Bay windows and a two-story front porch dress up this home’s basic “four-square” pattern. Stately American Four-Squares—marked by their pyramidal roofs, overhanging eaves, and cubical shapes—were extremely popular with middle-class suburbanites in the early 1900s. William Beacom and his wife Jennie likely built this home between 1902 and 1905 in what was then an up-and-coming suburb. Fifth Street residents formed an early neighborhood improvement association to lobby for graded streets, cement sidewalks, and uniform landscaping. Cement sidewalks—many of which were installed in 1909—would have been of particular interest to William, as he made his living as a cement contractor. In 1922, he ran for mayor of Missoula, a post he held (with the exception of one term) until 1932. William died in 1939, at the age of seventy-eight. Jennie continued to live here—along with various nieces and nephews—until her death at age ninety-four in 1966.
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