Canadian-born farmers Richard and Emily Strickland moved from North Dakota to northwest Montana in 1892. They kept their farm near Grand Junction, North Dakota; Richard also invested in various Montana enterprises, including 160 acres near Creston and an unsuccessful copper mine in what is now Glacier National Park. The family purchased a large Kalispell lot, and by 1899 they had built two houses on Second Street, living in one and renting the other. In 1901, they built this Queen Anne style home, which features the style’s characteristic wooden shingles, decorative brackets, bay windows, and leaded and stained glass. From the residence’s original wraparound porch they had an “unobstructed view of the mountains.” The Stricklands were avid gardeners, and people often visited their yard to see “the trees, shrubs, and flowers that would flourish in the Flathead valley.” Among their successes were flowering locust trees, which they grew from seeds that Emily had collected in Ontario; most of Kalispell’s locust trees are said to have come from seeds the Stricklands shared. Daughter Olive, an artist, lived here until her death in 1942.
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