The house was built in 1860-1866 for J. N. Lanom.[2] A year after the end of the American Civil War of 1861–1865, in 1866, the house was purchased by Moses E. Senter, who served as Humboldt's mayor from 1866 to 1869.[2] Senter was also the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Humbold until he became a Freemason in 1873.[2]
The house was purchased by Charles Wesley Rooks, a newspaper publisher and state senator, in 1917.[2] He served as the president of the Savings and Loan Association of Humboldt from 1938 to 1946.[2] He lived in the house with his wife, Kate Senter, who was Moses E. Senter's granddaughter.[2] It was owned by their daughter, Bessie Rooks Fitzgerald, from 1946 to 1976, when it was purchased by their grandson, Dr. Charles Couch.[2]