Wynne Roberts sold books and notions from a one-story brick building constructed on this lot circa 1900. Wynne’s wife Sophie is listed on the deed as the building’s sole owner. She is one of many women who owned property in Montana at the turn of the twentieth century. Female property ownership was not, however, a straightforward reflection of women’s economic power. Under certain circumstances, married women’s property was protected from their husbands’ creditors, and families used this fact to protect their assets from the boom-and-bust cycle that characterized Montana’s early economy. Sometime before 1914, Sophie and Wynne added a second story, occupied by the telephone company, to their business block. Although the first-story façade has been dramatically remodeled, evidence of the building’s original appearance remains on the second story. There, corbelled brick belt courses and a simple cornice exemplify the restrained aesthetic of early twentieth-century Main Street Commercial architecture.
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