The Port Blakely Mill Company had a large lumber mill and company town on Bainbridge Island, across from Seattle. In the early 1880s, the company built a row of almost-identical clapboard cottages for its workers. An 1882 photo shows plain light-colored houses without covered porches or plantings. In photos taken around 1900, the houses have porches with gingerbread millwork. The clapboard is still light but now has darker trim. Picket fences border the yards, and residents have added plants and other personal touches.

This photo, probably taken around 1900, shows the mill house occupied by Henry Ziegler and his family. Residents can lower a bamboo shade and a striped awning to shelter the porch. Boxes filled with geraniums, nasturtiums, and other plants line the porch railings and a young maple tree will grow to shade the yard and house.