Missoula Southside Historic District
This colorful district charts Missoula's transformation from rough frontier town to established community. When the Northern Pacific Railroad chose Missoula as its division headquarters in the 1880s, the burst of activity brought investors, wealthy businessmen, and broadened horizons. Anticipating a need to escape the flurry and bustle of the town's center, Federal Judge Hiram Knowles platted this addition in 1889. By the mid 1890s, gracious Queen Anne style residences proclaimed the southside a wealthy haven with horse-drawn streetcars carrying residents across the newly widened Higgins Avenue Bridge. Influenced greatly by prominent Missoula architect A. J. Gibson, who made his home in this district, Revival styles appeared, merging asymmetrical Queen Anne with the classical symmetry of Colonial Revival. Neighborhood businesses and services brought another dimension to the district. Between 1908 and 1910, the arrival of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad on the southside's edge added a depot and hotel. Row house apartments and smaller residences were built to accommodate a variety of professionals, entrepreneurs, and laborers. Today, the Southside District well reflects its history, mixing small businesses and Craftsman/Bungalow and vernacular style homes with the larger Queen Anne and Revival styles that recall its former exclusivity.
128 South Sixth Street West
Missoula Southside Historic District
In the 1890s, members of Missoula’s genteel middle class had a problem. While they welcomed the business opportunities brought by the Northern Pacific Railroad, they feared the “unsavory” characters and “seedy” nightlife that accompanied the town’s growth. Their solution: the establishment of…
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227 South Third Street West
Missoula Southside Historic District
The charm of the early Southside neighborhood is well expressed in this classic Queen Anne style residence built circa 1900. A pattern book undoubtedly provided plans for its builder, likely Andrew Nelson, a carpenter/contractor whose wife, Louisa Lenora, owned the property at the time of…
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235 South Fourth Street West
Missoula Southside Historic District
Pioneer stockman James L. Goodwin, a resident of Deer Lodge, was the first owner of this home, built circa 1903. Goodwin sold the property to Northern Pacific engineer Harry H. Deering in 1914. The Southside’s association with the railroads is further demonstrated by the third owner, Gilbert Pring,…
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McCullough Home
Missoula Southside Historic District
The early development of Missoula’s Southside is well represented in this classic Queen Anne style residence, constructed in the early 1890s. Originally a single family home, stylistic features include the asymmetrical façade, clad in a mixture of stone, brick, and decoratively patterned wood…
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Rozale Apartments
Missoula Southside Historic District
Turn-of-the-twentieth-century social critics warned that apartment living was the “most dangerous enemy American domesticity has had to encounter.” But as Missoula outgrew its living space, investors ignored the admonition. This splendid large-scale apartment house, built circa 1906, accommodated…
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Frederick C. Scheuch Home
Missoula Southside Historic District
William J. Kendall of the Northwest Milling and Lumber Company built this regal Queen Anne style home circa 1899. Professor Frederick C. Scheuch and his family were the longtime occupants from 1902 until 1936. Scheuch was one of the University of Montana’s first three instructors, initially…
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Tracy House
Missoula Southside Historic District
This one-story vernacular style residence, built circa 1902, and its contemporary carriage house illustrate the changing landscape of Missoula’s Southside. Modest homes like this pyramidal-roofed cottage with its characteristic square plan and attached front porch attest to a growing blue-collar…
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227 South Fourth Street West
Missoula Southside Historic District
A clipped gable roof, a wide inviting porch, classical Doric columns, and a central corbeled chimney are characteristic of the pattern book houses that dot Missoula’s Southside neighborhoods. Catalogue pattern book house plans promoted the American Dream and made stylish homes readily available.…
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