{"id":480,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:40:07","latitude":48.1927856999999875142748351208865642547607421875,"longitude":-114.31445759999996880651451647281646728515625,"title":"Dreessen Residence","subtitle":"West Side Historic District","fullsize":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/25903b6d2bf02ce409c550231a4c5d65.jpg","address":"527 2nd Avenue West, Kalispell, Montana","all_locations":[],"zoom":17,"creator":["Montana National Register Sign Program"],"description":"Albert Dreesen and his wife Emma purchased this residence from carpenters W. M. Kelsey and H. G. Seely in 1909. Born in Germany, Dreessen immigrated to Chicago with his family when he was fourteen. He attended night school to learn English and then worked his way across the country on farms for $1.00 per day. He homesteaded near Wolf Creek circa 1903 before moving to Kalispell, where he ran several businesses with longtime partner James Jorgensen. These included the Brewery Saloon, a bowling alley, and the Kalispell Grand Hotel. In 1937, Forrest Aker, who owned a grocery store at 220 Second Avenue, purchased the residence. He and his wife Ethel hired an architect to remodel the home, adding a second story and attached garage. The home features a metal gable roof, a shed-roofed dormer on the north elevation, and a hip-roofed bay on the south. Decorations include a unique porthole window in the Art Deco style, a recessed semi-circle on the front elevation, and fluted columns supporting a decorative pediment over the front door.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Private","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/f7ad2a10-46b8-402a-bc13-4c41bb485f78\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read about the West Side Historic District</a>","<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/5b645a26-b5ef-4663-a0be-8bab78cd7bbe/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See photos of the West Side Historic District</a>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/25903b6d2bf02ce409c550231a4c5d65.jpg":{"id":2691,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Dreessen Residence","description":"Dreessen Residence (PAc 91-51 Kalispell R16 F12). Front to side view of the house, facing east on 2nd Avenue West. B&amp;W. | Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society | Feb. 1992 | Sis Ketcher","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/25903b6d2bf02ce409c550231a4c5d65.jpg"}}}