High maintenance steam engines required railroads to locate large repair shops every two hundred miles. After the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad chose Miles City for a division point in 1907, the town grew rapidly. Population increased to 4,697 in 1910, a 140 percent increase over the 1900 population of 1,938. With an influx of well-paid railroad workers and new businesses, residential construction boomed, and a comfortable subdivision emerged on Main. Built between 1908 and 1912, possibly for Jasper Brenizer, the home’s first known resident, this two-story house combines Queen Anne and Colonial Revival elements. Its cross-gable plan, leaded-glass windows, and fish scale shingles are associated with the Queen Anne style; the enclosed cornice returns, overall simplicity, and classical porch supports reflect Colonial Revival. The current wraparound porch replaced the original full-length front porch between 1916 and 1928. Milwaukee Road conductor Newman Fuller lived here in 1913. Promoted to trainmaster by 1920, Newman resided here with his wife Ellen, their daughter Margaret, and boarder Sarah Riley, who supported herself as a dressmaker.
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