As Lewistown’s population doubled between 1910 and 1920, the community found itself short on living space. According to the paper, newcomers had difficulty procuring “even the most indifferent dwelling accommodations.” G. R. Wiedeman capitalized on the tight housing market by constructing this two-story business block, which featured retail space on the first floor and apartments on the second. An energetic businessman and Lewistown booster, Wiedeman was a principal in the Montana Hardware Company and one of the founders of the Lewistown Electric Light Company and the Lewistown Brick and Tile Company. His brickyard’s distinctive “Lewistown red” lines the 1916 building’s façade. Much of the rest of the building is of rubble stone, salvaged from the original Montana Hardware Co. building. Wiedeman and his partners razed that early Main Street building in 1916 to construct a larger, more sophisticated business block. As a result, both Main Street and Broadway—whose development lagged substantially behind Main—became more elegant. After a 1943 fire, the Wiedemans converted the mixed-use building into eight apartments, two of which were occupied by Wiedeman sons Art and Bill.
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