East Main Street Historic District
The development of this elegant residential neighborhood reflects Miles City's second growth spurt in the early twentieth century. Although the population of this "cowtown" waned between 1890 and 1905, the advent of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad in 1908 and the 1909 Enlarged Homestead Act brought a resurgence of energy and an influx of new residents. The need for more housing generated a construction boom, lasting into the 1920s, which focused upon this heretofore unimproved area. Speculators, contractors, and homebuilders favored this quieter area where individualism could be expressed through architecture. Sweeping lawns and streets lined with elm, cottonwood, and green ash trees complement the cottages and foursquares in Craftsman, Prairie, Mission, and Classical Revival styles that unify this dignified neighborhood. Occasional Queen Anne, Dutch Colonial Revival, and other styles add a pleasing diversity. Plan books offered contractors and builders like Carl Anderson, O. M. Lanphear, and N. P. Nelson stylish and less expensive designs for potential homeowners. Even so, the district embraces many of the area's most architecturally significant homes, revealing the talents of such prominent architects as Charles S. Haire, Brynjulf Rivenes, and Casper Strom. It is this unique blending of styles and craftsmen that conveys the prosperity, optimism, and importance of Miles City during this period of expansion.
2008 Main Street
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
High maintenance steam engines required railroads to locate large repair shops every two hundred miles. After the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad chose Miles City for a division point in 1907, the town grew rapidly. Population increased to 4,697 in 1910, a 140 percent increase…
View Place Show on Map
Anderson Bungalow
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
Real estate speculation abounded in the East Main district when carpenter Ernest Anderson built this lovely one-and-a-half-story bungalow in 1916. Its large front porch, supported by heavy, tapered columns, and its low-pitched roofs with overhanging eaves and triangular braces clearly mark this…
View Place Show on Map
Coleman Residence
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
The steamer Far West carried Irish immigrant James Coleman to Fort Keogh in 1876. After working for the army sutler, Coleman moved into Miles City, where he managed a saloon frequented by army regulars. In 1882, he married his Irish bride, Margaret Golden. The couple had ten children. By 1912,…
View Place Show on Map
Foster House
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
This American foursquare style home appears to have been designed by prominent architect Brynjulf Rivenes. Built between 1910 and 1914 for businessman George Foster, its compact simplicity is an elegant, individual statement of the prosperity Miles City enjoyed in the early twentieth century. The…
View Place Show on Map
Dr. Gray Residence
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
A sophisticated blend of Classical elements characterizes this intimately elegant residence that, despite its modest size, easily rivals the district’s grander “high style” homes. Built in 1907, the residence was then “out in the country,” its urbane design foreshadowing the district’s impending…
View Place Show on Map
Harry J. Horton Residence
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
The stylistic versatility of architect Brynjulf Rivenes is well demonstrated in this distinguished home built for Miles City businessman Harry J. Horton. The simple foursquare plan combines wide eaves, a low hipped roof, and massive brick pillars, characteristic of the Prairie and Craftsman styles,…
View Place Show on Map
Kelly Residence
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
Sometimes called “labor’s aristocracy,” locomotive engineers were the highest paid workers on the railroad. That fact gave William Kelly, an engineer for the Milwaukee Road, the means to purchase this one-story home. In 1920 he lived here with his wife, Nellie, their three-year-old son, and his…
View Place Show on Map
Ed and Doris Love House
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
Wealthy Miles City residents looked to the undeveloped area east of the Northern Pacific tracks to build their homes in the early twentieth century. Among them were Ed and Doris Love who had this Prairie Style home constructed in 1916. Its bands of door height windows, wide overhanging eaves,…
View Place Show on Map
Lukes / Love House
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
Built for C. N. and Louise E. Lukes in 1911, the home is also known as the Ed Love House. Lukes was cashier of the Commercial State Bank and after the deaths of C. N. and Louise in 1929, ownership passed to their daughter, Doris Lukes Love, and her husband, Ed Love. Ed Love was a prominent…
View Place Show on Map
Pope House
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
A low-pitched hipped roof, an asymmetrical open front porch with massive square porch supports, clean lines, and wide overhanging eaves mark the two-story Pope residence as a classic example of the Prairie style. Builder Thomas Burton clad the residence in a new product called “Flex-O-Tile,” a…
View Place Show on Map
Rinehart House
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
Nature, comfort, simplicity, honesty, and integrity were ideals incorporated into early-twentieth-century architecture. This Craftsman style bungalow is an exceptional expression of those ideals. Its compact floorplan and modestly adorned exterior facilitated comfort and ease while a spacious porch…
View Place Show on Map
Dr. A.J. Schrumpf Residence
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
Builder/contractor Oren M. Lanphear experimented with a variety of influences in this 1908 residence, which was the first home in Miles City to fully employ the American Foursquare design. Simplicity and practicality were the essence of this architectural form, which originated with Chicago…
View Place Show on Map
Stacy Residence
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
Determined to bring the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad to Miles City, land developer, cattleman, and banker Lorenzo Stacy organized his fellow businessmen to secure and donate property for the railroad’s right-of-way. In 1908, the Milwaukee Road arrived, rewarding their efforts; that…
View Place Show on Map
First Christian Church
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
Accompanied by popular singing evangelist C. M. Ridenour of Fort Benton, J. S. Raum preached the Christian Church’s first service in Miles City in 1910. Forty-four people attended. Early church membership was diverse, including a successful attorney, railroad workers, and their families. Eight…
View Place Show on Map
Cresap/Smart House
East Main Street Residential Historic District
Hardware store owner, banker, and real estate developer George Miles, nephew of Colonel Nelson A. Miles, hired a contractor to build this hipped-roof cottage around 1910. Following completion of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in 1908 and passage of the Enlarged Homestead Act…
View Place Show on Map