This Queen Anne style home was built by the widowed Emma Durant Lane at a cost of $2,000. Emma Lane and her elderly parents, Bryant and Jerusha Durant, moved here when the house was completed in 1898. Mrs. Lane was a teacher in St. Charles during this time. She was born and raised in what today is known as the Durant-Peterson home.

Following the death of her parents, Mrs. Lane took in boarders. Eventually, in 1902, she sold the house to Dr. and Mrs. Hawkins, two of her boarders, for $2,800. In 1907, the house was sold to Otto T. Frellsen for $3,200. The house stayed in the Frellsen family until 1984, when the current owners, Steve and Mary Ann Smunt, bought it.

Over the years, the original characteristics of the Queen Anne style had all but disappeared. The whole house had been covered with plain white asbestos siding and the decorative window surrounds and wood turnings on the exterior remained hidden under many layers of white paint. Soon after the Smunts moved in they took on the task of renovating the house. Today, the Lane House stands restored to its original glory.