Filed Under Kalispell

504 Fourth Avenue East

East Side Historic District

Founded in 1891 by the Great Northern Railway, Kalispell boasted 651 residents in its first year, growing to 2,500 people by 1900. Confident of finding tenants in the booming community, bricklayer John Lundberg built a one-and-one-half story duplex on this lot in the early 1890s. Possibly the first brick residence in the city, the solid-looking structure featured patterned shingles in its gable ends and a wraparound porch. Lundberg placed the kitchens in the rear under separate roof, a common practice in the nineteenth century to minimize fire risk. Bucket brigades could more easily reach a one-story roof, perhaps saving the main house in case of a kitchen fire. The side-gabled duplex saw five different owners between 1894 and 1920 and provided comfortable accommodations to a number of tenants, including the families of a plumber, a saloonkeeper, a carpenter, and a letter carrier. Margaret Bjorneby owned the building between 1920 and 1928, during which time she converted it into a five-bedroom, two-bathroom, single-family home. Bjorneby sold the property to Elizabeth Hilton who lived here with her husband Earl, owner of the Glacier Dairy, into the 1940s.

Images

504 Fourth Avenue East
504 Fourth Avenue East 504 Fourth Avenue East. Front to side view of the house, facing southwest on the corner of 4th Avenue East and 5th Street East. B&W. Source: Montana State Historic Preservation Office Creator: Photographer unidentified Date: Oct. 1980

Location

504 4th Avenue East, Kalispell, Montana | Private

Metadata

The Montana National Register Sign Program, “504 Fourth Avenue East,” Historic Montana, accessed March 29, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/398.