It is a rare surviving example of a pest house, a common public health strategy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where people with contagious diseases were isolated.

[2] The original three-room Pest House has been converted into a private residence, with the addition of a porch on the southeast and a rear wing to the northwest.

Thus the following year the city purchased a property on a hill outside town, on which was built the Pest House.

It primarily served to isolate victims of smallpox, but also saw cases of scarlet fever, typhoid, and diphtheria.

Stillwater ceased use of the Pest House in 1910, as hospitals were assuming the role of treating contagious diseases.