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HomeMy WebLinkAbout523 N BOZEMAN 2020 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD For the Montana National Register of Historic Places Program and State Antiquities Database Montana State Historic Preservation Office Montana Historical Society PO Box 201202, 1410 8th Ave Helena, MT 59620-1202 Property Address: 523 North Bozeman Avenue Historic Address (if applicable): City/Town: Bozeman Site Number: 24GA____ (An historic district number may also apply.) County: Gallatin Historic Name: Fannie Woodson House Original Owner(s): Clara Woodson Current Ownership Private Public Current Property Name: Halvorson Residence Owner(s): Steven Halvorson Owner Address: 523 North Bozeman Avenue Bozeman, Montana 59715 Phone: 503-581-1158 Legal Location PM: Montana Township: 02S Range: 06E NE ¼ NE ¼ NW ¼ of Section: 7 Lot(s): 8-9 Block(s): C Addition: Beall's 2nd Year of Addition: 1885 USGS Quad Name: Bozeman, Montana Year: 2014 Historic Use: Residence Current Use: Residence Construction Date: 1887 Estimated Actual Original Location Moved Date Moved: UTM Reference www.nris.mt.gov NAD 27 or NAD 83(preferred) Zone: 12T Easting: 497304 Northing: 5059024 National Register of Historic Places NRHP Listing Date: Historic District: NRHP Eligible: Yes No Date of this document: January 20, 2020 Form Prepared by: Mark Hufstetler Address: 502 North 16th Avenue Bozeman, Montana 59715 Daytime Phone: 406-587-9518 MT SHPO USE ONLY Eligible for NRHP: □ yes □ no Criteria: □ A □ B □ C □ D Date: Evaluator: Comments: MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 2 Architectural Description Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Architectural Style: Other: If Other, specify: vernacular residential Property Type: Residential Specific Property Type: shouse Architect: unknown Architectural Firm/City/State: Builder/Contractor: unknown Company/City/State: Source of Information: This residential site features a single-story wood-framed structure located in the 500 block of North Bozeman Avenue in Bozeman, Montana. Bozeman is located near the eastern end of the Gallatin Valley, a large, rich agricultural basin ringed by mountain ranges and now hosting a rapidly growing population. First settled by Euro-Americans in the early 1860s, the valley has a current population approaching 100,000, about half of whom live in Bozeman, the county seat. The city has a diverse economic base, and is the home of Montana State University. The town’s elevation is approximately 4,800 feet. Bozeman’s historic commercial district runs east-west through the center of the city, with historic residential neighborhoods north and south. This building is approximately six blocks north of Main Street, in a neighborhood of largely historic single-family homes The immediate neighborhood was platted and first developed in the 1880s, a direct consequence of the expansion of Bozeman’s north-side residential neighborhoods following the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad (NP) into the valley in 1882. The neighborhood has long been a primarily blue-collar one, and most of the historic-era houses are small, and were historically occupied by working-class families. Historic buildings are primarily simply built and vernacular, although some display limited detailing reflective of historically popular architectural styles. Although they were not formally inventoried as part of this project, most of the houses in the immediate streetscape appear to date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and display good integrity; it is probable that a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) historic district may exist in this area. The 523 North Bozeman site currently includes three buildings, as follows: The house (Feature 1), a single-story structure consisting of two, formerly-freestanding buildings joined by a narrow connecting wing; A wood-framed, two-story barn (Feature 2); and A small woodshed (Feature 3). Each is described separately below. Feature 1: The 523 North Bozeman house is a single-story, wood-framed structure with a primary elevation facing west, towards North Bozeman Avenue. The building displays a complex, irregular mass that is reflective of four or more structural additions that have occurred over the years – one of which caused a formerly freestanding house (521 North Bozeman) to be incorporated into the primary structure. An approximate chronology for this building’s construction sequence is noted below. The original portion of the house, dating from circa 1887, occupies the southeastern portion of the building’s larger, northerly mass. As built, the original house may have included two rooms arranged shotgun style beneath a front-gable roof, with a central brick chimney rising from the wall between the rooms. An enclosed rear porch occupied the west elevation of the house. The foundation was likely of rough rubblestone, and may have included a partial cellar space. The house is present in this form on both the 1904 and 1912 Sanborn maps. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 3 Architectural Description Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ The house received its first substantial addition sometime after 1904, and probably before the end of the 1910s. This was a single-bay gabled extension running north from the rear (western) half of the original mass. This wing, apparently on a concrete foundation, gave the building an L-gable form. By about 1920 a second small house appeared on the southern half of the current lot, at 521 North Bozeman. This building consisted of a simple rectangular mass likely containing no more than two rooms, beneath a gable roof and on a concrete foundation. (Early Sanborn maps label this building as a “spare room.”) This house is shown as a freestanding structure on the 1927 Sanborn map, as well as the 1943 and 1957 updates, and those maps also show the 523 North Bozeman house unchanged from 1912. The house has seen a total of four other structural additions since 1927, all apparently complete by the early 1980s. Because original wall cladding and windows have largely been lost, it is not possible to precisely date these changes, or to confirm whether they happened at once or over a period of years. Differing foundation textures and other clues suggest that these changes may have occurred at different times, and these visual clues also suggest that some of the changes may have occurred prior to 1957, suggesting that the Sanborn updates for this parcel may not have been complete. One addition, perhaps the oldest, is a shed-roofed block that occupies the northeastern ell of the 523 house. A rectangular, gabled mass at the rear of the 523 house is also relatively early, and may incorporate or replace that building’s historic enclosed rear porch. A gabled rear addition to the 521 house is newer. Finally, a narrow structure connects the historic 521 and 523 buildings, combining them into a single property. The latter two additions appear to be relatively recent, likely from the 1960s or 1970s. The building’s current, complex form still conveys the house’s origin as two separate buildings, even though non-original windows, wall cladding, and roofing have largely unified the building’s material palette. Most of the exterior wall faces are currently clad with modern, T-1-11 type manufactured wood siding; the primary exception is the east and north elevations of the original 521 building, which displays historic-era wood-shingle siding. The east elevation of 523 is visually defined by a large, historic cottage window, with decorative colored panes over a single fixed light. This appears to be the only major historic-era door or window unit remaining in the building. Doors are mostly modern metal units, and windows are contemporary fixed or casement units in a variety of sizes and configurations. Approximate window locations may be largely historic, but window sizes are not. Window framing is likewise non-historic. Roof surfaces are covered with modern asphalt shingles. Boxed eaves in the original building mass are likely historic, and there is a period interior brick chimney surviving in the historic rear porch area. Feature 2: This is a large outbuilding/barn structure occupying the northwestern corner of the lot, along the alley. The form and materials of this building strongly suggests an early 20th-century construction date, but the building is not shown on any of the Sanborn map updates. It is likely that this building predates the 1945 and 1957 updates. The barn is a wood-framed building measuring approximately 20’ (E-W) by 35’ (N-S); it includes a 1-1/2-story gabled mass to the south, and a single-story shed-roofed wing to the north. The gable runs east-west, and is pierced by a central brick chimney. The building is on a concrete foundation that does not include an interior floor. The roof is currently clad with corrugated metal. The east and west walls of the building are clad with vertical wood siding similar to T-1-11. North and south walls are covered a fiberboard asphaltic Insulbrick-type material; this cladding appears to be older than the wood siding on the longer elevations. The building’s fenestration pattern appears to be at least partly historic. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 4 Architectural Description Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ The west elevation is visually defined by a large metal-clad vehicle entry door hanging from a horizontal runner; that elevation also includes two hinged wooden doors on the main level and a non-original 1/1 window in the gable end. The east elevation includes three historic paneled-wood person doors at ground level, and a non-original full-light door in the gable end, accessed by a run of non-historic exterior wooden stairs. North and south elevations are blank. Feature 3: This is a small outbuilding that may have once served as a wood or coal shed; it is immediately south of the Feature 2 outbuilding. None of the Sanborn maps for this property show a building at this location, but the 1912 and later Sanborns show an outbuilding of this size in the northwestern corner of the lot. It is possible that the building shown in the Sanborns was moved to this location when the Feature 2 outbuilding was constructed. This single-story building is wood-framed, measuring approximately 10’ (N-S) by 14’ (E-W). There is no foundation. Exterior walls are clad with shiplap, and the gable roof is surfaced with corrugated metal. There is a wooden door on the east elevation, and evidence of a former window opening on the west. The building is in poor condition, and is listing to the north. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 5 History of Property Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ HISTORY OF PROPERTY The first formal lots in the new townsite of Bozeman were platted in 1864, and during its first two decades the town grew relatively slowly and deliberately, with shallow residential neighborhoods gradually extending north and south from the community’s east-west Main Street. The completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad (NP) through Bozeman and across southern Montana in 1883 greatly accelerated the community’s growth, and triggered a period of early industrial development primarily related to processing the valley’s agricultural harvests. In turn, this created additional employment opportunities in the town, particularly for blue-collar workers. Much of much of Bozeman’s 1880s economic growth took place near the new NP mainline, which ran to the north of the developed part of town. This in turn encouraged the development of new residential subdivisions on Bozeman’s north side, between the established community and the railroad line. One of these was Beall’s Second Subdivision, which was platted in 1885. (William Beall was one of the men who founded Bozeman in 1864, and his residential subdivisions comprised portions of his original homestead lands.) During the last two decades of the 19th century, Beall’s and other north side subdivisions slowly filled with new houses, mostly small, vernacular structures occupied by working-class, blue-collar workers and their families. Among those individuals were a small number of African-American families, who mostly occupied homes along North Bozeman Avenue. One of those families was apparently responsible for construction of the core of the house that remains at 523 North Bozeman. Deed records indicate that the north half of the current lot was purchased for $100 in December 1886, by someone named Clara Woodson. Clara was almost certainly the daughter of George and Fannie Woodson, an African-American couple who had lived in Bozeman since the 1870s. George once owned a Bozeman livery stable and later worked as a teamster. He and Fannie married in 1879, and the wedding party included members of Bozeman’s prominent Story and Tracy families. Their daughter Clara was born in 1882. Newspaper accounts from the early 1880s suggest that George and Fannie led a checkered and precarious existence in Bozeman during those years. In 1884 George, who was by then working as a barber, was shot and wounded during an altercation in Livingston. He was accused of rape the following year, and later lost at least one property in a foreclosure proceeding. An 1886 newspaper article reports on a mysterious fire at a house where the Woodsons had been living until they had been evicted the day before. That winter, the fixtures in George’s barbershop were seized for unpaid debts. These misadventures may have explained why the North Bozeman property was purchased in Clara’s name – even though Clara was apparently only four years old at the time. This proved to be a sound decision, since by 1887 George Woodson had left town. Fannie followed him to Miles City and announced the end of their relationship in a public spectacle that was later reported in the Bozeman Weekly Chronicle. George’s ultimate fate is unknown, but the 1892 Bozeman city directory lists Fannie as a widow. Fannie remained in Bozeman for the rest of her life, and it is likely that the initial portion of the 523 North Bozeman residence was constructed in 1887 or soon after. She and Clara may have lived in the house for a time, but by the 1890s Fannie was operating a boarding house on East Mendenhall Street, and the North Bozeman house may have become a rental. Fannie remained at the Mendenhall Street Boarding house until her MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 6 History of Property Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ death in 1920, becoming a well-known figure in the neighborhood and the broader Bozeman community. Her associates included the owners and workers at the brothels across the street from her boarding house, although she is not known to have participated in that profession herself. She adopted an African-American orphan in Billings, who passed away in Bozeman a few years later. And both she and Clara continued the family’s aptitude for misadventure: a 1904 newspaper article notes that the pair were fined for a late-night “rumpus,” and Fannie was arrested on a warrant for grand larceny in 1919. Meanwhile, Clara obtained title to the southern half of the current 523 lot in 1919, completing her ownership of the present-day lot parcel. The small house at 521 was probably built soon thereafter as a way to increase the property’s rental income. Married and divorced by 1920, Clara is not known to have occupied the South Bozeman house. Fannie Woodson died in August 1920 at age 78; Clara was living with her at the Mendenhall Street boarding house at the time. At some point after Fannie’s death, Clara apparently moved to southern California and remarried. She failed to pay 1927 property taxes on the North Bozeman property, and it was sold at a county tax sale the following year. The lots were purchased by a local resident named Philip Dodson, who owned other Bozeman real estate and apparently used the two buildings as rental rental properties. Clarence and Pearl Preston purchased the property in 1937; Pearl died in 1960, and Clarence remained in the house until 1973. Later residents also lived in the 523 house, while continuing to use the 521 building for rental income. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 7 Information Sources/Bibliography Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ INFORMATION SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Burlingame, Merrill G. Gallatin County's Heritage: A Report of Progress, 1805-1976. Bozeman: Gallatin County Bicentennial Committee, 1976). Gallatin County [Montana] Clerk & Recorder. Deeds and other real estate records. On file, Gallatin County Courthouse, Bozeman. Hufstetler, Mark, and Mitzi Rossillon. “North Rouse Avenue, Gallatin County Montana: Cultural Resources Inventory.” Unpublished reoort prepared for HKM Engineering, Helena, April 2006. “Montana Historical and Architectural Inventory” forms for properties on North Bozeman Avenue, Bozeman Montana, August 1984. On file, City of Bozeman, Planning Division. R.L. Polk & Co. "Polk's Bozeman City Directory, Including Gallatin County." Kansas City: R.L. Polk & Co., 1900-1971. (Title and publication information varies.) Renewable Technologies, Inc. “Bozeman, Montana: An Historic and Architectural Context.” Unpublished report prepared for the Department of Planning and Community Development, City of Bozeman, September 2008. Sanborn Map Company. Fire insurance maps for Bozeman, Montana, January 1904; September 1912; September 1927; September 1927 updated to August 1943. Smith, Phyllis. Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley: A History. Helena: Twodot Press, 1996. “South Tracy – South Black Historic District.” National Register of Historic Places nomination, 1987. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 8 Statement of Significance Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NRHP Listing Date: NRHP Eligibility: Yes No Individually Contributing to Historic District Noncontributing to Historic District NRHP Criteria: A B C D Area of Significance: Period of Significance: STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Apparently dating from the late 1880s, the central core of the 523 North Bozeman house is likely among the oldest remaining residential properties in Bozeman. It is an historic representation of the late 19th-century growth of Bozeman as a city, and the development and expansion of Bozeman’s north-side neighborhoods following the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad. It is part of a streetscape along North Bozeman Avenue that continues to visually convey that association, some 130 years after the neighborhood’s development, reflecting the largely vernacular, working-class neighborhoods that characterized northeast Bozeman for much of the community’s history. The building is also significant for its association with Bozeman’s small 19th-centory African-American community, and particularly Fannie Woodson, who was a well-known member of that community for some 40 years. For these reasons, if the building retained integrity it would likely be considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, significant under Criterion A for its association with the growth of the northeast neighborhood, and under Criterion C as an example of vernacular period architecture. Through its visual scale, lot placement, and lack of ornamentation, the house continues to broadly convey many of these historic associations. Substantial aspects of integrity have been lost, however: the modern structural additions, wall cladding, and windows, have greatly diminished the building’s integrity of scale, and destroyed its integrity of materials. The historic-era footprint of the building has been lost, and the primary façade retains only a single window that remains evocative of the historic era. Similarly, the vast majority of the wall cladding on the primary façade (and elsewhere) is modern. Because of the lost integrity caused by the documented non-historic remodelings, the house at 523 North Bozeman is not considered independently eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The immediate streetscape surrounding the building – particularly the row of single-story, front-gable homes on the west side of North Bozeman – still conveys much of its early 20th-century appearance, and it is possible that future research may suggest the existence of a historic district there. However, no such determination currently exists, and in any case this building may not retain sufficient integrity to count as a contributing resource in a future district. While the Feature 2 and 3 outbuildings date from the historic era and retain sufficient integrity to count as contributing resources, their significance hinges on their relationship to the Feature 1 house, and they do not display the historic or architectural significance required for independent National Register eligibility. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 9 Integrity Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ INTEGRITY (location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, association) Overall, the residence at 523 North Bozeman displays a markedly-diminished level of integrity overall. While the building displays an overall scale compatible with other historic buildings along the streetscape, multiple additions have greatly altered the building’s original footprint and massing. Almost certainly, some of these additions are less than 50 years old, and thus non-historic. The primary façade continues to display a cottage window that is evocative of the historic era and may be original to the house, but most other exterior details and materials are non-original, and appear to postdate the historic era. Most exterior wall cladding is modern, and nearly all windows are modern units in non-historic openings. Together, these changes have heavily modified the building’s historic appearance, leaving few specific architectural details specific to the historic era. The Feature 2 outbuilding retains its historic massing and much of its historic fenestration pattern, but two of its four elevations display what is likely non-historic wall cladding, and the second-level stairs, door, and window are non-historic. The small Feature 3 outbuilding appears to retain a high level of integrity, although it may not be at its original location. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 10 Photographs Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ Feature # 1 Facing: North-northwest Description: Streetscape view, looking north Feature # 1 Facing: Northwest Description: South and east elevations MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 11 Photographs Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ Feature # 1 Facing: West Description: East elevation detail, #523 Feature # 1 Facing: West Description: East elevation detail, #521 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 12 Photographs Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ Feature # 1 Facing: East-northeast Description: West and south elevations Feature # 1 Facing: East-southeast Description: North and west elevations MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 13 Photographs Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ Feature # 2 Facing: West-northwest Description: South and east elevations Feature # 2 Facing: East Description: West elevation MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 14 Photographs Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ Feature # 3 Facing: West Description: East elevation Feature # 3 Facing: Northeast Description: West and south elevations MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 15 Site Map Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ Site 24GA________ Fannie Woodson House 523 North Bozeman Avenue Bozeman, Montana MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 16 Topographic Map Property Name: Fannie Woodson House Site Number: 24GA____ Bozeman, Montana (2014) 1:24,000 topographic map UTM Zone 12T Site location: 497304 Easting; 5059024 Northing NE ¼ NW ¼ Section 7, T2S, R6E, MPM