There was a lot of history in the three-story house at 3903 H Ave. in Anacortes.
On Dec. 22, the once grand house and its 135 years of history were reduced by fire to a pile of wood and brick.
It was built in 1885 and was one of the oldest structures in Anacortes. When its builder and first occupant, Scottish-born rancher William Gray, homesteaded 160 acres here in 1882, the fledgling town had only a hotel on Second Street near Cap Sante, used as a lodging home by early settlers; and the Bowman Store and Post Office.
Only 30 years earlier, the region’s Indigenous leaders signed the Treaty of Point Elliott, making land available for newcomers. Washington wouldn’t become a state for four years after Gray’s house was completed, and Anacortes wouldn’t become a city for six.