HomeMy WebLinkAbout007 - Appendix E.2 - PROPERTY RECORD FORMWONTANA HISTORICAL AND
ARCHITECTURAL INVENTORY Site»
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Legal Description: Original Tnurn.gi hP T.nt-c Pnrt-inn of 4 anti 5/Rl k R New.-
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Address: 118 Last Main
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gwnership:name: First National BankPriv
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le address: p.O. Box 730 Roll rY 77 Frame N 33
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Historic Name: Unknown
JBRARY I` Common Name: Unknown
f 11 estimatedEl
1 Date of Construction:1872 1 documented
v 1_ Architect: Allen; St. Joseph, NIo—BCrowell,T -TT T
Crowell,
i J I " T Builder; Carpenter—Jamieson
Original Owner:N. Ford, Walter Cooper, Cal. Block.
W.L. Perkins
Original Use'Commercial Structure
Present Use'Commprci al Structure
Research Sources:
i 1 abstract of title r, city directories
plat records/maps sewerlwaler permits
W
El tax cards obituaries
El building permit 1884 biographies
Sanborn maps—dater.
LAI r1 Bibliography:
L Q (_1 11 i
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Describe present appearance of structure/site,then contrast and compare that with it's original appearance,
noting additions,alterations,and changes in materials.Discuss significant architectural features.
This attached two-story commercial structure has a rectangular plan with one of
the three storefront sections featuring a Carrara glass design by Fred Willson
in the Art Moderne style. The asymmetrical facade has three front entrances
with storefront windows at street level and the second floor consists of seven
bays (originally there were eleven , four having been removed at the western end
of the building) each with an arched window. There is brick corbelling and
brick arched keystones over the windows , and a small arched window in the cornice
frieze above each window bay. The structure is constructed of local brick and
sits parallel to the street. A new cornice has replaced the older corbeled
cornice and the street level facade , except for the one store with original
Carrara glass, has been remodeled beyond recognition.
1
I HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Justify how the persons,important events,and/or historical patterns associated with the structure/site
and surrounding area lend the property significance.
This property is significant because it is associated with the early commercial
development of Bozeman. Built in 1872 , making it the oldest extant commercial
block in Bozeman, the building was designed by Allen, an architect from St.
Joseph, Missouri, commissioned by Colonel Leander M. Black. Brickwork was
done by Crowell and carpenter's work by Jamieson. The first occupants of
the fine shapes were Nimrod Ford, Walter Cooper of the Montana Armory, Col.
Black and William L. Perkins, all early-day entrepreneurs. When the
adjacent bank expanded in the 1970s, these four bays to the west were removed.
This structure is potentially eligible for the National Register because
of its historical associations and because of its architectural significance.
INTEGRITY: Assess the degree to which the structure/site,and surrounding area accurately convey the historical associations of the
property.
The historic integrity of this property has been retained due to the survival
of original design and materials and continuity of use, setting and location.
INFORMATION VALUE: Explain how the extant structure/site may demonstrate or yield information about its historic use or construc-
tion.
None.
FORM PREPARED BY: GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
Name
DAMES R. MCDONALD ARCHITECTS P.C. gc;rFage -
P. 0. BOX 8163
Address: USGS Quad: -
Date
MISSOULA, MONTANA 59607 UTM's _
f;U u 1984 REVF' ED
Mafit?-,vw A„ Cohen
Roz, 7-a, Montana
lit '- r ,rf-7P"rI-o 1c185
118 E. Main
1985 revision
Matt Cohen, surveyor
As one of the very first ambitious brick structures in Bozeman, and the earliest
remaining commercial block by ten years in the district, the Cooper/Block
Building is overall perhaps the single most significant historic building in the
district. The building represents the optimism of Bozeman' s early entrepreneurs
that the town would, in a region accustomed to "boom-bust" cycles of growth and
decline, remain a permanent settlement despite uncertainties about the Indian
threat and the progress of the Northern Pacific railroad. In addition to its
relevance to the earliest period of Bozeman ' s history, the building displays the
only significant example of Carrara glass storefront in the city, designed by Fred
F. Willson. The storefront is one of only three storefronts in the district that
1 date from the 1930' s-1940. The building was reduced in width by about one-third
in 1972.
Though the Cooper/Black Building has undergone quite substantial alteration since
1872, it nevertheless retains a substantial proportion of its original design.
Some of the architectural detailing that has been lost is very similar to detailingfoundonFrankHarper' s small brick blacksmith shop (237 E. Main) , built in
1873, possibly by the same builder.
Originally eleven bays wide, the building was reduced to only seven bays in
1972, when the First National Bank (104 E. Main) expanded to the east, as far as
the Cararra glass storefront of what was still Roecher's Drug store. The original ,
ornate corbelled cornice, very similar to that of Harper's shop, has been removed
and replaced by a simple flush brick cornice. The most striking feature which
has been lost was an arcade of round headed, key stoned openings, one in each of
the eleven bays, that spanned the first floor (The Tivoli Beer Hall , 1881, 17
E. Main, originally had a similar, 4-bay, segmental arvhed arcade, which has
also been lost) . Two clues to the original presence of the arcade include the
small , round headed blind knee wall windows that once echoed them, (also found
on the Harper Shop) , and the round headed, corbelled brick surround of the door
to the adjacent Saunders Building (1924, 124-126 E. Main) , certainly intended
by architect Fred Willson -to continue the rythm of the first floor arcade of
this building. The hood moldings that once capped this 11-bay arcade were
very similar in detail to those of the three arched openings of the Harper
Shop.
This impressive block was erected at a time when Bozeman was emerging as an
important supply point for both western immigrants arriving from the east
through Bozeman Pass, and for the newly discovered mines of Helena and Virginia
City to the west. Five early entrepreneurs collaborated for the construction:
Col . L.M. Black, Walter Cooper, Col . Ford, W.W. Morris, and W.L. Perkins. Black,
the primary driving force behind the project, arrived in Bozeman in 1869 after
moderate success in the Pike' s Peak gold rush a few years earlier, and
established a general contracting and merchandise store. He is noted in several
newspaper editorials in 1872 for his contributions to the early development of
Inns' nr rtn tny- 7=t`''l i -'•7? In l' "l'C i- ,m '_.1n`, - 1' '1
in Bozeman in the same year, planning an armory and gun manufacturing company.
1
Black and Cooper had shared a frame busines building on the north side of
Main St. , between Black and Bozeman Streets, when they solicited other
merchants to join them in building an impressive business block. At Col .
Blacks insistence, the block, intended to house five businesses, was designed
by an architect, named Allen; of St. Joseph, Mo. It was constructed by A.
Jamieson, head carpenter, and "executed in the main by Messrs. Crowell " , local
brick masons. The brick itself was supplied by W. H. Tracy, who had bought
a brick molding machine in February, 1872.
Original occupants of the block were: Ford & Patterson' s Meat Market, Walter
Cooper' s Armory and Gun Manufactory, W.W. Morris Drag Store, L.M. Black's
mercantile business, and a family market run by W.L. Perkins and Mr. Stone.
By 1883, according to Matt Alderson, Tate & Smith ran a meat market here
alongside Cooper' s Armory, while the upper floor was used as a society hall
for Odd Fellows, and for Masons (Bozeman Lodge #18) (Alderson, p. 31) .
Ellsworth noted in 1898 that the Montana Armory in this building was run by
Mr. Aug. Gottschalck - a native of Germany who came to Montana in 1870, and
whose shop was filled with guns and curiosities of all sorts.
Roecher' s Drug, which dates back to at least as early as the 1920' s in this
building (City Directory, 1927, p. 125) , remodeled their storefront in 1940 -
today the westernmost storefront and a well preserved example of Art Deco
style Carrara glass design. In the 1930' s, this storefront, which may have
been designed by Fred Willson, displayed the first use of neon lighting in
the city, in the form of strip lighting for the window display (Bozeman
Daily Chronicle, December 27, 1970, p. 6) .
Albert C. Roecher had formed a drug store with William M. Alward in the late
19th century, named "Roecher & Alward, Druggists. " Reocher built an impressive
brick house around 1900 at 319 S. 3rd Ave. Roecher became the sole owner in
1908 at the death of Alward, and passed the business on to his son, Chester
C. Roecher, at his own death in 1938 ( Inventory form, sources undocumented) .
Chester C. Roecher was responsible for this storefront which was designed by
Fred F. Willson.
The drug store operated -here until the 1970' s, and was followed by the Wine
Merchant. The space is now vacant.
Bibliography
Alderson, p. 31
Ellsworth, p. 23
City Directories, 1927, p. 125; 1933, p. 22
Ken Karsmizki , "Bozeman Building a Pioneer Link" , Bozeman Daily Chronicle,
March 15, 1981, p. 11
Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 'December 27, 1970, p. 6
Fred F. Willson Job List, 1940, job #4025, "Store Front Alt. - Roecher Drug Co. "
Application for Sewer Connection, August 26, 1903, George R. Nichols
Application for Water Service, April 14, 1902, A.C. Roecher
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