{"id":92,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:40:05","latitude":45.73123919999999742458385298959910869598388671875,"longitude":-107.606429400000024543260224163532257080078125,"title":"T.E. Gay Building","subtitle":"Hardin Commercial Historic District","fullsize":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/6e4668999d45aa8243bc8c12cff74574.jpg","address":"10 West 3rd Street, Hardin, Montana","all_locations":[],"zoom":7,"creator":["Montana National Register Sign Program"],"description":"On May 4, 1917, Hardin celebrated the “formal opening of the Gay block . . . with a grand ball in the south store room of this magnificent structure.” The storage area’s hardwood floor was perfect for dancing, and construction of the two-story brick business block merited a celebration. Merchant T. E. Gay had hired the Billings architectural firm of Link and Haire to design the structure, only the second architect-designed building in Hardin. His investment in the $50,000 business block reflected his confidence in the town’s future. In the understated style of the day, Link and Haire ornamented the building with a bracketed cornice, decorative parapet, and a large glass block clerestory that visually separated the first and second floors. Recognizing that many of his customers would be farmers in town for the day, Gay had a “commodious ladies’ rest room” included in the plans. Among the five businesses occupying the first floor, Gay’s hardware and implement store was by far the largest. Tenants of the second-floor’s twenty-two offices included attorneys, physicians, and the Hardin Chamber of Commerce.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Private","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/0f9b4d33-90de-4c10-b9ad-55da9f67c7e2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read more about the Hardin Commercial Historic District</a>","<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/db2e7f99-3c9b-4afe-bf58-cd4731502988/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See buildings in the Hardin Residential Historic District</a>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/6e4668999d45aa8243bc8c12cff74574.jpg":{"id":650,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"T.E. Gay Building","description":"Southwest-facing still image capture of T.E. Gay Building, Hardin, Montana. Image information drawn from print verso. b&amp;w print. | Official records of the Montana State Historic Preservation Office, Helena, Montana | July, 1984 | Fredric L. Quivik, RTI","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/6e4668999d45aa8243bc8c12cff74574.jpg"}}}