Edward and Celia Harberson constructed this building for their bakery in 1946. Its simple plan and design, typical of the period, reflect the post–World War II boom as the work force returned and small businesses, like the Harbersons’ bakery, prospered. Edward Harberson came to Great Falls from Billings as an orphan in 1909. He was among the first children taken into St. Thomas Orphans’ Home where Sister Hermina taught him the art of baking. Harberson worked for the Eddy Bakery but later started baking in his home and delivering the baked goods by wagon. He and his wife, also a baker, established the Bungalow Bakery in 1937. In 1952, one of the Harbersons’ three sons died of polio. The following year, the Harbersons created Doughnut Day at the bakery to raise funds for the March of Dimes; it became a Great Falls tradition. The Harbersons closed the bakery in 1957. A series of tenant businesses then occupied the space until Carroll and Virginia Blend purchased the property for their small business, Blends’ Copy Shop, in 1981.
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