Filed Under Lewistown

521 West Main

Lewistown Central Business Historic District

In March of 1914, four hundred local business owners protested locating Lewistown’s new post office on this site, claiming that the call for bids was not properly advertised. Most favored housing the post office in the Masonic Temple building. Nevertheless, the Fergus County Realty Company, one of the two bidders, won the five-year lease. Lewistown architects Wasmansdorff and Eastman drew the plans and construction commenced immediately under federal supervision. Uncle Sam occupied part of the storefront while businessman A. H. Smurr and attorney W. R. Kirk leased the remaining space. Smurr and Kirk’s enterprise included a confectionery/ice cream parlor, a factory for the manufacture of their “delicacies,” and a billiard room/bowling alley catering to the “the highest class of the trade.” The post office remained in the building until the construction of the federal building in 1931. This historic building has been carefully restored to its original appearance and, since 1958, has housed one of Montana’s longest running newspapers, the Lewistown New-Argus.

Images

521 West Main St., Lewistown
521 West Main St., Lewistown View looking south at Lewistown News-Argus newspaper building. Creator: Christine Brown, Montana Historical Society Date: Aug 2019

Location

521 West Main Street, Lewistown, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “521 West Main,” Historic Montana, accessed March 28, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/346.