Brown Family and Brown House History

Charles Enoch Brown– whose friends called him Charlie, was born in1857 in Knightstown, Indiana. 

His father was Leander, who worked as a tanner, a carpenter, and a furniture maker. In 1858 he moved his family west to Kansas, where he built furniture from black oak. Later, in 1884, he came even farther west, settling in Stayton, Oregon. Leander bought the sawmill started by Drury Stayton and soon brought Charlie and his brother George on as partners. It was called Lee Brown & Sons. The sawmill was rebuilt in 1895 after a fire.

They built that sawmill into one of the largest in Marion County, and by1910 they were producing 20,000 ft. of lumber per day. They fabricated handles, windows, doors, roofing, and all kinds of building materials.

George and his father owned one third of the water power in Stayton.

Leander Brown became Stayton’s first mayor and pushed for good schools, better roads, and the growth of the town.

In 1902, Charles married Martha Staiger of Sublimity, Leander's housekeeper, who had come to this country from Germany. Charles and George built a home for Charles and Martha which at that time contained 9 rooms. The house is solid wood, and the two large rooms at the front were probably designed for entertaining.

Charles was an accomplished musician who played the cornet in the Stayton band for many years, and also mastered the violin. Charles also sang and was in at least one play in 1892. Giles also played the violin, and Lee was an accomplished singer. Martha played the organ and the piano.

In 1914, Charles left the family business and opened a machine shop and garage in Stayton, which he ran successfully for nearly a decade. 

Before the grass seed industry, sheep were found to be a good crop for the land surrounding Stayton- wet in the winter and arid in the summer.

In 1923, Charles sold the machinery shop and opened a wool scouring factory. He installed machinery for scouring wool and producing mattresses and batting for comforters and quilts. That factory prospered and sent goods to all of the Pacific Coast cities and did custom work, wool scouring, and carding for most of the western states.

Charles and Martha had three children: Giles, who would one day run the batt factory; Lee, who went on to study at the University of Oregon; and Ruth, who went to Normal School at Western Oregon College to become a teacher. She later moved to California. 

On September 15, 1925—his 68th birthday—Charles died. But Martha and her son carried on the wool business, expanding it along the Pacific Coast. In those days, it was very unusual for a woman to be involved in the day-to-day operation of a factory, especially in a small town like Stayton. But Martha and their 21 year old son, Giles, were quite successful for many years.

Martha was now running a factory full time, Lee was in college, and she still had a 10 year old daughter at home. She decided to sell the big house on the corner of High and 1st and moved into her father-in-law's house on 2nd Ave. In 1926, she leased then sold the house to Mr. & Mrs. A.M. Kendrick. Mrs. Kendrick was a nurse and the home was turned into Stayton’s first hospital.

It was at this time that remodeling was done. The large bedrooms upstairs were chopped up. More bathroom facilities were added, the large over-hang room on the north side was added, and the back of the house was reconstructed.

A hospital in Stayton was a natural thing to occur. There were two Doctors in town who had been responsible for delivering the majority of the babies from Mill City to Turner and all points in-between. They were Dr. Beauchamp and Dr. Breere (who owned what was later known as the Bird & Hat Inn at 3rd and Virginia). For many years the doctors had been traveling up and down the country roads. In the beginning of his career, Dr. Beauchamp made these trips by horse and buggy and was said to have the fastest team in Marion County.

Now these women could be brought to town because of better roads. Most of the people who lived in the area surrounding Stayton were used to coming to town to pick up supplies and sell their goods. They would not have any trouble finding the big white house with the sign “Stayton Hospital” over the door. Both of the doctors delivered babies and did minor surgery but Dr. Breere was more prominent in the area of surgery. Agnes Kirsch was also a nurse at the hospital and worked in Stayton for 50 years.

In 1938, the hospital closed partly due to Mrs. Kendrick’s poor health but probably mainly due to Dr. Breerer’s death.

Some people claim to be born in the house after the closing in 1938. This is probably true because the Kendrick family lived in the house until 1946. The former hospital was turned into a boarding house. Most likely, if a mother-to-be turned up at the house not knowing it was no longer a hospital she was not turned away. Dr. Beauchamp and Agnes Kirsch were still in Stayton to lend a hand.