Baumgartner Dairy

Swiss dairyman Ulrich E. Baumgartner and his wife Theresa emigrated to the U.S. in 1881 and purchased government land north of downtown Red Lodge in 1891. By 1893, they had built a home, fenced the pasture, and were delivering milk to local residents as proprietors of the Red Lodge Dairy. Natural springs on the property provided fresh water essential to domestic and dairying operations. They sold the dairy to John Renlund in early 1895 and returned to Switzerland, but the Baumgartners and their three children soon missed Red Lodge and re-purchased the farm in the fall of 1896. The family continually made improvements to the house, transforming the one-room log cabin into a grand Queen Anne style residence where they held many social events. The stylish hexagonal turret (added in 1903), fishscale shingles, scrollwork in the gable ends, and spindlework porch posts and railings are stylistic hallmarks. The property also included a substantial wood-frame stable, milk house, warehouse, and buggy barn. Ulrich died in 1916 and Theresa leased the farm for several years before selling it in 1923.

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