The local hot springs had been a business enterprise for almost a decade when in 1880 brothers William H. and Robert N. Sutherlin moved their newspaper, the Rocky Mountain Husbandman, from the waning gold camp at Diamond City to the promising town of White Sulphur Springs. The brothers purchased property from Dr. William Parberry, built this combination business and residential block as an investment, and the commercial district quickly grew around it. Soon the town boasted daily stages to Helena, two doctors, a school, and some twenty businesses. James MacDonald set up a harness shop and saddlery here, purchasing the building in 1884 for eight hundred dollars. After the turn of the twentieth century, harness maker William Wellman continued the leather business, buying the building in 1907. Wellman, a longtime resident who settled here in the mid 1880s, remodeled the building’s façade in 1911 after a disastrous downtown fire. A fashionable pressed metal cornice with nameplate and spacious display windows added new vitality to the town landmark. In 1936, Robert Gordon, son of African-American parents who settled here in the 1880s, inherited the building. Robert’s brother, noted gospel singer and author Immanuel “Taylor” Gordon, operated an antique store and managed the second-floor apartments. Between 1938 and 1954 the building also housed the local post office. Now returned to its former use as a saddlery and beautifully refurbished, the Wellman Block, with its arched windows and decorative false front, is a stylish example of small-town Western Commercial architecture.
]]>Dr. William Parberry, who constructed this two-story business block in 1891, was one of White Sulphur Springs’ founders and biggest boosters. The Parberry Block East’s upper story features many Romanesque Revival elements including rounded arches over the windows, intricate stone panel insets within the arches, rough-cut sandstone capitals and lintels, and a decorative pressed-iron pediment. Frontier communities mimicked the Romanesque Revival style for its suggestion of permanence. By incorporating elements from this architectural style, Parberry asserted his belief that this small startup community would prosper for centuries, just as had the buildings of eleventh- and twelfth-century Europe. The first story features plate-glass display windows set in cast-iron frames. Commercial storefronts in larger communities commonly featured large display windows to attract shoppers, but their appearance here is remarkable because the glass likely was transported by ox-drawn wagons from the nearest railhead, forty miles away. In 1893, during a nationwide depression, Parberry’s expectations for the town received a setback. That year, the U.S. government stopped purchasing silver to mint coins, causing the area’s silver mines to close and White Sulphur Springs’ population to fall. Nonetheless, this well-constructed building seldom lacked for tenants. George and Jesse Wiltse opened the first of several clothing stores to occupy the east storefront; their painted business sign is still visible on the east elevation. The west storefront housed various other businesses, including the city’s first major grocery store. Upstairs offered residential rooms and professional offices, including those of the city’s first telephone exchange.
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