In 1886, newly-married and having arrived in Ashland only two years before, Ernest and Anna Carter built a lovely cottage which was to be their home and locus for an extremely rich and varied business, political and social life for the following twenty-six years.

At twenty-four, Carter, along with his father, brother, and several other local businessmen, incorporated the Bank of Ashland,in which he served both as cashier and on the board of directors. At thirty-seven he was president of the bank when it was nationalized and remained in that position when it was consolidated with the First National Bank. The banker in a town the size of Ashland literally controls its future His reputation,however, was statewide,and when he died in 1933 he was referred to as the Dean of Oregon Bankers.

The style and location of the Carter House was not uncalculated. The house, a jaunty, eye-catching Queen Anne, was built on a muddy lane in an area which the bank and some of its principal depositors wished to see developed. Shortly thereafter, the land became Siskiyou Boulevard and the scheme an unqualified success

By 1910, the house which had been quite adequate in 1886 lacked many new conveniences. Carter, now fifty, desired a more respectable residence. The Queen Anne, with its whimsical and fetching facade, was moved directly across the street, an interesting arrangement whereby Carter could continue to enjoy the house without living in it.

Carter's new home across the street is listed on the National Register as the Carter-Fortmiller House.

Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1979.

Buildings that Moved

It's not just that the people of the American West are restless, the buildings themselves sometimes pack up and move when - for one reason or another - the neighborhood no longer suits them or the neighbors no longer want them or opportunity waits down the road.

And when buildings remain in place, they are often searching for their identities.

Of the buildings and structures we have visited, the original Reno Arch holds the record for number of moves. It has been moved five times since it was built in 1926.

Jax Truckee Diner holds the distance title. The building moved from New Jersry to Pennsylvanis in 1948, then from Pennsylvania to Califonia in 1992.

Probably the most ambitious relocation occurred on July 4th 1904, when the Southern Pacific Railroad loaded most of the town of Wadsworth, Nevada, onto rail cars and transported the town thirty miles west to create a new town which became known as Sparks.