Filed Under Billings

1040 North 31st Street

North Elevation Historic District

Dubbed one of Billings’ “pioneer building contractors,” Emanuel Lindstrom waited until age thirty-eight to marry twenty-two-year-old Radina Holen, a fellow immigrant from Norway. In 1913, the Lindstroms moved into this Prairie style residence, where they raised three children. The two-story American Foursquare home features restrained geometric ornamentation, a hipped roof with extended eaves and a central attic dormer, and a wraparound front porch, enclosed sometime after 1958. Between 1912 and 1923, the Lindstroms added a two-car garage, a reflection of the growing importance of automobiles to North Elevation homeowners. Home prices suffered during the Great Depression and the residence, valued at $10,000 in 1930, was worth only $6,500 in 1940. Benjamin Harwood purchased the residence from the Lindstroms in 1937, just a year after Benjamin was first elected district judge. A dedicated jurist, Ben was also interested in aviation. A World War I pilot wounded in France, he was instrumental in developing the Billings airport as chairman of the airport commission. He and his wife Nina lived here until 1971.

Images

1040 North 31st Street
1040 North 31st Street 1040 North 31st Street. Front view of the house, facing slightly east from the front sidewalk along North 31st Street. Photograph taken in early fall. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Unknown photographer Date: Sept. 2009

Location

1040 North 31st Street, Billings, Montana | Private

Metadata

Montana National Register Sign Program, “1040 North 31st Street,” Historic Montana, accessed March 29, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/2696.