Grissen House

1004 NE 5th Street  |  Built 1889

Standing at the corner of NE 5th and Johnson Streets, the distinctive Grissen House gracefully
bookends the eastern edge of downtown McMinnville. Charles Grissen, a prominent local businessman,
mayor, city councilman, and civic leader, built this elegant two-story Queen Anne home in 1889. Grissen
served on the city council and on the Water Committee that helped establish McMinnville Water and
Light the same year.

Grissen also became a founding member and first secretary of the Oregon Fire Relief Association
(OFRA) in 1894. Created as a mutual fire insurance association, OFRA aimed to protect local farmers
and businesses when distant companies charged high premiums. It later evolved into Oregon Mutual
Insurance Company. The Grissen House proudly became the very first home insured by the new
company — a fitting symbol of the protection and community spirit Grissen championed.

Grissen’s home features a hip roof that runs the length of the house and shelters an extended formal
porch supported by eight graceful Tuscan columns, complete with a built-in bench seat. Original doors
welcome visitors at both entrances. All the landscaping remains original, including a low hedge
bordering three sides, a graceful birch, and a sturdy walnut tree that still shade the property today.
Inside, the house retains many original treasures: a large multi-paneled sliding parlor door that glides
open with a satisfying rumble, bell-shaped chandeliers in the parlor and living room, built-in tongueand-
groove pine cabinets, a China closet in the kitchen, and original porcelain door handles paired with
ornate cast-iron hinges.

As you pause before its welcoming façade, imagine Charles Grissen sitting on the porch bench
pondering our young city’s future. The Grissen House stands as a proud landmark of McMinnville’s
early growth — a home, a first insured property, and a testament to a vision for a safer, better-connected
community.

For images of the the property, and further details, check out the link below:

Historic Resources Inventory Documentation