When Preston B. Moss built this red sandstone mansion in 1902-1903, it was some distance from the growing City of Billings. The 25-room structure was home to Mr. and Mrs. Moss, their six children, the grandparents, and a staff of three. Designed by…

In the 1910s, Billings promoted itself as the capital of the “Midland Empire.” That economic domain covered thirty thousand square miles and boasted hundreds of communities that relied on Billings for supplies. No wonder Helena-based distributor…

In 1910, J. C. Kinney and other local capitalists created the Wibaux Improvement Company to build this handsome two-story business block. Contractor Charles Charmichael of Miles City constructed the “large and commodious building … faced with a high…

In June of 1907 fire swept through Harlowton’s Main Street, consuming twenty-four buildings, among them the town’s only hotel. Prominent businessman A. C. “Chris” Graves resolved to build a new hotel, but relocated it on the bluff between the old…

When the Northern Pacific Railroad established a depot in Big Timber in 1883, the small frontier town fast became a business and shipping center, drawing trade from great distances. Construction of this fine hotel in 1890 well illustrates the impact…

Billings architect Curtis Oehme designed the Atlas Block, constructed in 1915-16 of locally quarried sandstone. Rusticated pilasters project above the roofline, and a checkerboard patterned frieze enlivens the cornice. The solid two-story building…

When the town of Valier was founded in 1909, a wood-frame schoolhouse was quickly erected to serve the children of the new community. Less than two years later, the school board moved to replace that school with a more substantial building. In 1911,…

The stylish Courthouse Square neighborhood prospered in the 1880s, as evidenced by this fashionable two-and-one-half-story boardinghouse built by wealthy rancher William C. Child. Between 1888 and 1890, this splendid building displaced an earlier,…

Solid bank buildings were designed to assure customers that their money was safe from both theft and bank failure—a tenuous premise in the days before Federal Deposit Insurance. Here Romanesque arches, rusticated sandstone, thick masonry walls, and…

In 1903, Lewistown welcomed a group of nuns from France, members of the Order of the Daughters of Jesus. This location would turn out to be their only house in the United States. In a short time, Sister Philomene saw that the twenty-four-year-old…