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Home My WebLink About22 S 8th Ave 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: 22 S 8TH AVE Historic Address (if applicable): City/Town: BOZEMAN Site Number: 031 (An historic district number may also apply.) County: GALLATIN Historic Name: Watson Bros. Drive In Original Owner(s): Lyle, Halworth, and Robert Watson Current Ownership Private Public Current Property Name: Haufbrau Tavern Owner(s): Hauf LLC Owner Address: 204 Sunset Blvd, Bozeman, MT 59715-6695 Phone: Legal Location PM: Montana Township: 02S Range: 05E SE¼ SW ¼ NE ¼ of Section: 12 Lot(s): Lot 20 - 21, & 6' STRIP W OF LOT 19 Block(s): F Addition: Story Add (STO) Year of Addition: 1872 USGS Quad Name: Bozeman Year: 1987 Historic Use: Commercial Restaurant Current Use: Commercial Construction Date: 1949 Estimated Actual Original Location Moved Date Moved: UTM Reference www.nris.mt.gov NAD 27 or NAD 83(preferred) Zone: 12 Easting: 496293.4 Northing: 5058340.2 National Register of Historic Places NRHP Listing Date: Historic District: NRHP Eligible: Yes No *Property does not meet the City of Bozeman’s definition of an eligible property (see below). Date of this document: 07/18/2020 Form Prepared by: E. Sakariassen, S. Wells, Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc. with C. Alegria and C. Hendry, Extreme History Project Address: Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc., Bozeman, MT Daytime Phone: 406-219-3535 MT SHPO USE ONLY Eligible for NRHP: □ yes □ no Criteria: □ A □ B □ C □ D Date: Evaluator: Comments: Site would not contribute to a potential historic district. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 2 Architectural Description Property Name: Watson Bros. Drive In/Haufbrau Bar Site Number: 031 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Architectural Style: Other (specify) If Other, specify: Commercial Property Type: Commerce Specific Property Type: Bar/Tavern Architect: Unknown Architectural Firm/City/State: Unknown Builder/Contractor: Unknown Company/City/State: Unknown Source of Information: N/A This property consists of one historical architectural feature: a commercial building built in 1949. The site is currently the Haufbrau Bar. It is a single-story concrete block building. It has no distinct style. It has a roughly rectangular plan shape, with a concrete foundation. The roof is flat and the material is not visible, however, the site map suggests it might consist of a built up roofing system. The exterior walls are painted concrete-block. The west part of the building is slightly lower and has a wood framed walls above six- courses of concrete block. The wood-framed walls are clad with vertical board siding. A flat roofed addition to the north is clad in sheet metal. The primary façade faces south. The main entry is on the south facade, within a recessed entry where the wood-framed west half of the building meets the taller concrete-block portion. The opening faces west and consists of a standard wood door. A variety of window types present throughout the building and include sliding windows with applied shutters, and a fixed art glass window on the south façade. The windows are not original sash and, based on historic photographs of the building when it was first built as a diner/drive-in, the openings themselves have been altered. Originally, the building had a smaller footprint and was an example of streamlined Moderne style, complete with aluminum paneled siding. A sign is affixed to the west side of the building and appears to be original. It reads, in vertical lettering, “HAUFBRAU”. A portion of the sign extending east reads “BEER”. The bar is surrounded by asphalt pavement. The structure is in fair to good condition, overall. Metcalf finds that the changes have been extensive but have occurred within the historic period. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 3 History of Property Property Name: Watson Bros. Drive In/Haufbrau Bar Site Number: 031 HISTORY OF PROPERTY This area was platted as the Story Addition on June 18, 1872. The United States General Land Office issued a patent to William H. Tracy for the S ½ of NE ¼ section 12, T2S R5E on June 15, 1872. Tracy, likely anticipating the issuance of that patent, sold the land to Nelson Story on November 18, 1871. Elias Story purchased the property on November 4, 1874 and sold it almost immediately to Ellen Story on November 14, 1874. On January 1, 1903 Ellen and Nelson Story sold the property to their son, Thomas Byron Story. T.B. and his wife Katharine used the property as collateral from 1932 to 1947. Thomas Byron Story transferred the property to the T. B. Story, Inc. on November 19, 1920. The property transferred to Katharine F. Story on January 13, 1930 who transferred ownership to Frank H. Johnson, Superintendent of Banks (MT), Trustee in a bargain and sale deed on November 3, 1932. It then went to the Belgrade State Bank on November 5, 1935 and then back to T. B. and Katherine Story on January 18, 1940 via a quit claim deed. They sold the property to Ralph K. Williams on April 12, 1947. The property upon which the extant building sits is part of Block “F” in Story’s Addition to Bozeman, Montana. The specific lots 20 and 21 were two of the original 16 lots in this block of the addition. These lots were at the western edge of Bozeman and saw little development until the turn of the twentieth century, when single-family homes quickly filled in the lots south and north of West Main Street, from 4th through 11th Avenues. The blocks held by the Story family remained undeveloped until the late 1940s. The first building on the site was constructed in 1949, soon after Watson Bros., Inc. purchased the property from Ralph Williams on September 20, 1949, in time for the opening of the Watson Bros. Drive In. Three Watson brothers – Lyle, Halworth (Hal), and Robert – operated the business together until 1958, after which they sold it to Herbert Kirchhoff, Clifford Clark, and Alford Stiff on January 8, 1959 (R.L. Polk & Company, 1950 - 1958). 1950 appears to have been a year of transition for the Watson family, as the three brothers owned and operated two Bozeman businesses: a women’s clothing shop - the Kaye Shop – and an ice cream shop called the Ice Cream Dipper (R.L. Polk & Company, 1950). By 1954, the Kaye Shop had closed, and the Ice Cream Dipper was under different ownership. By 1959, the Watson Bros. Drive-In was no longer listed in the Polk Directory; the site was listed as vacant. None of the Watson family were listed as residents of Bozeman. The three Watson brothers had been born and raised in Idaho. The oldest brother Halworth A. Watson was born on November 6, 1918 in Rexburg, Idaho and died on August 9, 1985 in Bozeman. He was interred in Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bozeman. In addition to being involved in the family business, he had been a soil conservationist (Ancestry.com, 2017). The next oldest brother was Lyle C. Watson, who had also been born in Rexburg, on September 7, 1924 (Ancestry.com, 2017). The youngest of the three was Robert D. Watson, who was born on February 20, 1925 (Findagrave.com, 2012). In 1960, after the drive-in closed, he had moved to Idaho Falls with his wife Marjorie and earned a living as a salesman (Ancestry.com, 2011). He died in 2003 and was buried at the Montana State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Harrison in Helena (Findagrave.com, 2012). A c.1954/58 black-and-white photograph of the Watson Brothers Drive In depicts a low rectangular building with a flat roof (00.514 P10871N photograph at GHM). It appears that the walls at three sides of the building are articulated similarly: a base clad with a shiny sheet metal set in three equal horizontal strips; a middle portion of continuous glazing interrupted only by a pair of entry doors on the south façade; and a top frieze clad in a horizontal band of shiny sheet metal. The sheet metal is probably aluminum, as common for the streamlined Moderne diners of the 1940s. Also typical is the advertising signage incorporated into the roof, with upright metal structures identifying it as owned by the Watson Brothers serving Richardson Root Beer, milk shakes, malts, and hamburgers, and featuring Spudnuts. The two entry doors appear to be of wood, with large circular vision glass at eye-height above cast aluminum door pulls accentuated with horizontal bars. In 1961, the building was operating as the Pantry Restaurant, a short-lived name before being called the Haufbrau from 1962 to the current day (R. L. Polk & Company, 1961). The transition to a bar coincided with the sale of the building to John and Ann McNicholas on January 15, 1962. In 1973, Donald G. Frye Jr. purchased the business with his wife Cynthia. Don and Cyn had come to Bozeman from the Nashville, Tennessee area in the early 1960s. Donald Guy Frye, Jr. Had been born in Nashville, TN on January 31, 1939 (Ancestry.com, 2001). Don “...went to college at the University of Tampa where he earned a BS in business but more importantly he met the love of his life, Cynthia L. Cassell, his constant support, soul mate and rock through so many storms. They were married in 1962 on his 23rd birthday. In 1963 they took a trip to Butte, MT to visit his parents while his father worked as an engineer. In January 1964 they packed their few precious possessions, including a cat and a turtle, into a 1959 Willy’s Jeep and moved to Bozeman which has been home ever since (Findagrave.com, 2016).” Cynthia Lee Cassell (Frye) had been born on November 5, 1940 in Frankfurt, Kentucky (Ancestry.com, 2006; Ancestry.com, 2010). Of their three children – Donald G. Frye III, William T. Frye, and Eulalia E. Cook – the two sons have taken on the running of the Haufbrau (Findagrave.com, 2016). MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 4 History of Property Property Name: Watson Bros. Drive In/Haufbrau Bar Site Number: 031 Since Don’s death on June 5, 2016, their sons Don and Bill have run the business with their mother. Bill Frye reports that the main back bar came from the Stockman Bar that used to be at 29 East Main Street in Bozeman. Some of the booths came from the Maverick Bar that was in the erstwhile Baltimore Hotel at 222-224 East Main Street. Bill also provides insights into the architectural and business chronology of the building: Next time you are in you can see where the two shuttered windows on the west end of the building served as pick up windows. It became the Haufbrau in November of 1961 with the help of the Olympia Brewery who was looking to sell more of their products in the area. There were two selections of beer, Oly and Oly Dark. My dad always gleefully told the account from another long term Bozeman resident of how our corner was used by a local church in the 1920s or 30s as a big tent revival site where people would come to be saved and watch miraculous healings. He always thought these revivalists would probably be spinning in their graves with what we have done to undo all of their hard work towards salvation, but he always figured we were saving people in another fashion (Haufbrau entry for Craft Beer Week, Bill Fyre, as submitted to the Extreme History Project, 6 May 2018).” The original Watson Bros. Drive In appears to be contained in the west portion of the building; the larger portion to the east – of concrete masonry units – was added later, and what appears to be a walk-in cooler has been placed at the north wall of the original drive in. The Haufbrau, the Scoop Bar, and the Molly Brown are all located on the same block, divided only by an alley and a parking lot. Combined, they are known locally as the Barmuda Triangle. Table 1. Chain of Title, 18 South 8th Ave., Bozeman, Montana. Grantor Grantee Date of Instrument Type of Instrument Property Description/Comments Reference USA William H. Tracy 15 June 1872 Patent S ½ of NE ¼ section 12, T2S R5E D: I/56 William H. and Sarah J. Tracy Nelson Story 18 November 1871 Deed Same D: H/402 Nelson and Ellen Story Elias Story 04 November 1874 Deed Lots 13 – 32 in Block E, and all of blocks B, C, D, F, G, H, Story’s Addition D: I/538 Elias Story Ellen Story 14 November 1874 Deed Same D: I/542 Ellen and Nelson Story Elias Story Jr. 29 July 1889 Deed Same (2/3s interest) D: 17/122 Elias Story Jr. Nelson Story 01 August 1889 Deed Same (2/3s interest) D: 17/125 Nelson and Ellen Story Thomas Byron Story 01 January 1903 Warranty Deed Block F, Story’s Addition D: 29/314 On September 4, 1909, T. B. and Katherine F. Story sold the N 8’ of Lots 19 – 26, Block F, to the City of Bozeman for the purpose of opening a public alley through Blocks E, F, and part of Block G in Story’s Addition (D: 42/23). T. B. Story T. B. Story, Inc. 19 November 1920 Deed Lots 1 – 8, 19 – 26 and 30’ strip to the E, Block F, Story’s Addition, and other lots D: 62/334 T. B. Story, Inc. Katharine F. Story 13 January 1930 Warranty Deed Lots 2 – 8, 19 – 26, and 30’ x 130’ E of Lot 26, Block F, Story’s Addition D: 75/121 Katharine F. and T.B. Story Frank H. Johnson, Superintendent of Banks (MT), Trustee 03 November 1932 Bargain and Sale Deed Same D: 76/555 Frank H. Johnson, Superintendent of Banks (MT), Trustee Belgrade State Bank 05 November 1935 Deed Same D: 79/151 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 5 History of Property Property Name: Watson Bros. Drive In/Haufbrau Bar Site Number: 031 Grantor Grantee Date of Instrument Type of Instrument Property Description/Comments Reference Belgrade State Bank Thomas Byron and Katherine F. Story 18 January 1940 Quit Claim Deed Same (the only consideration for this deed is the return of collateral heretofore pledged by the grantee as security for an obligation to the grantor) D: 83/406 W.A. Brown, Superintendent of Banks (MT) Thomas Byron and Katharine F. Story 21 April 1947 Quit Claim Deed Lots 2 – 8, 19 – 26, and 30’ x 130’ E of Lot 26 and strips of land 6’ x 130’ W of lots 8 and 19, Block F, Story’s Addition D: 95/486 Thomas Byron and Katharine F. Story Ralph K. Williams 12 April 1947 Warranty Deed Lots 6 – 8, 19 – 21 and strips of land 6’ x 130’ W of Lots 8 and 19, Block F, Story’s Addition D: 98/440 Ralph K. Williams Watson Bros., Inc. 29 September 1949 Warranty Deed Lots 19 – 21 and strip of land 6' x 130’ W of Lot 19, Block F, Story Addition D: 104/427 Watson Bros., Inc. Robert D. Watson and Halworth A. Watson 10 March 1954 Warranty Deed Same D: 121/71 ad 122/273 (corrected deed) Robert D. and Marjorie D. Watson and Halworth C. and Joyce Watson Herbert H. Kirchhoff, Clifford A. Clark, and Alford M. Stiff 08 January 1959 Warranty Deed Same D: 129/543 Clifford A. and Martha K. Clark, Alford M. and Vivian E. Stiff, and Herbert H. and Marilyn J. Kirchhoff John R. and Ann McNicholas 15 January 1962 Warranty Deed Same D: 139/272 John R. and Ann McNicholas Ernest S. and Marge Herzog 27 July 1970 Warranty Deed Same (1/2 interest) D: Film 7/1719 Ernest S. Herzog (deceased) Marge Herzog 19 November 1973 Decree Terminating Joint Tenancy Same (1/2 interest) D: Film 22/115 Marge Herzog (surviving wife of Ernest S. Herzog) Donald G. Frye, Jr. 16 October 1973 Warranty Deed Same (1/2 interest) D: Film 22/1034 John R. and Ann McNicholas Donald G. Frye, Jr. 15 October 1973 Warranty Deed Same (1/2 interest) D: Film 22/1035 Donald G. Frye, Jr. and Cynthia C. Frye Hauf, LLC 24 January 2012 Bargain and Sale Deed Same D: #2412260 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 6 Information Sources/Bibliography Property Name: Watson Bros. Drive In/Haufbrau Bar Site Number: 031 INFORMATION SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY Ancestry.com 2001 Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services; Helena, Montana; Montana Death Records; Ancestry.com. Montana, State Deaths, 1907-2016 [database on-line]. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Provo, Utah. Electronic document, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi- bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=5437&h=1440640&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=WOG81&_phstart=successSource, accessed July 10, 2020. 2006 Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. Kentucky Birth, Marriage, and Death Databases: Births 1911-1999. Frankfort, Kentucky: Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives; Kentucky, Birth Index, 1911-1999 [database on-line]. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Provo, Utah. Electronic document, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8788&h=1907&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=WOG93&_phstart=successSource, accessed July 10, 2020. 2010 Voter Registration Lists, Public Record Filings, Historical Residential Records, and Other Household Database Listings; U.S. Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1 [database on-line]. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Provo, Utah. Electronic document, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=1788&h=115418537&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=WOG94&_phstart=successSource, accessed July 10, 2020. 2011 U.S. City Directories, 1922-1995 [database-on-line]. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Provo, Utah. Electronic document, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2469&h=1037787041&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=WOG75&_phstart=successSource, accessed May 31, 2020. 2012 U.S. Find A Grave Index, 16002-Current [database-on-line]. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Provo, Utah. Electronic document, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=60525&h=42198804&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=2469, accessed May 31, 2020. 2017 Montana State Historical Society; Helena, Montana; FHL Roll: no. 1-646; Montana, County Births and Deaths, 1830-2011 [database-on-line]. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Lehi, Utah. Electronic document, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=61255&h=38113&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=WOG77&_phstart=successSource, accessed May 31, 2020. 2017 Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services; Helena, Montana; Montana State Marriage Records, 1943-1986; Montana, Marriage Records, 1943-1988 [database-on-line]. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Lehi, Utah. Electronic document, https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=61478&h=46331&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=WOG79&_phstart=successSource, accessed July 10, 2020. Find A Grave 2012 Robert D. Watson (20 Feb 1925–18 Dec 2003). Electronic document, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9678668/robert-d-watson, accessed July 10, 2020. 2016 Donald Guy Frye, Jr. (31 Jan 1939-5 Jun 2016) Electronic document, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166084740, accessed July 10, 2020. Frye, William. “Haufbrau Craft Brew Week.” Typewritten manuscript. 6 May 2018. Gallatin County Clerk & Recorder 1864-2019 Gallatin County Deeds. Gallatin County Clerk & Recorder, Bozeman, Montana. Playboy Magazine Archives, www.iplayboy.com. Montana State Library. Montana Cadastral records online, http://svc.mt.gov/msl/mtcadastral, accessed 5/12/2020. R.L. Polk & Company 1927-2012 Polk’s Bozeman City Directory. R.L. Polk & Co., Chicago, IL. Sanborn Map Company 1889-1947 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Bozeman, Gallatin County, Montana (1889, 1890, 1891, 1904, 1912, 1927, 1943). Sanborn Map Company, [New York, New York] MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 7 Statement of Significance Property Name: Watson Bros. Drive In/Haufbrau Bar Site Number: 031 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 This site is the Haufbrau Bar, originally constructed in 1949 as a diner and drive in. For over twenty years it served as the Watson Bros. Drive In and, for a very brief time, the Pantry Restaurant. In 1962, the property changed ownership and became the Haufbrau Bar. Major alterations have been made to the building over the years, many of which occurred within the historic period (pre-1972). However, because for most of the historic period the site served as a streamlined Moderne style drive in diner, these changes are considered to have affected integrity of materials, design, and feeling. Sec. 38.700 of the Bozeman Municipal Code defines an eligible property as one that meets the criteria for inclusion in the NRHP or State Register either 1) individually or 2) as a contributing building to an existing or potential historic district. This site has been evaluated against the NRHP Criteria and, while it is a beloved local establishment and part of what locals refer to as the “Barmuda Triangle,” Metcalf has not found that its historic associations satisfy Criteria A, B, C, or D. The site is not located within an existing historic district. While it is representative of a period of expansion west, along Main Street on the fringe of a primarily residential neighborhood in the 1940s that altered the character of the surrounding area and ties in with the understanding of development within the Story Addition, Metcalf finds the site no longer retains sufficient integrity to convey its historic character from that period and recommends that it be considered not eligible/non-contributing. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 8 Integrity Property Name: Watson Bros. Drive In/Haufbrau Bar Site Number: 031 INTEGRITY (location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, association) The site is in fair to good condition, overall. It has been modified extensively since originally constructed as a diner and drive in in 1949. The exterior was once designed in the streamlined Moderne style, with aluminum paneled siding. The original footprint of the building is contained within the since expanded building. Some of the major alterations occurred within the historic period; the property was transformed into a bar in 1962 and subsequent changes have affected integrity of materials, design, and feeling. MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 9 Photographs Property Name: Watson Bros. Drive In/Haufbrau Bar Site Number: 031 Feature # 1 Facing: NE Description: Property 031. Oblique view. (Image #02-0274, 10/19/2019. EAS) Feature # 1 Facing: SE Description: Property 031. Oblique view of the back entrance. (Image #02-0276, 10/19/2019. EAS) MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 10 Photographs Property Name: Watson Bros. Drive In/Haufbrau Bar Site Number: 031 Feature # 1 Facing: NW Description: Property 031. Oblique view. (Image #02-0278, 10/19/2019. EAS) Feature # 1 Facing: NE Description: Property 031. Close up of entrance sign. (Image #02-0275, 10/19/2019, EAS) MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 11 Site Map Property Name: Watson Bros. Drive In/Haufbrau Bar Site Number: 031 MONTANA HISTORIC PROPERTY RECORD PAGE 12 Topographic Map Property Name: Watson Bros. Drive In/Haufbrau Bar Site Number: 031