The following is from an article at the Des Moines Historical Society. The building was demolished by the City in 2022 and replaced by Sound View Park.
Van Gasken House
402 S. 222nd St.
This house overlooking Puget Sound was built in 1889 for Capt. William D. Fleming and his wife Jane. Jane, a widow with 2 children, met and married Capt. Fleming in Liverpool, England. The Fleming’s had moved to Oakland, California and Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho before settling in Des Moines.
When Mr. Fleming died Jane’s daughter, Emma, and son-in-law, William Van Gasken moved in with Mrs. Fleming. Jane Fleming died in the family home in 1919.
The Van Gasken’s were among the first permanent residents of Des Moines. A 15 year-old schoolteacher in Delaware, Mr. Van Gasken worked his way west as a camp cook. In the winter of 1886-1887 he traveled to Alaska hoping to better himself. When returning from Juneau he met his soon to be wife, Emma Rebecca Shaw. She was an English born passenger-guest on her brother’s schooner the George W. Elder. The couple married on December 4, 1888 and in 1889 moved to Des Moines to operate a lumber mill. Mr. Van Gasken operated his saw mill on Des Moines Creek from 1889 to 1892. The two moved to Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho to run Kootenai Trading Company until 1910. They returned to Des Moines in 1910 with their children (sons-Pullman, Jack, Mark E. and daughter-Harriette) and spent their lives as active members of the community. Emma passed away, a resident of Des Moines, in 1958. Their son Mark E. Van Gasken married a local girl, Gladys Case, and their son, Mark W., was the Mt. Rainier Senior High band director from 1964-1981. The house remains in the family through Harriett Bray-Peterson.”