Filed Under Billings

1123 North 31st Street

North Elevation Historic District

The first owner of this one-and-one-half-story home, Matthew Barry, owned the Barry Motor Company, a car garage and “livery”—or rental service. Perhaps that’s why he built a garage (recently replaced) to match the home. Both house and garage had decorative braces, exposed rafter tails, and clapboard siding, all Craftsman style elements. The home’s interior features a built-in china hutch; built-in cabinetry epitomized the Craftsman style ideal of efficiency and simplicity. Barry lived here only briefly; in 1918, Florence and Edwin Sackett rented the home, purchasing it in 1923. Apparently, the family did not share Barry’s love of automobiles; their daughter remembered growing up without a car during the Great Depression. After working as the city clerk and recorder, Edwin joined the First Federal Savings and Loan in 1929, where he made his career, retiring as president in 1964. Active in the Episcopal church, the Kiwanis Club, the BPOE, and the PEO, the Sacketts transformed this house into a home, raising two daughters and hosting cut-throat card parties. They lived here until their deaths, Edwin in 1978 and Florence in 1991.

Images

1123 North 31st Street
1123 North 31st Street 1123 North 31st Street. Front view of the house, facing northeast from the front sidewalk on North 31st Street. Winter photograph. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Unknown photographer Date: Jan. 2015
1123 North 31st Street
1123 North 31st Street 1123 North 31st Street. Side/front view of the house, facing slightly to the north from the driveway and front sidewalk on North 31st Street. Winter photograph. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Unknown photographer Date: Jan. 2015

Location

1123 North 31st Street, Billings, Montana | Private

Metadata

Montana National Register Sign Program, “1123 North 31st Street,” Historic Montana, accessed March 28, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/2704.