Mendenhall House

Newlyweds Samuel A. (Sam) and Leila Reid Mendenhall never had a chance to live in this classic 1901 Dutch Colonial Revival style home. In November 1901, as they were preparing to move in, Leila died suddenly of a stomach ailment. Devastated, Sam sold the home to his uncle and moved to his widowed mother’s house, located directly behind this house. Sam was the only child of John S. and Mary S. Mendenhall, early Gallatin Valley settlers and respected merchants. After Sam’s father died in 1896, he used his inheritance to purchase the Bozeman Electric Light and Bozeman Street Railway companies. He also commissioned prominent Montana architect Charles S. Haire to design this home. The side gambrel (barn) roof, shingle siding, and central pedimented dormer reflect an early twentieth-century fascination with American colonial architecture. Rancher and banker Roy E. Martin and his wife Auvillia purchased the home in 1903. Roy operated a grain, sheep, cattle, and hog ranch two miles south of town, and, with his father, James E. Martin, operated the National Bank of Gallatin Valley. The Martins remained in residence until 1940.

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