By 1884, a barbershop and restaurant occupied a one-story frame building on this lot. Fire destroyed much of Main Street in 1886, but owner Frederick Wright quickly rebuilt, again of wood. Saloons, restaurants, and barbershops remained the primary tenants. In 1898, Wright sold the building to C. S. Hefferlin. Hefferlin, who arrived in Livingston in 1883 to work as head ticket agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad, was responsible for the construction of at least a dozen of Livingston’s brick commercial buildings. Around 1915, perhaps to rid the block of one of its last wooden structures, he transformed the building into a restrained one-story brick business block. He also added a rear addition. An expanse of brick with two recessed panels separates the plate-glass windows from the cornice, providing a place for advertising and making the façade look larger than it would otherwise. The building continued to house two storefronts into the 1970s. As late as 1942, the barbershop in the left half of the building offered baths, a common service before indoor plumbing was universal. Restaurants and cafes primarily occupied the other storefront.
Images