Decorative half-timbering and an intricate roofline distinguish this elegant one-and-one-half-story home. Mary Philbrick had the residence built as a wedding present for her daughter Mary Frances and son-in-law Harry Cornwell, a hardware merchant. The Philbricks were a wealthy Rosebud County ranching family, and Mary reportedly gave “munificent gifts of property” to each of her three children on their marriages. Harry and Frances Cornwell married in Minneapolis in 1916, and the house was still under construction when they returned to Forsyth after a month’s honeymoon. One of Forsyth’s largest and most finely detailed Craftsman style residences, the home features many of that architectural style’s hallmarks, including large overhanging eaves, exposed rafter tails, wooden braces, and multi-pane windows. The Cornwells enclosed the front porch sometime after 1941. The couple raised two children in this home, and their son Howard, who later managed the Philbrick family ranch holdings, lived here into the 1990s.
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