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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-11-25 Public Comment - Extreme History - Support for project 24-147From:crystal To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL][SENDER UNVERIFIED]Public comment for project 24-147 Date:Thursday, April 10, 2025 6:22:20 PM Attachments:Public comment project 24-147.docx CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Hello,Please find attached public comment for project 24-147. Thank you.Best,Crystal Alegria Crystal AlegriaDirector of The Extreme History Project----------------------------------------------------Check out our podcast, The Dirt on the Past! Click here to help us Make History Relevant! What I'm Reading: The Apothecary's Wife: The Hidden History of Medicine and How it Became a Commodity by Karen BloomGevirtz Women in the Valley of the Kings by Kathleen Sheppard The Extreme History ProjectP.O. Box 5019Bozeman, MT 59717crystal@extremehistoryproject.orgLike us on Facebook and Instagram! The Extreme History Project - 234 E. Mendenhall - Bozeman MT 59715 www.extremehistoryproject.org 406-220-2678 April 10, 2025 City of Bozeman - City Commission Dear Mayor Cunningham and City Commissioners, I am in support of application 24-147, a proposal to construct a new 6-story boutique hotel building with the associated provision to examine the historic archaeology of the site prior to construction. This parcel of land has historically been an integral part of our community and continues to be today. This is an opportunity to engage the public with our community’s significant history. With community history in mind, we support enhancing, restoring and interpreting Bozeman Creek within this project. We support the idea of access to the creek when possible and revealing and celebrating the creek area, and the history of the creek. Historically, this project area was a thriving commercial and residential area. The alley between Main and Mendenhall Streets and book-ended by Rouse and Bozeman Avenues, was referred to as “China Alley” on Sanborn Insurance maps and was the residential and business location for Bozeman’s Chinese community. This area was also Bozeman’s red-light district, the location of “female boarding houses,” a euphemism for houses of prostitution. No standing structures remain, but archaeologically this project area is rich with the material remnants of these two marginalized communities. If excavated professionally by archaeologists, this project area and its associated artifacts could reveal significant information about the people who lived in early Bozeman. When professional archaeologists excavate a small number of test units, taking limited time and budget and possibly including community partners such as Montana State University’s Anthropology Department, this project will be a win-win for Bozeman’s preservation community and the developer. The resulting information will give us much- needed insight into Bozeman’s early history. With Bozeman’s rapid growth, this is a chance that will not present itself again. Let’s collectively take the opportunity to recover our history before it is lost forever. In 2020, a very similar project had positive press in Missoula, MT. Here is a link to an article on the project published by the Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart- news/beneath-missoula-remnants-19th-century-red-light-district-and-chinatown-180974230/. Thank you for supporting this project and thank you for supporting the documentation of Bozeman’s rich historical record during this unique archaeological opportunity. Sincerely, The Extreme History Project - 234 E. Mendenhall - Bozeman MT 59715 www.extremehistoryproject.org 406-220-2678 Crystal Alegria Director of The Extreme History Project Here is a brief historic overview that provides background on the early use of this area. “The half-block between Mendenhall Street and the alley between Bozeman and Rouse Avenues was historically occupied by marginalized residents, namely sex workers and Chinese immigrants. This combination of red-light district and the historic Chinese community began in this area by the mid- 1880s. Within a short time, prostitution was said to “flourish” there and Chinese residents were congregating in the area. The Chinese population was likely small at that time, however, the 1880 census lists 25 Chinese living in Bozeman and a later 1905 census lists 73. When they arrived, the Chinese immigrants occupied both sides of the alley, although were mainly living on the north side. By 1889, many of the buildings that lined the north side of the alley were designated as “Chinese” or “Female Boarding House” which was a euphemism for house of prostitution on the 1889 Sanborn Fire Insurance map. By the 1890s, Bozeman’s red-light district and Chinese community were well-established with a strong population of residents. We know that while living in Bozeman the Chinese community operated laundries, restaurants, mercantile, opium dens, and gambling establishments throughout Bozeman but with a concentration in the alley between Main Street and Mendenhall street bordered by Rouse and Bozeman avenues. The Chinese population reached its largest numbers by the early 20th century. The population of Bozeman’s sex workers continued to increase until the 1910s when houses of prostitution were being shuttered and the women who worked in these brothels were facing pressure to leave town. By the mid-1920s, the red-light district had effectively been eliminated and the brothels were converted to traditional boarding houses. Most Chinese residents were leaving Montana and by 1920, the reported Chinese immigrant population in Bozeman had dropped to 13 residents. After World War II, those buildings still standing in the former red-light district/Chinese community were mainly single and multi-unit dwellings. A few new businesses were added mainly late in the historic period. They were an “automobile service station at the corner of Mendenhall and Rouse, erected in about 1941, and the Haaland Furniture store, along Bozeman at the west end of the block, built in 1954” (Renewable Technologies, Inc, May 05, 2010). It is reported through word of mouth that many of the buildings used as houses of prostitution in Bozeman’s red-light district were torn down in the 1960s during urban renewal. In April of 2025, there are only two structures still standing that were part of the red-light district/Chinese community. One of these buildings still stands with the modern address of 234 E. Mendenhall. This house was built by Joseph Lindley in 1891 specifically to be a brothel. The second standing structure is located in the alley and is commonly known as the “Chinese House.” These two structures are what remains physically of Bozeman’s red-light history. But, much of this history remains beneath the surface in the form of The Extreme History Project - 234 E. Mendenhall - Bozeman MT 59715 www.extremehistoryproject.org 406-220-2678 artifacts and physical remnants of the buildings, privies, and artifacts left behind by those who once called the red-light district home. Renewable Technologies, Inc. 2010 “Environmental Assessment, City of Bozeman, Reconstruction Following an Explosion In a Historic District.” Report on file at the City of Bozeman, Bozeman, MT.