“Forsyth No Longer a String Town—Side Streets Are Being Utilized” proclaimed a 1910 Forsyth Times article lauding the development of Ninth Avenue. Side streets lined with businesses marked a railroad town’s coming-of-age, as did construction of brick buildings featuring whatever architectural flourishes their owners could afford. Rusticated quoins and a small brick cornice ornament the façade of this relatively simple one-story building constructed between 1907 and 1910. In 1910, a large wooden warehouse stood in back; the Richardson Mercantile used both the warehouse and this brick storefront for its farm implement division. In 1915, the law firm of Loud, Collins, Brown, Campbell and Wood purchased the building. The firm, which also operated in Billings and Miles City, completely remodeled the structure to make it “as modern as possible.” Large plate glass windows provided ample light for the stenographic department, while skylights provided light and ventilation for the private offices of the firm’s principals. Later remodels changed the building further, but its function remained constant: law firms continued to occupy this space until 1988.
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