German immigrants Louis “Lee” and Christina Freudenstein built this handsome two-story Queen Anne style home on three lots across from St. Patrick’s Church in 1889. The low-profile hipped roof and modest entry porch with turned posts reflect the Freudensteins’ taste for restrained architectural detail at a time when exuberant ornamentation was the norm. The Freudensteins came to Butte from Chicago in 1882 after Louis inherited his uncle’s Germania mine where, beginning in 1886, workers struck rich silver veins. Lee amassed a fortune and invested in other mining ventures and real estate, including the boardinghouse next door. After silver prices crashed in 1893, Lee struggled financially, dying in 1899 and leaving Christina and their seven children debt-ridden. By 1910, Christina had sold this house to Daniel and Sarah Thomas and moved with her grown children to her boardinghouse next door. The Thomases took boarders into their home and eventually bought Christina’s boardinghouse as well. Daniel and Sarah were active members of the local Masons and Order of the Eastern Star. Daniel died in 1922, but Sarah continued managing both properties until her death in 1941.
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