Filed Under Forsyth

Lida Parker Residence

Forsyth Residential Historic District

Cattleman Lafayette H. Parker and his wife, Lida, purchased a small home on this lot in 1910. Lafayette died two years later of tuberculosis, but Lida continued to live here, and in 1917, she obtained a mortgage to replace her home with a two-story clapboard residence with a full basement, which she opened as a boarding house. Both Forsyth newspapers commented on the new construction. The Democrat called the building “among the best and most expensive residences being constructed in the city this year,” while the Times-Journal noted that “the house will be thoroughly modern in every respect” with steam heat and “hot and cold running water.” For the lodgers’ convenience the upstairs bathroom did not have a washstand; instead each bedroom had its own sink. In 1920 Parker lived here with her divorced daughter and two-year-old granddaughter, three single male lodgers (an engineer, railroad fireman, and bookkeeper), and a married couple and their ten-month-old baby. She sold the building in 1928, but it continued to serve as a boarding house until 1966, after which it became a private residence.

Images

Lida Parker Residence
Lida Parker Residence Lida Parker Residence (PAc 91-51 Forsyth Roll03 F03). Front to side view of the house, facing east on North 12th Avenue. B&W. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: 1988

Location

325 North 12th Avenue, Forsyth, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “Lida Parker Residence,” Historic Montana, accessed April 24, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/1819.