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Overview

This brick dwelling housed the Family of Andrew and Bertha Skansie beginning in 1908. The Skansies had three sons, Vincent, Antone and Peter, who maintained the property until its acquisition by the City of Gig Harbor in 2002.

Building History

Andrew Skansie, (born 04/07/1876 in Sumartin, Dalmatia, Croatia-d. 09/24/1950 in Tacoma, WA), worked as a stone mason, fisherman and a ship builder, was born on the Dalmatian Island of Brač in Croatia. He immigrated to the US from that country in 06/1903, and made his way to Gig Harbor to rejoin his brothers Peter, (born 04/22/1870 in Sumartin, Dalmatia, Croatia-d. 12/09/1954 in Pierce County, WA), Mitchell, (born c. 1879 in Sumartin, Dalmatia, Croatia-d. 08/03/1939 in Tacoma, WA), and Joseph, (born 12/18/1881 in Sumartin, Dalmatia, Croatia- d. 01/29/1960 in Pierce County, WA). Gig Harbor, located on a cozy Puget Sound inlet, became a bustling fishing village founded largely by Scandinavian and Croatian-American immigrants. The town had a sheltered port and soon became the site of docks, netsheds and a shipbuilding yard serving the fishing community. Just after 1910, Andrew Skansie, along with his brothers, worked as fishermen during the spring, summer and fall, and built boats during the winter months.

Peter Skansi, the earliest member of his family to settle in the Puget Sound region, arrived in New York, NY, in 07/1889. (He unlike his brothers, spelled his last name "Skansi" without an "e.") He lived in San Jose, CA, and Tacoma, before settling in Gig Harbor to work as a fisherman in association with another pioneering Croatian-American settler, Samuel Jerisich, Sr. (1833-1905) and his family. Peter thereafter began to establish himself in Gig Harbor, getting married in 1897 and buying the family's first parcel of land.

In addition to their fishing enterprise, the Skansie Brothers, particularly Mitchell and Joseph, developed a family boatbuilding business to serve the local purse sein fishing fleet, and were important for equipping their boats with new gasoline-powered motors of between 6 and 8 horsepower. In all, the Skansie Ship Building Company, founded in 1912, erected about 200 fishing boats, known for their high quality, that were used up and down the Pacific Coast. (See Nathan Patrick, Undergraduate History Thesis, University of Washington, Tacoma.edu, "Crafting of an American Dream: The Skansie Shipbuilding Company," published 12/14/2018, accessed 09/09/2020.) In later years, the Skansies organized a ferry boat company, the Washington Navigation Company, that at one time built and operated its own fleet in the Tacoma area.

Andrew returned to Croatia to marry Bertha Boravich (born 08/24/1883 in Dalmatia, Croatia-d. 08/14/1970 in Tacoma, WA) in 1907, but came back to Gig Harbor that year with his bride and mother, Clementina Dorotich. Andrew and Bertha had five children, two daughters and three sons: Clemantina, Jeroma, Antone, Vincent, and Peter. The three sons worked with their father in the fishing and boatbuilding businesses. Two of the brothers, Antone and Vincent, lived most of their lives in this residence, and, with the death of Vincent, in 2002, the house was sold to the City of Gig Harbor to augment a public park located adjacent to the Jerisich Public Dock.

Building Notes

Andrew Skansie erected a nethouse constructed on pilings over the shoreline and into the harbor to the north of the family house. In 2011, the house and the netshed were added to the National Register of Historic Places. A web site for the City of GIg Harbor said of the National Register addition: "October 18, 2011, Gig Harbor Wash; Mayor Chuck Hunter announced today the City of Gig Harbor has received word that the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation has listed the Andrew & Bertha Skansie Net Shed and House on the National Register of Historic Places. The Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation said “the Skansie Net shed and House are historically significant as a direct link to the Gig Harbor’s fishing industry, and for its connection to the city’s Croatian heritage of many of its earliest settlers.” The house and net shed join other state properties that exemplify the rich cultural heritage of Washington." (See City of Gig Harbor.gov, "Skansie Net Shed and Skansie House Listed on National Register of Historic Places," published 10/18/2011, accessed 09/09/2020.)

Demolition

A garage topped by a hipped roof stood behind the Skansie House, but was demolished c. 2004, to make way for a new public park shelter.