Local builder Charles Doenges built this Queen Anne cottage in July 1909 for Celia Preston as a rental property. The home’s narrow clapboard siding, shingled dormer, half-round window, and boxed bay window reflect typical stylistic details. Celia and her husband Eugene were prominent in Thompson Falls business and social circles. Celia raised five children, operated rental properties, and helped organize the Home Workers Society—the Methodist Church ladies aid group. Her husband Eugene Preston owned the lumberyard and livery stable and was influential in town affairs. Ralph H. and Lucy Bushnell were this home’s first renters. Ralph was supervisor of the Cabinet National Forest and Lucy was president of the Home Workers Society. During the 1910 “Big Burn,” Ralph directed more than four-hundred men fighting fires near Heron. Mount Bushnell, south of town, was named in his honor. In 1913, Ralph and Lucy moved to Twin Bridges. Power plant electrician John E. Tracy and his widowed mother rented the house that year. Just weeks after they moved in, John helped save the power plant from rising flood waters. He and other plant workers built a five-foot-high concrete wall and installed a sump pump to direct water away from the building. Alben and Marie Johnson and their two children lived here from 1914 until 1925. Alben held various accounting positions in Thompson Falls government, worked at the Thompson Falls Mercantile, and owned a homestead at Camas Prairie. In 1925, he became deputy state bank examiner and later became Montana’s first state controller.
]]>Thompson Falls enjoyed a growth spurt and a new sense of stability at the dawn of the twentieth century, underscored by the construction of several substantial brick buildings. Charles Weber’s general mercantile store was the town’s second building constructed of locally manufactured masonry. Built between 1900 and 1903, its dual residential/commercial function and simple design typify the utilitarian architecture of small western towns of the period. A continuous band of inlaid fleur-de-lis below the roofline supplies the only adornment. In 1906, Weber built the cold air well and storehouse at the rear of the building. It is the town’s last remaining commercial evidence of a unique natural phenomenon tapped by early settlers. In digging wells for water, currents of icy air ranging from 55 to 33 degrees Fahrenheit were discovered issuing from a porous layer of gravel at a depth of thirty to forty feet. Eventually nearly every business owner made use of this resource, building an insulated shed over a cold air shaft for the storage of perishable goods. The system worked until modern technology stepped in: backwater from the hydroelectric dam, built less than a decade later, blocked the cold air currents. From the early 1900s to 1917, Weber’s service as postmaster made the store a place visited daily. The store continued to play a key role in the economic life of the community until Weber’s death in 1940.
]]>Edward Donlan, who built this building as the Ward Hotel in 1907-1908, was significant in Thompson Falls’ history. At age twelve, the Canadian boy of Irish descent left home and went to work. Laying track south of Neihart brought him to Montana, where by 1895 he owned a saw mill in the timber camps. In the early 1900s, he extended his holdings here, with vast tracts to the west and east of town, and many town lots. He also started the Thompson Falls Mercantile Company. Politics was a second love for Donlan, elected state senator in 1902, 1906, 1910, and 1918. In his 1908 bid for governor, he lost by only 2,000 votes. He heartily joined the battle to make Thompson Falls the county seat of Sanders County, and saw a boom period ushered in with that victory. He interested investors in the Thompson Falls Power Company—owning himself several small dams on the Clark’s Fork River. In 1913-1914, he moved on to Milltown and sold much of his property here. His fortune dissipated, Donlan died in 1952.
]]>Prominent landowner and state senator Edward Donlan won a political victory in the 1906 legislature with the designation of Thompson Falls as county seat for Sanders County over the rival town of Plains. By compromise, most county posts were filled by Plains appointees, but Donlan donated his own land for the new county courthouse and jail. The two-story Italianate style jail was built in 1907 by contractors Christian and Gobelet at a cost of $5,000. It is Thompson Falls’ oldest surviving county building. The structure was originally divided into incarceration cells on the second level and living quarters for the sheriff and his family on the first, with separate entrances for each level. The Paully Jail Company of St. Louis installed the four cells, each designed to hold four individuals. One cell, separated from the others, was for women and children detainees. Steel bars fastened by beams to a concrete floor and cement ceiling assured strict security within the cell room, while an eighteen-inch solid brick wall with steel door and locks isolated it from the stairway entrance. Though steel bars have been recently added to the downstairs windows, the building retains its 1907 appearance and is a fine example of a combination jail/sheriff’s residence of the period.
]]>The construction of Thompson Falls’ hydroelectric plant in 1911 fostered a period of increased growth between 1911 and 1914. In 1912, the U.S. Forest Service expanded its operations here, Thompson Falls’ post office received official government designation, and residents signed up for electrical service. Amidst all this excitement, the town took on a new appearance. Quality homes were built, according to the Sanders County Ledger, that were “…not the ordinary kind.” The Norby House is one of these quality homes built in 1912. Probably constructed by prolific local builder Charles Doenges, it is one of five remarkably similar Thompson Falls residences. The builder followed Bungalow style plans from a pattern book, adding features to make the home unique. A full-width engaged porch was incorporated into the basic design and the unusual, yet functional placement of the home is square to the cardinal points of the compass. This position, combined with extended eaves and careful window placement, allows the naturally well-lighted rooms to be cool in summer and warm in winter. Built for physician J. B. Norby in 1912, the charming wood-frame residence today retains its historic appearance. Leaded glass, window seats, and high ceilings within reveal quality craftsmanship and meticulous attention to detail.
]]>On Christmas Day of 1914 the Sanders County Ledger reported that “…no town in western Montana … has advanced with the same rapid strides as Thompson Falls.” Indeed, the town possessed all the modern trappings: new streetlights illuminated the courthouse, the Mountain State Telephone Company provided phone service, and a skating rink and two motion picture theaters had recently opened. That same year successful businessman Randolph Hoyt, co-proprietor of the Thompson and Ward Hotels, had this spacious Bungalow style home built. The residence was likely designed by prolific builder Charles Doenges, although he left the community after 1913. Doenges’ pattern book Bungalows distinctly mark the town’s residential neighborhoods; Hoyt’s residence was the last of a series of such dwellings built within the city limits. The lovely wood-frame home features a full-width porch supported by square columns, narrow clapboard siding, and a hipped roof with exposed rafter ends typical of the style. The bay window is an adaptation of a Victorian period motif and clearly demonstrates Doenges' influence. Beautiful leaded glass windows complete this charming portrait of early-twentieth-century elegance in a progressive western town.
]]>The U.S. Forest Service sent Claude W. Griffen to Thompson Falls in 1911 to head its expanding local operations. Griffen held the position of Supervisor to the Cabinet National Forest until 1816-1917. In 1912, respected local contractor/carpenter Walter McCurdy, who also served as an alderman for the district, built this Bungalow style home for the Griffen family. Like his fellow carpenter/contractors of the period in Thompson Falls, McCurdy drew his plans from a pattern book, utilizing the characteristics of this enormously popular style: oversized brackets under a gable roof, exposed rafter ends, full-width front porch, narrow lap siding, and wood shingles. The interior boasts high ceilings, built-in cabinets with leaded glass, interior double doors, and a window seat. These elegant touches reveal McCurdy’s fine craftsmanship and Griffen’s discriminating taste. The residence remained in the Griffen family until 1942 when it was purchased by Orin Kendall. Kendall served as Sanders County Superintendent of Schools from 1946 to 1968, in the state legislature, and as mayor of Thompson Falls. A few additions and changes have slightly altered its 1912 appearance, but this appealing home is today one of Thompson Falls’ best-preserved examples of early-twentieth-century residential construction.
]]>The beginning of the twentieth century brought a new and conscious emphasis on natural surroundings, which found architectural expression through the Bungalow style. The Bedard House, built by Charles Wicksell and Ecton Browne from a pattern book design in 1912, is an excellent example of that form. The broad hipped roof combined with narrow lap siding creates the Bungalow’s characteristic low, horizontal lines. The horizontal emphasis and full-width open-air porch, originally of wood, communicate simplicity and harmony with the environment. Indeed, the home beautifully fulfills the general stylistic requirement that the Bungalow “sing into and blend with” the landscape. A bay window, corbelled chimney, three hip-roofed dormers with leaded glass windows, and window boxes illustrate the builders’ excellent craftsmanship and freedom to individualize the pattern design. First owner Thomas Bedard, vice president of both the Thompson Falls Mercantile and the Thompson State Bank, resided here until 1926. Henry Larson, new part-owner of the Thompson Falls Mercantile (later Larson and Green), purchased the home in 1935 and remained here until the long-established store burned in 1968. Except for the brick replacements to the porch, this lovely home appears today much as it did in 1912, a charming and significant part of the neighborhood.
]]>In 1910, the newly incorporated town of Thompson Falls was shedding its frontier image. That year saw the organization of local power and water companies, the opening of a public library, and the construction of the town’s first Bungalow style residences. These fine new homes, proclaimed a “credit to Missoula or Spokane,” added a new dimension to the architectural landscape. One outstanding example is this 1910 carpenter-built Bungalow style home constructed from a pattern book for prominent attorney Auburn S. Ainsworth. Square columns, a full-width front porch, over-scaled wooden brackets, wide overhanging eaves, and a slight flair at the foundation reflect elements of the style. A white quartz mantle flanked by glassed-in cabinets, stained and leaded glass cabinets built into columns separating the music and living rooms, and built-in window seats reveal exquisite interior finishing. This stylish dwelling, which once boasted a fountain on the broad front lawn, well reflects the wealth of its first owner. A very shrewd and clever lawyer, Ainsworth long served as town attorney and argued some notorious cases. He once persuaded a client accused of murder to be a horse and cavort on the lawn of the old County Building. The ruse worked and the client was declared insane.
]]>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.
]]>Thompson Falls was on the brink of intense development when local druggist and physician Dr. Everett Peek built the region’s first substantial medical facility. Its original twenty rooms accommodated Peek’s hospital and briefly served as a residence. After completion of the hydroelectric dam project, Peek moved to Missoula and the Montana Power Company eventually acquired the building. After 1927, a three-story back wing and second-story wraparound porch were removed, leaving seven of the original rooms. Now a private residence, the front façade appears much as it did in 1910. Tuscan columns and turned wooden posts grace the porch while lovely stained and diamond-patterned leaded glass windows add elegance to this significant architectural landmark.
]]>Missoula senator Edward Donlan, Dr. Everett Peek, and Arthur Preston organized the Thompson Falls Light and Power Company in 1910 to develop electricity for the community and promote the concept of a hydroelectric power station. The monumental project promised progress and opportunity for the little frontier town along the riverbank. In anticipation, Dr. Peek built a hospital near the proposed power plant site. In 1911, the county erected two steel bridges across the Clark Fork River retiring the old cable-drawn ferry. The Thompson Falls Power Company constructed a small plant to service the community and the project itself. The town bustled, construction boomed, and a glorious future seemed inevitable. The Ledger confidently predicted lucrative future projects. By 1916, the main and dry channel dams, power house, and superintendent’s house were among some thirty project structures sprawled along the riverbank. By 1917, the plant supplied 30,000 kilowatts of electricity to the region, crossing into Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. Technology loomed downriver in the huge dam. But after World War I no more major projects boosted the local economy, and men like Donlan and Peek “…who had championed those ideas had already left town to find that dream some other place.” The power company dismantled all but a few of the project buildings, leaving Thompson Falls to survive on its own. Today the remaining structures represent the community’s early development, providing an excellent example of early-twentieth-century hydroelectric technology.
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