The Classical Revival style is grandly expressed in this exemplary residence of high-fired tan brick, built between 1916 and 1920. A symmetrical façade with central porch, double entry doors, square brick columns, and a central gable over an extended bay achieve the rich harmony characteristic of this elegant, dignified style. The original owner was James Heslet, a longtime employee of copper king W. A. Clark. Heslet began his career as a teller with the Clark and Larabie Bank in 1889. By 1900, he had worked his way up to the prestigious position of assistant cashier with W. A. Clark & Bro. Bankers. Heslet remained thus employed until the mid-1930s when both he and his wife, Cora, were trustees for the Paul Clark Home. A butler’s pantry and servants’ quarters equipped with a call box to the dining room are evidence of the Heslets’ social status. The yard, of unusual size by Butte standards, is enclosed by a handsome wall of porphyry crowned with an iron railing.
]]>E. H. Johnson, state legislator and Miles City’s first mayor, built this impressive modified Queen Anne style home in 1887. Attributed to Miles City architect Byron Vreeland, the irregular plan originally featured an elaborate arched porch and an elliptical bay capped by a conical roof. Rancher William Harmon, the home’s second owner, built the carriage house in 1891. Third owner Senator Kenneth McLean, following current architectural trends, added Neo-classical details and a wraparound veranda between 1903 and 1910. Ella M. and David G. Rivenes purchased the property in 1962.
]]>Butte’s burgeoning professional class sought refuge from the clamor and pollution of the mine yards, making the Northwest-Big Butte neighborhood their home. This Queen Anne “Free Classic” style cottage was likely one of fifty homes built during Caledonia Street’s 1905 building boom. The steep gable-on-hipped roof and heavy moldings in the gable ends reflect America’s fascination with classical architecture. Boston and Montana mine superintendent John C. Adams was the first resident in 1905, followed by his assistant George McGee in 1906. Both men were embroiled in F. Augustus Heinze’s war with Amalgamated Copper. When Heinze sold the bulk of his Butte holdings in 1906, McGee moved to Fergus County. Real estate entrepreneur Charles Jackman and his wife Kate bought the home in 1907. As chairman of the police trial board, Charles played a key role in Mayor W. T. Stodden’s police reform initiative. In 1935, he became the Butte city librarian. Kate was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Foreign Missionary Society. She also hosted the Westside Shakespeare Club, a women’s club dedicated to the study of literature, art, and science.
]]>Built in 1915, this Craftsman style residence was the longtime home of Ray and Olga Wise. Craftsman homes featured varied, natural materials and subtle detailing, seen here in the narrow clapboard and shingle siding, triangular brackets, exposed rafter tails, and checkerboard step risers. An open front porch included in the home’s main footprint reinforces the style’s goal of bridging the natural and domestic worlds. A talented bridge player, Olga raised three children here. Ray spent his career at the Billings Brewery, becoming secretary/treasurer in 1908. The manufacturer of “The Beer that Makes Milwaukee Jealous,” the brewery poured a reported $12,000 worth of product into the gutter in 1919, at the start of Prohibition. It survived the 1920s as “Advance Manufacturing,” bottling “Top Notch, A Modern Beverage,” which it promoted as “mildly stimulating without the aid of alcoholic properties.” After Prohibition ended in 1933, the brewery took back its old name, and once again began manufacturing Old Fashion Beer, “a food to tired, weak, overwrought nerves.” Ray worked at Billings Brewery until his death in 1945 at fifty-eight. Olga remained in residence until 1950.
]]>Not long after Lester and Mabel Punch moved to Billings in 1919, they purchased this house in the growing North Elevation subdivision. Although it now has modern windows and siding, the home’s open porch, tapered porch columns, and decorative braces under wide, overhanging eaves still recall the 1910s and the era’s popular Craftsman style. The manager of the Foley Brothers Grocery, Lester made a large impact on civic life. During his seven years in Billings, he served as president of the Kiwanis Club and a member of the Billings Park Board; he also “played a prominent part in the work of the YMCA and Commercial club and [other] kindred activities....” The Punches sold their home to Arnold Rich. The automobile dealer lived here until 1932 with wife Stella, two daughters, and sister Pauline, who worked as a librarian at the nearby normal school (now MSU-B). Later occupants included county extension agent Bruce McKee and his wife Mabel and store clerk Laura Lemmer and her son, William, who worked as a printer for the Gazette.
]]>John Duthie, a civil engineer and recent graduate of the School of Mines, and his wife of two years, Pearl Kennedy Duthie, moved into this newly constructed home in 1907. The house featured many Craftsman style elements: a low-pitched roof with large overhanging eaves, exposed rafter tails, a ribbon of multi-paned windows, and natural wooden shingles. The prominent hexagonal front bay and mixture of wall textures are more commonly found in Queen Anne style homes. By 1910, the couple had moved to Libby, and English immigrants Wilford and Miriam Holman had purchased the residence, where Miriam raised three children. William worked as a machinist but was better known as the director of the Boston and Montana Band during the temporary absence of band founder Sam Treloar. The band played for huge crowds and won national acclaim and praise from noted composer John Philip Sousa. Its members all worked for the mines. When England declared war against Germany in 1914, Holman enlisted. He left Butte to serve on the British repair ship the HMS Cyclops.
]]>Prominent contractor Charles Doenges built this delightful Bungalow style dwelling in 1922 during a housing shortage related to the building of Thompson Falls’ hydroelectric dam. The home was one of several rental properties built and maintained by Doenges at that time. The first occupant was Irving E. Keith, bookkeeper for the Thompson Falls Mercantile. In 1913, Keith purchased the home from Doenges and remained here until 1922. In Thompson Falls the popularity of the Bungalow style, a descendant of the Queen Anne cottage with Craftsman elements, was largely promoted by Doenges, who added at least seventeen homes to the town’s streetscapes between 1905 and 1913. Five of these are nearly identical pattern book Bungalows, but each has its own personality. Bungalow characteristics include a full-width porch with battered (sloping) columns and solid railing, narrow lap siding, and a hipped roof with exposed rafter ends. Typical of Doenges’ fine craftsmanship and eye for elegance, this small but lovely home features multi-paned windows and an east side window seat, whose four windows have thirteen panes each. An interesting highlight is a stained glass window with the inverted image of two candles, three bells, and a ribbon. The exact window appears on this home’s near twin, but the motif is not inverted.
]]>Before his death in 1896, pioneering Jewish businessman William Weinstein owned many lots, including this one, in Philipsburg. By 1902, his daughter Alice Weinstein Hannah owned the property and the one-story wooden dwelling that stood on the site, which she undoubtedly rented to local miners and their families. She sold the home in 1913 to Missoula resident Leanorah Damuth. Damuth lost the property for back taxes in 1923, and in 1927 Louada Smith purchased the lots and all improvements for $248.75. A divorced mother of four, Louada married miner John Flascher the following year. Soon thereafter, the family built this one-and-one-half-story, gable-front home, valued in 1930 at $2,400. The home originally sported full-width front and rear porches, both of which were later enclosed.
]]>Alice Bell lived in this cross-gable residence for over fifty years. She and husband Frank moved here with their two young children in 1914. Narrow clapboard siding, gable-end returns, and multi-paned windows give the home an understated elegance. Frank was a prominent dentist, who brought the first electric drill to Billings. However, he was even better known as a pilot. After attending flight school and earning his pilot’s license in San Diego, he returned to Billings with his own airplane. Eight thousand spectators—some of whom arrived in Billings on special excursion trains from Red Lodge and Lewistown—gathered to watch Dr. Bell’s aerial display on May 30, 1913. Bell flew from Billings to Laurel and then to Park City, the longest flight in Montana at the time. Artist J. K. Rolston commemorated Bell’s flight in a 1958 mural, which remains on display in the Billings airport. The Bells clearly loved the home and the neighborhood. Son Norman, who joined his father’s dentistry practice, purchased a house just down the street in 1939.
]]>One of only a few Colonial Revival style homes in the historic district, this side-gable, two-story residence dates to circa 1913. Clapboard siding, a centered entry, windows with shutters, and an enclosed side porch are Colonial Revival style hallmarks. Queen Anne style spindles encircle the porch and square columns with Italianate-inspired brackets support the front entry, illustrating the eclectic mix of architectural elements common in the early 1900s. The first documented residents were the William and Laura Lawson family. William pioneered Montana’s sugar beet industry, managing the Billings Sugar Company. He later was vice president of the Colorado-based Holly Sugar Company. The Lawsons hosted many parties and were avid bridge players. By 1930, Peter and Beulah Rowan owned the home. Peter was the owner of the Billings Chrysler-Plymouth dealership and very involved in civic affairs. He was a director of the Deaconess Hospital, a twenty-five-year member of the YMCA board, helped found the Billings Community Concert Association, and was a longtime member of the Kiwanis Club and Chamber of Commerce. The Rowan family retained ownership until the 1980s.
]]>Expansion of the railroad after the turn of the twentieth century brought many new residents to Urlin’s Addition on Missoula’s Northside. Rental housing such as this one-story Pyramid Cottage style residence, constructed circa 1907 and originally owned by the Missoula Real Estate Association, provided comfortable living quarters convenient to the railyards. Like its neighbors to the north and south, simple stylistic features include a hipped pyramidal roof and west-facing porch. Northern Pacific car repairman Robert MacLean and his wife, Marion, were the first known residents in a long line of railroad-employed tenants. In 1920, Swedish immigrant Otto Meyer, his wife Inga, and their two children rented the home. Meyer was brakeman with the Northern Pacific. During the 1940s, Northern Pacific laborer Henry Kuntz and his family rented the home. The Kuntz family broke the rental pattern by purchasing the property in 1947 and lived here until 1973.
]]>Young middle-class professional families flocked to the North Elevation neighborhood after 1905 in search of modern homes in a quiet suburban setting. Rows of welcoming Craftsman bungalows with wide front porches and simple decorative details like knee braces and exposed rafter tails in the eaves became the dominant neighborhood style. Railway mail service clerk Harold Madson and his wife Winnifred, a former librarian, lived here between 1909 and 1922. By 1930, bridge engineer Frank Robbins and wife Gladys, a stenographer, lived here with their two boys and a teenage maid. A third boy was born in 1934. Frank lost an arm in a bridge construction accident in 1925, but he continued to work for the Montana Highway Commission for many years. In her spare time, Gladys organized study groups on liberal arts topics for the local Delphian Society’s Delta chapter, a national organization that promoted the education of women. Through many owners, the home has retained its original character and remains a fine example of the Craftsman style.
]]>Realtor and home builder Charles Passmore, who sold houses on “easy installments,” built this Queen Anne style cottage at the turn of the twentieth century. Brick veneer, fish-scale shingles, and turned porch supports ornament the four-room house, advertised as “warm and light,” “modern” (meaning it had indoor plumbing), and with a “fine lawn and garden.” Early owner James Tretheway, who worked for the Anaconda Company as a miner, and later as a surface boss, sued the city twice for damages relating to flooding. The second time, in 1909, he claimed that his lot became a reservoir in rainy weather because of the way the street department had filled in and regraded Antimony. In 1910, he rented the house to Albert Stephens, a blacksmith at the mines, who lived here with his wife Annie and their six living children, ages seven to nineteen. Clerk at the Montana Hardware Company William Wragg and his wife Elizabeth purchased the home by 1914. Elizabeth was an active Daughters of the American Revolution member and regularly hosted cottage prayer meetings here for the First Presbyterian Church.
]]>Dubbed one of Billings’ “pioneer building contractors,” Emanuel Lindstrom waited until age thirty-eight to marry twenty-two-year-old Radina Holen, a fellow immigrant from Norway. In 1913, the Lindstroms moved into this Prairie style residence, where they raised three children. The two-story American Foursquare home features restrained geometric ornamentation, a hipped roof with extended eaves and a central attic dormer, and a wraparound front porch, enclosed sometime after 1958. Between 1912 and 1923, the Lindstroms added a two-car garage, a reflection of the growing importance of automobiles to North Elevation homeowners. Home prices suffered during the Great Depression and the residence, valued at $10,000 in 1930, was worth only $6,500 in 1940. Benjamin Harwood purchased the residence from the Lindstroms in 1937, just a year after Benjamin was first elected district judge. A dedicated jurist, Ben was also interested in aviation. A World War I pilot wounded in France, he was instrumental in developing the Billings airport as chairman of the airport commission. He and his wife Nina lived here until 1971.
]]>Deed records indicate that a Knights of Labor Hall stood here by 1887. Open to both skilled and unskilled workers, the Knights helped found the 1886 Silver Bow Trades and Labor Assembly. The influential organization advocated for an eight-hour day; it also organized against Chinese immigration and businesses that employed Chinese workers. A one-story brick building replaced the earlier structure sometime between 1888 and 1890. By 1897, that brick building had become home to carpenter George Selfridge and his wife Elvira. The Selfridges shared their home with their children, including son Bert (a machinist) and daughter Gertie (a seamstress). Both children contributed to the family economy by paying room and board. Sometime before 1916 owners added a small rear addition and a second story with a large front porch tucked underneath. By 1920, Irish-born Dan Holland had purchased the enlarged residence. A time keeper for various mines before becoming chief deputy county clerk and recorder, Holland lived here with his wife, Bridget, their four children, and two widowed roomers, both of whom worked as clerks at the nearby Depot News Stand.
]]>Local physician Dr. Samuel Souders owned this commercial lot in 1909, when Dan Davis, an advocate for the construction of a fancy opera house, proposed it for the construction of his vision. The newspapers reported weekly for several months on Davis’ progress toward securing financial backing, but it was not until 1920 that the fabulous Theatorium was finally constructed elsewhere at 11th and Platt Street. Jeweler A. H. Davis purchased the lot from Souders as an investment in 1910, constructing the present building four years later. The one-story masonry building, which originally housed a dry goods store, features brick piers with recessed panels and a glass block and tile transom spanning the front façade.
]]>William and Ellen Burt owned this L-shaped residence free and clear in 1920, but not the ground upon which it sat. As with many Centerville homes, the Anaconda Company kept ownership of the land, retaining the right to extract or explore for ore “in, on, or beneath the surface of the Property.” Understandably, Centerville homeowners tended to build functional, no-frill houses; leases like this one provided a disincentive to invest heavily in a home. The threat of eviction was real as residents of nearby Meaderville learned when the Berkeley Pit swallowed their neighborhood in the 1960s. Yet, despite the implied impermanence, Centerville was a congenial place for families like the Burts, who wanted affordable, single-family dwellings, compatible neighbors, and easy access to work in the mines. William and Ellen Burt, who emigrated from England in 1908, would have felt particularly welcomed by Centerville’s large Cornish population. And the streetcars that passed their house every twenty minutes provided William with reliable transportation when he was not working at one of the mines in walking distance.
]]>Contractor John Holm constructed this small two-story building for the Dion family in 1929 after he had remodeled the Dion Block on one side and built the J.C. Penney Building on the other. This final addition to the five-building Dion Block shares walls with both its neighbors. The simple design is an excellent expression of the more subdued commercial styles of this later period and complements the architecture of its neighbors. Holm, who came to Glendive in 1906 from Norway, contributed substantially over several decades to the local residential and commercial streetscapes. Harold Wester’s electrical contracting business and appliance outlet was one of the first main-floor tenants, followed by Prefer Millinery in the 1930s. Dr. A. A. Baker, a former Glendive mayor and state senator, practiced general dentistry upstairs. Over the years, the Dions modernized their five buildings. Improvements have included new electrical, heating, and air conditioning systems. An addition with a basement enlarged this building in 1970.
]]>A gable-topped polygonal bay and small porch add charm to this brick hip-roofed cottage. Built in 1912, it was home to English (undoubtedly Cornish) miner Edward Dower and his wife Clara in the 1910s. The Gilmore family occupied the house by 1923, and members of the family continued to live here until 1992. A miner and then a janitor at the Hennessy building, Martin Gilmore emigrated from Ireland in 1891. He and his wife, Mary, also from Ireland, raised seven children in this house. A religious and close-knit family (five of the Gilmores’ adult children shared their home in 1940), the Gilmores were also clearly passionate about education. Most of the Gilmore children attended college; some received advanced degrees. In 1940, daughters Gertrude, Florence, and Marjorie were teachers, and daughter Dorothy worked as a laboratory technician. Their sons were also successful: Martin Jr. became a doctor; Emmett served as an officer in the Marine Corps; and Edward, ordained a Catholic priest in 1931, was elevated to monsignor in 1958.
]]>The Empire Land Company constructed many of Judith Place’s most fashionable residences, including this one-and-one-half-story Craftsman style home circa 1914. Reflecting the Progressive Era’s emphasis on efficiency, the company adopted the relatively new “systems approach” to building, which used standard-sized studs and joists to expedite construction. Advertising themselves as “Lewistown’s Home Builders,” the Empire Land Company promised to “furnish plans, use first class materials and guarantee workmanship.” Despite its commitment to standardization, the company varied details to give each home an individual flare. In the case of this house, a full-length porch tucked under the upper attic story, exposed rafter tails, a W-truss tracery, and decorative barge boards distinguish the exterior. Attorney W. R. Kirk briefly owned the home before selling it in 1916 to Charles and Daisy McClave. The McClaves lived here with their two children, a maid, and Daisy’s mother through the early 1920s. The now defunct town of McClave was named for Charles, who served as president and manager of Montana Flour Mills. His company’s slogan, “It’s the wheat,” reflected his connection to area farms.
]]>By 1884, a barbershop and restaurant occupied a one-story frame building on this lot. Fire destroyed much of Main Street in 1886, but owner Frederick Wright quickly rebuilt, again of wood. Saloons, restaurants, and barbershops remained the primary tenants. In 1898, Wright sold the building to C. S. Hefferlin. Hefferlin, who arrived in Livingston in 1883 to work as head ticket agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad, was responsible for the construction of at least a dozen of Livingston’s brick commercial buildings. Around 1915, perhaps to rid the block of one of its last wooden structures, he transformed the building into a restrained one-story brick business block. He also added a rear addition. An expanse of brick with two recessed panels separates the plate-glass windows from the cornice, providing a place for advertising and making the façade look larger than it would otherwise. The building continued to house two storefronts into the 1970s. As late as 1942, the barbershop in the left half of the building offered baths, a common service before indoor plumbing was universal. Restaurants and cafes primarily occupied the other storefront.
]]>Benjamin Mahan, pioneer businessman and respected Deer Lodge County Commissioner, opened his first paint and wallpaper store on Main Street in 1885. He later moved to this one-story brick building in April 1916. The store’s distinctive buff-colored brick combined with the contrasting white brick panel in the parapet wall made the small store stand out amongst its older red brick neighbors. Mahan’s store was Anaconda’s source for everything from paint and wallpaper to auto body paint, picture frames, and small appliances. By the mid-1920s, the store sold battery-powered radios and later offered in-home installation when corded (electric) radios were new technology. Mahan died in 1928, but his son-in-law, Fraser Smith, operated the store here until 1938. That year, dentists Earl Turton and Wilbur Beal opened their offices in the front, while the Works Progress Administration (WPA), operated a mattress factory in the rear. This Great Depression-era government relief program made use of surplus cotton and trained jobless men and women to sew mattresses. The Anaconda factory, along with one in Great Falls, made 10,000 mattresses for the needy by 1940.
]]>Noted Billings architect J. G. Link designed this two-story residence circa 1921. It is one of only four architect-designed homes in the North Elevation Historic District. A classic American Foursquare, or “Prairie Box,” the house features a symmetrical façade, low-hipped roof, wide overhanging eaves, a full-width, hipped-roof porch, and horizontal accents. The walls are clad in stucco, a fashionable and modern material in the 1920s. Many Prairie Box designs incorporated secondary details from other styles. Link used blonde brick to create quoins (corner accents) and the home originally featured a tile roof, details common to the Italian Renaissance and Mission styles respectively. A tuck-under garage accessed from the back of the house answered the needs of the modern age while maintaining a front façade that complemented the block’s other homes. Attorney Manton Lamb and his wife Opal, an active club woman, purchased the house by 1921. Opal sold the home in 1949. The longest resident was avid gardener Edith Yapuncich, who lived here with husband John, a chemist, and their nine children. Edith was in residence from 1955 to 2003.
]]>Built in 1915 at the height of Craftsman style popularity, this two-story home features the style’s characteristic exposed rafter tails and inviting front porch. Less typical is the way the porch extended over the driveway to create a sheltered place to park. The home also had a one-car garage facing the alley, a common amenity in Billings’ first automobile suburb. William and Olive Ladd and their two children lived here by 1917. A grain broker who advertised that he would “pay the high dollar” for carload lots of “wheat, beans, and hay,” William participated in Billings’ booming commodities market. In the 1920s, building and loan manager Joseph McMahon and his wife Catherine purchased the home, where they lived with their seven children. The McMahons were committed and active Catholics. Catherine helped organize fundraisers for Catholic orphanages and St. Vincent’s Orthopedic Hospital, while Joseph was a state-wide leader with the Knights of Columbus. Their fashionable home bustled with social activities—from bridge parties to progressive dinners. In the early 1940s, this was the childhood home of John Bohlinger, Montana’s twenty-ninth lieutenant governor.
]]>