dolly. Parents at left and right sides.) They lived initially in Preston, to be near Minnie's sister. Charlie, a farmer so far in life, then went to work cutting shingle bolts. He worked longest at McCann's Mill at Lake Marie near Fall City, where the family lived in a large tent near the lake. Minnie cooked for the camp and looked after the children. In 1905, Charlie bought a lot in Fall City for $40 and built a house. The photo shows the family on the porch, probably shortly after the house was completed. Note the large stump in the foreground.
One of the special things about the Moore-Parmelee House is that it features an intact system of vertical-plank or box wall construction, fairly rare in King County. This inexpensive and speedy type of construction involves the use of sturdy, rough-sawn planks up to 2 inches thick, affixed side-by-side in vertical fashion to a plate and sill framework, creating a "single wall" construction that lacks the airspace and insulation advantage of walls created with studs and finished on both sides. Living in a tent in a logging camp in 1905 with several children to shelter, Charlie and Minnie may have been attracted to this quick construction method. There are three similar houses, all built in 1904, in Preston, where they might have gotten the idea. The lumber (about $153) came from the Preston Mill and is said to have been provided on credit.
The house was built as a 1½ story, 6-room dwelling (4 on the main floor and 2 small bedrooms upstairs) with a steeply pitched side gable roof. The main dwelling was 20 x 31 feet, with porch projections on front and rear. The exterior walls were first sealed with vertical battens to close the cracks between boards, then siding added as shown in the photos. By the 1912 photo above, the house has been painted and the children are significantly older. In the center is Charles (Chuck) Alton Moore, born in 1907.
During their time in Fall City, Charlie worked many jobs, including driving roadbuilding machinery shown in the photos above, and he played his violin for dances and events. Minnie was often chief cook for activities held at the Modern Woodman Hall, which used to be across the street from their home. They also operated a restaurant for a few years in the old Olympia Bar building.
The Moores sold their Fall City house in the mid-1920s and moved north near Sedro Woolley. They returned to Fall City about 1943 and lived here the rest of their lives. They observed their 60th Wedding Anniversary in 1950, celebrating with friends and family at a reception held in the Falls City Masonic Hall. (see article below)
The older Moore children stayed in Washington State, but did not live near their parents. Chuck Moore, the youngest, lived most of his life in Fall City. He married Hazel Erickson of Preston and raised his family here.
In the 1920s, the Moores sold their house to Al and Mary Minor, who may have lived in the house but were known to have rented it to others. In 1943, Al Minor sold the house to Elizabeth Alexander Parmelee, one of eight children in the John and Elizabeth Alexander family. The Alexanders came west from Missouri in 1900. They started a dairy farm just north of Fall City toward Carnation. (Farm is shown below in 1914)
Elizabeth Caroline "Carrie" Alexander met her future husband Eugene Parmelee in the early 1900s. He had come to Fall City from Michigan as a young man and got a job walking the lines for the Harshman Telephone Company. On his job one day, he stopped at the Alexander Farm to see if he could get something to eat… and met Carrie. After a courtship, Gene returned to Michigan and Carrie joined him later. They were married there in 1912 (wedding photo below)
A very rough time followed for the family, with little outside help being available in those days. In 1943 Carrie Parmelee managed to get the money together to buy the original Moore house. Only two of Carrie's children, daughters Villa and Irene, were living at home at that time. The house would remain her home for 44 years, a center for her family and daughter Irene's family in later years. Carrie Parmelee died in 1987 at the age of 99 and the house was passed on to daughter Irene. (see Valley Record article at end about her 96th birthday celebration.)
In 2003 when the house had been declared a King County Landmark, Irene set out to rehabilitate the building. Enlisting the help her children, mainly her eldest son, Gerry Anderson, who did all of the reconstruction, Irene methodically worked on every aspect of the project. She received financial help from King County and 4Culture. In May of 2012, Irene received a John D. Spellman Historic Preservation award from King County, recognizing her for her family's rehabilitation of the home. Irene's daughter Kris Anderson now lives in the house, the third generation in the family to call it home.
