Filed Under Butte

939 South Main Street

Butte National Historic Landmark District

Distinctive enough to have its own society column in the Butte Miner, South Butte was less oriented toward the mines than other Butte neighborhoods. In fact, only two people on the 900 block of South Butte worked as miners in 1910. The rest found employment elsewhere: with the railroad, as store clerks or teachers, at the coal company, or performing deliveries. Elsworth and Alice Bradford, who had this one-story home constructed circa 1906, fit this pattern. Alice worked at home as a dressmaker while caring for their daughter Florence; Elsworth drove a delivery wagon for Taylor Laundry, whose stable was only four blocks north on Main Street. Elsworth witnessed the transformation from horse-drawn delivery wagons to motorized trucks, but by 1918, he had left the delivery business to ranch near Feely. The Bradford home features its original shiplap siding and decorative wooden shingles in the gable end. The front canted bay was typical of the period, a practical design that increased the amount of sunlight admitted into the house from the street.

Images

939 South Main Street
939 South Main Street 939 South Main Street (PAc 91-51 B2 RollJB16 F17). Front view of the house, facing west on South Main Street. B&W. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office from the Photograph Archives at the Montana Historical Society Creator: John Byrne Date: 1982

Location

939 South Main Street, Butte, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “939 South Main Street,” Historic Montana, accessed April 24, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/1993.