Charles H. Burwell became manager of the Minnetonka Mill Company in 1874. In 1876, the widower, who had two children, Anna and George, married his second wife, Mary Carey Dunham, and they later had two children, Louise and Loring Dunham Burwell. By 1883, the family had outgrown its quarters at the Minnetonka Hotel, and Charles paid the Minnetonka Mill Company $1,000 for the land where this house was built. The home was completed that fall at a total cost of $3,260. Built in the Italian Villa style from a plan in Palliser's American Cottage Homes catalog, it featured elaborate wooden scrollwork. A summer kitchen was added in 1892, the front porch was enlarged between 1898 and 1906, plumbing was added in 1914, and electricity was added in 1924. The house preserves the Burwell family's life in 1894, reflecting Charles Burwell's involvement with milling, and it was restored to that year while preserving as much historic fabric as possible. Charles Burwell died in 1917, Mary Burwell died in 1933, and Louise lived in the home until 1958, when she sold it to the William Smith family.