Two residences have occupied this site since John Fogarty, an engineer and partner in one of early Mandan's largest construction firms, purchased the property from the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1882. William and Mary Sullivan built the first house in 1883. William Sullivan coordinated bridge construction for the railroad.
Lyman and Anna Cary purchased the house in 1889. Cary arrived in Mandan in 1881 and served as the Northern Pacific Railroad's land agent from the Missouri River to the Montana line. He reportedly still holds North Dakota's record for the most land-sale transactions and also developed major portions of downtown Mandan. Anna was the daughter of James Clark, an early Mandan pharmacist and founder of Mandan Drug Store.
At Anna's request, Cary moved the first house to the 300 block of North Third Avenue, across from First Presbyterian Church, so she could participate more readily in church activities. Stuart Dunlap, a Northern Pacific Railway conductor, built the present house in 1904. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 as the Stuart Dunlap Home. Its original address was 201 Mitchell Avenue.
Stuart and Martha Dunlap lived there for more than ten years with their six children and household staff. Servants' quarters on the second floor had a separate staircase to the kitchen and pantry. Dunlap, the son of Massachusetts furniture makers who later moved to Wisconsin, originally built a rectangular porch around the southern and eastern sides. After seeing a similar design at the 1904 World's Fair, he remodeled it with the present sweeping, rounded corner.
Cora Walton Russell, wife of Mandan Creamery and Produce Company founder Hoy Russell, lived in the house from 1923 to 1971. The historic photograph dates from her residency and shows the windmill that powered a pump supplying an upstairs water tank. The 1903 Mandan Public School appears in the background.
Mandan native Mary Broderick-Harris later owned the house and called it Tara. The residence is a well-preserved example of Queen Anne architecture and is furnished in period style. The adjacent two-story, shingle-style wooden carriage house also remains largely original, including its second-floor hayloft.