Tag Archives: Montana bungalows
Glendive in 1988: historic homes
Posted on November 30, 2019 by carrollvanwest
I was always impressed with the range of late nineteenth century to mid-20th century homes in Glendive. During my 1988 visit I took several photos of the historic district as a small town example of American domestic architecture.
Bungalows of all types: note the rustic stone work at 607 N. Meade (above)
Or the Tudor-style stick work detail of 808 N. Meade (above) and at 802 N. Meade (below) and 907 N. Kendrick (second below) and 822 N.Kendrick (third below).
I really like the Craftsman style of the bungalow at 710 N. Meade (below) and then the classical entrance to the bungalow at 615 N. Meade (second below).
Classic style is found at several other Glendive homes such as 621 N. Meade (below) and at 503 N. Kendrick (second below).
The earlier homes in the district are mostly Victorian in style and form, like the dwellings at 707 N. Meade (below) and 709 N. Kendrick (second below), the most Queen Anne style dwelling that I recorded in 1988 in Glendive.
But not everything is what you would expect in historic Glendive. At 817 N. Kendrick is an understated Spanish Colonial Revival house and then just a few houses away is a quirky but delightful mid-century modern design at 802 N. Kendrick (second below), my fav house of all I visited in 1988.
Posted in Montana historical landscape	| Tagged Dawson County Montana, Glendive Montana, historic districts, Montana, Montana bungalows, Montana classicism, Montana modernism, Montana vernacular architecture, National Register of Historic Places	| 2 Replies
Another visit to Harlowton
Over the weekend I received a message, asking for more on Harlowton, the seat of Wheatland County. I had developed three posts about Harlowton and other roadside properties in the county, but the reader was spot on–there is more than just the Milwaukee Road story in this central Montana town. Let's start with the building above, originally built as the Harlowton Woman's Club Youth Center in 1950.
The woman's club began c. 1921 and had already made a major contribution to the town's well-being in establishing its first library. After World War II, however, club members felt they should once again help build the community, by building a youth center and veterans memorial garden. Mrs. Norman Good proposed the project in 1946 and Mrs. G. D. Martin provided the first substantial donation. The club then held fundraisers of all sorts. By 1950, construction was underway, with contractor Clyde Wilson building the center with logs from Colby and Sons in Kila, Montana.
As the youth center was under construction, the woman's club also reached an agreement with the school board to use land for the construction of a new football field, named McQuitty Field. Located behind the youth center, the field opened in 1950.
Steps from the Youth Center parking lot lead directly to the football field.
At about the same time, the woman's club also reached an agreement with the Kiwanis Club to provide land for a community swimming pool. The women lost their initial vision of a memorial garden, but had gained for the community two institutions–the football field and the swimming pool–that continue to serve Harlowton's children today.
Thus, on U.S. Highway 12 lies the public recreation heart of Harlowton–a postwar gift of residents and service clubs to the community. In 1956, the woman's club deeded the Youth Center to the Kiwanis Club, which still manages it today.
As the images of the football field show, the recreation centers are surrounded by housing, and yes, Harlowton has an interesting range of domestic architecture–centered in the c. 1910 to c. 1960 period as you might imagine. As a major railroad center for the Milwaukee
Road, it once also had several hotels and more short-term housing for workers and travelers–a good bit of that has disappeared, or is disappearing.
Gothic-styled churches also reflect the town's early 20th century architectural aesthetic. The Harlowton Wesleyan Church (above) and St. Joseph's Catholic Church (below) are good small town examples of Gothic style, especially the flashy mid-century permastone exterior of St. Joseph's church.
It is difficult to visit Harlowton and not notice the mammoth Montana Flour Mills set of concrete grain silos–today's silent sentinels of what ranchers once produced in abundance in these lands.
The mill, made from locally quarried stone, came within months of the completion of the railroad to Harlowton–the concrete silos reflected the hopes of investors and local ranchers, as grain production soared in the 1910s–reaching some 1.2 million bushels in 1918. It wasn't called Wheatland County for nothing. I still wish the big electric sign that once adorned the silos was still there.
The Harlowton Public School building is another valuable survivor from the homestead boom era in the town's history, as other other scattered commercial buildings and bank buildings–none are architecturally overwhelming but they are express the western commercial look of the early 20th century–hopeful but not overly ambitious.
Harlowton today has even picked up another depot–a moved one, that once served on the Great Northern railroad spur–the Billings and Northern–that cut through the east side of Wheatland County. It is out of place on the highway–but glad it is still in use.
Let's end with a shout out to classic taverns–in this case Central Avenue's Oasis Bar and the Stockman Bar. Indeed, with its classic electric sign, the Stockman Bar begs the question–where are the state's other Stockman Bars. Ah, the next post.
Posted in Montana historical landscape	| Tagged Clyde Wilson contractor, Harlowton Montana, Harlowton Wesleyan Church, Harlowton Woman's Club, Harlowton Youth Center, Montana bars, Montana bungalows, Montana churches, Montana community halls, Montana Flour Mills Harlowton, Montana football fields, Montana permastone, Montana schools, Montana signs, Montana swimming pools, Montana taverns, St. Joseph Catholic Church Harlowton, Wheatland County Montana	| 2 Replies
Whitefish: Transformations and Persistence
I arrived in Whitefish in May 2015 with my eyes wide open. I had not been there since 1988, and I knew that growth had enveloped and transformed the town, with a population that doubled, lots of west coast and east coast escapees having arrived, the ski lodge business booming, and "lone eagles" having nested here for two decades. The phrase
"lone eagles" was local–an attempt to describe those professionals "who fly to work as comfortably as most Americans drive, and whose use of computers in business lets them indulge their preference for life in the great outdoors," as a June 19, 1994 story in the New York Times explained.
During my 1984-1985 survey for the state historic preservation plan, everyone probably tired of me touting the wonders of Whitefish, especially its mid-1920s Arts and Crafts/Chalet-styled Great Northern passenger depot and offices, designed by the railroad's Thomas McMahon. If any building needed to be added to the National Register of Historic Places, it was this one, and not just for its impressive architectural statement.
The station along with the railroad tracks defined everything you saw in Whitefish–here in the classic Great Northern T-plan landscape was a classic railroad town–one that old-timers even called the best along the entire line. Whitefish developed and then prospered as a division point on the mainline from 1904 to 1955–and that corporate imprint was still there to be experienced, in 1984.
Thankfully in 2015, I still found all of my favorite landmarks from 30 years earlier, even though there was little doubt that the business district had been altered, sometimes in ways that left little original fabric in place but still some two-story brick blocks stood.
The Buffalo Cafe remained in business–a mainstay when I worked in the region in the 1980s as was the Palace Bar right around the corner. The Palace dated to c. 1915 and has a wonderful dark wood carved bar from that time–it began as a brewing company and has remained that throughout all of the recent changes.
The town still had its historic residential neighborhoods at the foot of Main Street and then both to the east and west. comprising one of the state's best collections of bungalows, often found in railroad towns of the early 20th century.
Perhaps more importantly it still retained some of its distinctive domestic architecture–the railroad tie house (a log house made of railroad ties) and a row of shotgun houses for railroad workers. To all architectural historians who believe that the "shotgun" house is purely a southern thing–look closely: these houses were built quickly and cheaply to serve industrial laborers and can be found throughout the country.
Whitefish's historic Lockridge medical center (1958) designed by Frank Lloyd Wright remains a distinctive modernist landmark within the business district, although now it houses professional offices. It was listed in the National Register in 2012.
A much earlier landmark, the Classical Revival Masonic Temple from the town's first decade still stood, and it too found a new use through adaptive reuse.
Despite the population boom over the last 30 years, Whitefish still uses its Art Deco-styled school from the New Deal decade of the 1930s, although the auditorium has been restored and updated into a community performing arts center.
Certainly my favorite landmark was the Great Northern Railway station, which provided passenger service on the first floor and administrative offices on the second floor. In the last 30 years, the town has significantly enhanced the setting with a city park, various statues and interpretive signage, along with a historic bus that once moved passengers to Kalispell and environs and historic railroad engines.
The enhanced railroad station is clearly interested in drawing the attention of travelers who stop here for the nearby ski lodges or for a quick stop before entering Glacier National Park. It is viewed as the town's center point, its primary attraction–which is as it should be because there are few more compelling Great Northern Railway towns than Whitefish.
Posted in Montana historical landscape	| Tagged Buffalo Cafe Whitefish, Flathead County Montana, Frank Lloyd Wright, Great Northern Railway, Great Northern Railway depots, Lockbridge Medical Clinic, Montana bars, Montana bungalows, Montana Masonic Temples, Montana modernism, Montana New Deal, Montana schools, Palace Bar Whitefish, Railroad Tie House, shotgun houses, Thomas McMahon architect, Whitefish Montana	| Leave a reply
Kalispell's historic neighborhoods
Posted on October 9, 2016 by carrollvanwest
Designed by Kirkland Cutter in 1895, the Conrad Mansion, with its beautiful Shingle-style architecture making it an instant design statement for one of Kalispell's most prominent founding families–was THE domestic architecture landmark when I surveyed the town during the state historic preservation plan of 1984-1985. I really did not look further. As the collage below shows, that was a mistake.
Kalispell has a wide range of domestic architecture, from turn of the 20th century American Four Squares to the Revival styles of the 1920s-1940s, that was captured in its 1994 multiple property nomination to the National Register of Historic Places that led to the creation of the East Side, the West Side, and the Courthouse historic districts. Defined by tree-lined streets, the variety of house types within the district makes every step along the way worthwhile.
The images above and those below come from those well maintained neighborhoods, where the sense of place and pride is so strongly stated.
But in this quick overview of some of the most impressive Montana neighborhoods–despite overwhelming growth Kalispell has not left its older homes behind–let me re-emphasize a theme of my recent re-survey of the state: contemporary design and the homes of the 1950s to early 1970s that were not considered closely in either 1984 or 1994.
Hats off to Kalispell: a town that had changed so much from 1985 to 2015–let me tell you it didn't take long to pass through town 30 years ago. But through historic preservation, its roots are still there, serving as the foundation for the future.
Posted in Montana historical landscape	| Tagged Conrad Mansion Kalispell, Flathead County Montana, Kalispell Montana, Montana Art Deco, Montana Arts and Crafts, Montana bungalows, Montana contemporary, Montana historic districts, Montana modernism, Montana ranch style, National Register of Historic Places	| Leave a reply
Hamilton's historic homes
In 1984, I must admit, I did not look closely at the rich domestic architecture of Hamilton, especially during its boom from c. 1890 to c. 1920. When I thought of Hamilton and the term historic house I was like many other people: I thought of the Daly Mansion which actually stood outside of the town boundaries.
I missed a big story by being so limited in what I thought as historic in Hamilton. Just a quick stroll down South 3rd and 4th Streets will unveil an impressive chronological range of domestic architecture types and styles from the rather unadorned frame cottages above to the much more architecturally finished Charles Hoffman House, an important Montana example of Prairie Style in a frame two-story building.
South 3rd Street also has a strong set of bungalows, Montana style, which means that they take all sorts of forms and use all sorts of building materials.
Then the street also has bungalows that in their symmetry almost become Colonial Revival dwellings, a dash of Tudor Revival, and Colonial Revival proper, along with Art Deco influenced buildings and a Ranch style house thrown in as well, representing the middle decades of the 20th century.
South 4th Street has the same excellent range of home designs, but with a bit more of a touch of the modern and with the second half of the 20th century interpretation of Log Rustic style.
In fact Hamilton has two other worthwhile but unexpected Art Moderne styled houses scattered through the historic downtown.
Hamilton has several impressive historic church buildings such as St. Paul Episcopal and St. Francis of Assisi Catholic below, both in splendid takes on Gothic style.
Rocky Mountain Labs is not the only medical building in the historic downtown. Joining it is the Colonial Revival-styled Marcus Daly Hospital, a historic building constructed in 1930-31 with funds provided by Daly's wife Margaret. A new hospital building opened in 1975 and the historic hospital has been converted into county offices. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
My favorite set of public buildings in Hamilton got back to the theme of town and ranch and how community institutions can link both. The Ravalli County Fairgrounds began on
40 acres located south of downtown on the original road to Corvallis in 1913. Its remarkable set of buildings date from those early years into the present, and the Labor Day Rodeo is still one of the region's best.
Despite growth all around them, residents in Hamilton still respect tradition and history and the many National Register properties shown above show how private property owners have been excellent stewards in a rapidly changing landscape. This overview hasn't shown all of the historic homes but should be enough of an introduction to tempt you to take on your own exploration.
Posted in Montana historical landscape	| Tagged Hamilton Montana, Marcus Daly Hospital, Margaret Daly, Montana Art Deco, Montana Art Moderne, Montana bungalows, Montana historic churches, Montana modernism, National Register of Historic Places, Prairie Style, Ravalli County Fair, Ravalli County Fairgrounds, Ravalli County Montana	| Leave a reply
Railroad Corridors in western Gallatin County
Gallatin County is one of the oldest white settlement landscapes in Montana. The Bozeman Trail to the western gold fields introduced settlers from the 1860s to 1880 to the potentially rich land of the Gallatin Valley. Then the Northern Pacific Railroad opened the heart of the valley to development as the tracks crossed the Bozeman Pass in the early 1880s.
Manhattan was not originally Manhattan, but named Moreland, as discussed in an earlier blog about the effort to build a barley empire in this part of Gallatin County at the turn of the century by the Manhattan Malting Company and its industrial works here and in Bozeman. But the existing railroad corridor, along with the surviving one- and two-
story commercial buildings facing the tracks (and old U.S. Highway 10), always made a drive through Manhattan a pleasant diversion as I crisscrossed Montana in 1984-1985. The town has a strong 1920s feel, in large part because of an earthquake that destroyed a good bit of the town's original buildings in 1925.
Manhattan has changed significantly over 30 years–as the storefronts above suggest–just not to the degree of Belgrade. But you wonder if its time is not coming. From 1980 to 1990–the years which I visited the town the most–its population barely ticked up from 988 to 1032. In the 25 years since the population has expanded to an estimated 1600.
The historic auto garage from c. 1920 above is one of the most significant landmarks left upon old U.S. 10, and I am glad it is still used for its original function in the 21st century.
Community landmarks-fraternal lodges, the wonderful 1960s modernism of the Manhattan public school, and historic church buildings add character and a sense of stability to Manhattan.
Different variations on the Bungalow style characterize the town's historic neighborhood. Buildings, like along old U.S. 10, have changed but still that sense of the early 20th century comes strongly across as you walk along Manhattan's sidewalks.
At the same time, the new face of Manhattan is appearing in developments just south of the railroad corridor and in new construction facing the tracks. Both buildings "fit" into the town but stylistically and in materials belong more to the 21st century American suburb, especially when compared to the remaining vernacular commercial buildings.
Is Manhattan at a crossroads between its long history as a minor symmetrical-plan town along the Northern Pacific Railroad and its new place as one of the surrounding rural suburbs of the Bozeman area? Probably.
But it has many positives in place to keep its character yet change with the times. Many residents are using historic buildings for their businesses and trades. Others are clearly committed to the historic residential area–you can't help but be impressed by the town's well-kept historic homes and well-maintained yards and public areas.
Like at Belgrade, historic preservation needs to have a greater focus here. Nothing in the town is listed in the National Register but as these photos suggest, certainly there is National Register potential in this town.
Posted in Montana historical landscape	| Tagged Gallatin County Montana, Manhattan Malting Company, Manhattan Montana, Montana bars, Montana bungalows, Montana modernism, Montana roadside architecture, Montana rural churches, Montana schools, Northern Pacific Railroad, symmetrical plan towns, U.S. Highway 10	| Leave a reply