Between 1906 and 1916 the Northern Pacific Railroad expanded rapidly in Missoula, attracting hundreds of new workers. In response, investors constructed rental homes and boardinghouses near the tracks. Irish boardinghouse owner and real estate investor Rose (Fergus) Merrick built this worker’s cottage circa 1911. The well-preserved hipped (pyramid) roof home and its nearly identical neighbors exemplify typical early-twentieth-century worker housing. Many railroad workers and their families rented the home, including a fireman and an engineer. Rose owned multiple properties and was among many widowed and divorced women who made their living from rental housing. After her fourth marriage ended in divorce, she married Northern Pacific depot master Martin Merrick in 1910. He filed for divorce in 1912, and Rose sued for alimony, claiming he married her to gain access to her rental properties. Ultimately, Rose dropped the alimony suit, a judge granted the divorce, and Rose kept her properties. When she died in 1922, Rose left her real estate, valued at $26,000 (approximately $918,000 in 2026 dollars), to her niece, Kate Sharpe, who leased the home to tenants until 1950.
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